By Evan Washington
For Kimberly Broomfield-Massey, improving Black maternal and child health outcomes is about connection.
“People are people, so when you are providing services, you have to remember that you are providing services to people and not just talk at them, but to connect with them,” she said to the audience gathered for her session at the 11th annual State of the Public’s Health conference on October 27, 2022.
Broomfield-Massey presented the Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative’s work to enhance the health of women and children during birth and early childhood by providing services such as home visitations, referrals to health and social services, parent and breastfeeding education and support, mental and emotional well-being services, monthly peer support groups and postpartum education.
Services are delivered by a care coordination team of individuals based in the community and who are the same race as the families they serve.
“When you build a team that is culturally respectful and culturally reflective, then that becomes someone that they develop a relationship with and they begin to listen to, and then they begin to value,” Broomfield-Massey said.
Georgia has the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, at 46.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. For Black mothers, the rate is 4 times higher than the U.C. average.
In Fulton County, where AHSI operates, infant mortality rates amongst the African American community are more than 2 times higher than the national average, said Broomfield-Massey.
Black participants in this initiative have lower rates of preterm births, low and very low birthweight births, and maternal and infant mortality than nonparticipants in Fulton County.
The success of the initiative may serve as a model for organizations and researchers exploring community-based methods for improving maternal health outcomes.
For Broomfield-Massey personally, the work stoked her passion for improving the lives of the families in Fulton County.
“I started this work as just someone there to collect data,” Broomfield-Massey said. “I learned about their mission, and it hooked me, and once you know that an organization is doing something, and they are really making a difference and care about the people their working with, then it really ignites something in you.”
