AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The Amarillo League of Women voters is presenting a program in the Amarillo Barrio neighborhood on the importance of prenatal care Thursday evening.
The League of Women voters has been studying the issue of maternal morbidity and mortality for over a year and has now been working to educate the community.
Dr. Teresa Baker will be the featured speaker at the program and serves as a chairperson with the OBGYN Department at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
According to Dr. Baker, over 30 percent of the women for whom they deliver babies at Northwest Texas Healthcare System have not had prenatal care.
Not only does prenatal care help ensure a baby is born healthy, it also helps ensure the mother does not have any complications that may be deadly.
“The United States has the highest rate of mortality and morbidity that means complications at birth and or death and that’s a terrible rank to have, to be the worst in all the industrialized nations,” said Claudia Stravato, vice president, Amarillo League of Women voters.
Texas, along with Amarillo has high rates as well.
“Texas ranks 34.5 more deaths, per 100,000 and the national average is 17,” said Stravato.
A study was completed in the City of Amarillo, sponsored by the Public Health Department in Amarillo, revealing that there were poor health outcomes in certain zipcodes where minorities and low-income citizens live, i.e., 79102, 03, 04, 06, 07 and parts of 79109.
One of the largest factors to blame is the complexity of Medicaid applications.
“It’s over 30 pages long and requires a lot of documents to go with it and the uninsured, many times are also uneducated and many times are not very sophisticated and don’t read well, English may not be their first language,” said Stravato.
Dr. Baker also explains the number one cause of maternal mortality is motor vehicle accidents, domestic violence, suicide and homicide and drug overdoses.
“We really need to focus on what our community can do to support women and and their family units to be safe and to have the mental health support that they need because, you know, it’s just such a tragedy when a woman is in desperation and we can’t get to her and her children suffer because of it,” said Dr. Baker.
The League of Women voters is currently working with the Public Health Department and the City of Amarillo to develop solutions to the problems.
Some of the proposals it will discuss with the City on May 3, is possibly inserting information into water bills to give recipients information about where uninsured pregnancy women can access prenatal care and how to access the Medicaid application and assistance.
Another proposal is providing assistance with completing the Medicaid application by making more resources available for uninsured women who seek a pregnancy test at the Amarillo Public Health Department.
The event Thursday evening will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Alamo Center, located at 1502 S. Cleveland St.
The entire community is invited, especially community, church and social services organizations who come into contact with the uninsured.
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