-
If could turn back the clock
and bring Shalon back,
-
I would literally do anything.
-
I would happily give everything
-
if I could see her smiling
face once again.
-
But sadly, even if Shalon were here,
-
it would not change the fact
-
that between 700 to 800 women
die each year in America
-
from pregnancy- and
childbirth-related complications.
-
The choice to have a child
should never equate to a death sentence.
-
The rate of maternal deaths in America
is utterly appalling.
-
In 2017, NPR and ProPublica reported
-
that the United States has the highest
rate of maternal mortality
-
of any developed country in the world.
-
And the United States is the only country
where that rate is steadily rising.
-
Black mothers like Shalon
remain the primary group
-
for maternal mortality.
-
It is truly reprehensible
-
that Black women die
-
at a rate of three to four times
that of white women.
-
It is absolutely shameful
-
that 60 percent of those deaths
are totally preventable,
-
as was my daughter's.
-
And here's a shocking fact:
-
according to the report by Health
Resources and Services Administration,
-
the difference in risk
has been steadily unchanged
-
for the past six decades.
-
Six decades.
-
Clearly, current efforts to address
maternal mortality rates
-
and the racial and health
disparities in that area
-
remain woefully inadequate.
-
Only when race stops being the precursor
-
to how Black women are treated
or not treated in the health care system,
-
then outcomes will be
drastically different.
-
I want to be abundantly clear now.
-
The medical community is failing
Black mothers in America.
-
For decades,
-
Black women have been
dismissed, ignored, disregarded,
-
or at the very least,
-
they have been not taken seriously
-
in their interactions
with the health care system.
-
It's not uncommon for Black women
to experience racism and discrimination
-
by medical providers.
-
That racism can be blatantly overt
or covertly subtle,
-
but make no mistake -- it is there.
-
It didn't matter that Shalon
had a dual PhD
-
in Sociology and Gerontology;
-
it didn't even matter that Shalon
had two master's degrees,
-
one of them a Master's in Public Health
from Johns Hopkins.
-
It made no difference that Shalon
was a lieutenant commander
-
in the US Public Health Service,
-
an alumnus of the world-renowned
Epidemic Intelligence Service,
-
a highly respected epidemiologist
at the Centers for Disease Control
-
and president
of her own diversity company.
-
She was still a Black woman.
-
A Black woman accessing a system
that saw her as a stereotype
-
and responded to her as such.
-
During the three weeks
after her child was born,
-
Shalon went to her health care providers
again and again in distress.
-
Obviously, with her education
and training,
-
she could and she did articulate
her concerns very clearly.
-
Yet her cries for help
were minimized and dismissed
-
by the covert bias
of her medical provider.
-
That very bias,
fueled by structural racism,
-
is the root cause
of disparities in health care.
-
That very bias impacted Shalon's outcome.
-
That very bias
-
caused my daughter
to be among the statistics
-
for 2017.
-
As a result, I lost
my beautiful little girl.
-
My baby girl.
-
I lost my confidant,
-
I lost my best friend,
-
I lost my whole world.
-
Shalon's daughter lost her mother
-
and all of the relationship possibilities
-
that could have existed
between the two of them.
-
The society may have suffered
the greater loss.
-
Who knows how many medical advancements
-
or social-justice contributions
Shalon may have made
-
if only her medical provider
had listened to her
-
and heeded her cries for help.
-
We will never know.
-
But this much, we do know.
-
Behind every one
of those 700 to 800 women who die
-
is a family
-
and a whole social network of loved ones,
-
including the children
left behind, like Soleil.
-
Shalon's daughter Soleil
is three years old now.
-
She has a quick smile --
-
every bit as brilliant
as her mother's was.
-
Soleil is fearless.
-
She's determined and she's so opinionated,
-
(Laughter)
-
so smart.
-
Soleil constantly amazes me
-
at how confidently
she is navigating her world.
-
But Soleil only knows her mother
through photographs
-
and the cherished memories that I have
and share with her every day.
-
Yet Soleil loves her mommy,
-
who was with her
for only three short weeks.
-
She tells me so each day.
-
My heart aches each time
Soleil cries for her mommy.
-
It is during those times
Soleil has said to me,
-
"Nana, I want to go to heaven,
so I can be with my mommy."
-
It should not be that way.
-
It doesn't have to be that way.
-
It can really no longer
continue to be that way.
-
When I said earlier that the medical
community is failing Black mothers,
-
some may have wondered
if I'm painting with too broad a brush.
-
After all, it's individuals
who are to blame here, right?
-
Or perhaps we should say
that a relative handful of hospitals,
-
which happen to be the ones
that are largely used by Black women
-
and other minorities,
-
are at the epicenter of maternal
mortality in America.
-
But I would argue that focusing
on a handful of individuals
-
or a handful of hospitals
-
is defining the problem way too narrowly.
-
The problem behavior
isn't about the actions
-
of specific individuals or hospitals --
-
it's much more systemic than that.
-
What's more,
-
the prevalence of the problem
is deeply entrenched --
-
embedded in the very foundation
of our health care system.
-
It is this broad-based failure
that continues to allow disparities
-
in maternal health and death,
-
which result in Black women,
just like Shalon,
-
dying at rates 300 percent higher
than white women.
-
It's been well documented,
-
year after year,
-
decade after decade,
-
generation after generation,
-
and nothing effective
has been done to fix it.
-
How do we fix it?
-
Is there a definitive answer
to eradicating disparities
-
in maternal mortality?
-
Well, improvements
in data accuracy are critical
-
but not nearly enough.
-
Algorithms, checklists, apps --
-
they all play an important role,
-
but they're no panacea either.
-
And I really can't emphasize enough
-
that implicit bias training
without explicit,
-
explicit measures of accountability
-
will make absolutely no difference at all.
-
It is time --
-
it is long past time
-
that leaders in the medical community
take steps to transform
-
the health care system status quo.
-
The first step must be acknowledging
-
that the inherent problem
in the health care system
-
is more than a problem;
-
it's a failure.
-
The next step requires
taking responsibility
-
and owning that failure.
-
But the most important step
-
is actively taking the necessary actions
-
to right the wrongs
created by that failure.
-
A wise woman once told me,
-
"If you want something different,
-
you have to do something different."
-
My daughter was committed
to doing something different.
-
Shalon was known
as a woman of great integrity
-
and high moral values.
-
When asked about her driving
principles in life,
-
she would respond,
-
"I see inequity wherever it exists.
-
I'm not afraid to call it by name,
-
and I work hard to eliminate it.
-
I vow to create a better earth."
-
Shalon put those words into action
every day of her life.
-
Former Surgeon General
David Satcher once said,
-
"Leaders must care enough,
-
leaders must know enough,
-
leaders must be willing to do enough
-
and leaders must be willing
to persist until the work is done."
-
Shalon was such a leader.
-
Though there will never be
another leader like Shalon,
-
we can each persist
until the work is done.
-
Here's what I'm doing to persist
-
until the work to save
Black mothers is done.
-
To get things started,
-
I joined forces with several
of Shalon's friends
-
and CDC colleagues.
-
We founded a nonprofit.
-
We're working hard to eliminate
preventable deaths among Black mothers.
-
And here's how we're doing it:
-
with action, action and more action.
-
We're engaging stakeholders
-
at every point of the public health
and health care spectrum.
-
We're actively working
with the legislative office.
-
We're promoting accountability
measures and postpartum bills,
-
and we want them enshrined in the law.
-
We're embarking upon
a community-based research project
-
which will redefine quality
of medical care for Black women.
-
Ultimately, we will tilt more power
into the hands of Black women.
-
How are we going to do that?
-
By empowering Black women
and their birthing partners
-
to effectively counteract the bias
and racism they experience
-
at any given point during pregnancy,
childbirth and postpartum.
-
Look around you.
-
Each one of us in this room
has a circle of influence.
-
I invite you to consider
how powerful an impact we could make
-
if we focused that collective
influence on this problem,
-
on making a difference.
-
What if we, like Shalon,
acknowledged inequity
-
wherever it existed in our communities
-
and we weren't afraid to call it by name?
-
What if we were each committed
and passionate
-
about using the full range
of our resources
-
to eliminate that inequity?
-
Could we change things?
-
Could we really overturn
centuries of prejudice
-
and decades of bad practice?
-
I know we could.
-
I know we could,
-
if we were focused on that issue,
-
if we focused that collective energy.
-
To quote Nelson Mandela,
-
"When people are determined
-
they can overcome anything."
-
But "action without vision --
-
it's only passing time.
-
Vision without action
is merely daydreaming.
-
But vision with action
can truly change the world."
-
Shalon's life was the perfect
embodiment of the vision.
-
Shalon's death is our call to action.
-
So today, let each of us vow
to do whatever we can.
-
Let us vow to right this wrong.
-
Let us vow to be a part of the solution
-
until Black women are no longer
marginalized and dying needlessly
-
in the health care system.
-
And like my daughter,
-
(Voice breaking)
Dr. Shalon MauRene Irving,
-
let us each vow to create a better earth.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)