DR SHALON MATERNAL ACTION PROJECT INC
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Mission Statement
DS-MAP works to remove barriers, biases, and disparate practices that impede access to equitable, quality care for Black women. Our mission is to increase awareness of the Black maternal health crisis by developing and promoting community-based action strategies that improve reproductive health outcomes and recognize the human-centered value of Black birthing people and their families.
About This Cause
Dr. Shalon Irving was a Black woman with a passion for learning and for applying that learning to breaking down inequities in health systems; her life mantra was: “I see inequity wherever it exists. I am not afraid to call it by name and work hard to eliminate it. I vow to create a better earth.” Even with a dual Ph.D.—in both Sociology and Gerontology, two Master's degrees, being a Lieutenant Commander in the US Public Health Service Corps and a distinguished Epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control, Shalon fell victim to the same racial and ethnic health disparities she fought so hard to eliminate. Three weeks after giving birth to her daughter Soleil, Shalon died from preventable complications of childbirth. Shalon puts a national face to what decades of research have shown—black women are not being seen, heard or believed when it comes to their health—especially during and after pregnancy. Shalon’s concerns and symptoms went unheard, unaddressed, and untreated because of the systemic racism in healthcare. Dr. Shalon Maternal Action Project (DS-MAP) was founded in January 2020 by Shalon's mother and her best friend to honor the legacy of Dr. Shalon Irving as a fierce champion of health equity. DS-MAP is built upon Shalon's personal and professional mantra, and every member of the board has taken Shalon's vow to create a better earth. DS-MAP is committed to health equity for pregnant and postpartum Black women and birthing partners. We use our digital presence to raise awareness about the nationwide Black maternal health crisis. Educational information shared through our digital platforms including Believe Her, offers a digital learning community that uses evidence-based peer-to-peer support to help women navigate through the healthcare system. The Believe Her app helps the highest risk Black mothers and birthing people connect with DS-MAP's community of experts and provides tools for high-frequency interactions, referrals to local advocates, maternity care and birth equity workers, and ideally, live chats and video conferencing so that the underserved and uninsured can quickly have access to healthcare professionals for peer support. Our social media platforms, including the"Black Mom Uncensored" podcast, contribute to the maternal wellness of communities nationally and locally. Our initiatives and programs offer Black women access to vetted resources and facilitated training sessions on key topics such as learning the right "medical lingo" to self-advocate successfully. Our ambassadors provide live streaming "Ask a Doula" sessions on Instagram and Facebook. We have partnered with a cadre of doulas--prenatal to postpartum--to offer a "doula-helpline" where doulas will hold regular office hours on our app and be available to women as a resource through our website as well as our app. DS-MAP works in collaboration with various local institutions to advocate for policy changes and be a voice for underserved populations. Our upcoming initiative, Knowledge is Power, seeks to continue to improve community health through awareness, education, and empowerment. KIP is a twofold initiative that is designed to reduce systematic health inequities by targeting high-risk Black women as well as providers. DS-MAP is facing implicit bias head-on. We advocate for training to recognize and root out racial bias in medicine. This is especially important because studies have shown that a large percentage of medical students hold false beliefs about biological differences between white people and people of color. These beliefs continue as they go to work in the field. For example, Black people are 22 percent less likely to receive pain medication because of perceptions of substance abuse and perceptions of their pain tolerance. DS-MAP recently collaborated with a research group out of UCLA to create an Anti-Racism curriculum. We are in the process of incorporating one module around postpartum care into our app. It will be a self-paced training for practitioners. Upon successful completion, a certificate will be issued and the names of practitioners who passed the course will be listed in a directory on our app and website. Every child deserves a mother in their life. DS-MAP works to save the lives of Black mothers, who deserve to survive and thrive.