Mississippi Today - Laboring with Hope Interview

For immediate release - April 20, 2020

In the last two decades, Nakeitra Burse has lost three family members to pregnancy-related deaths — her aunt, sister-in-law and newborn nephew. Fed up with living through the grief without seeing change, she decided to take the narrative into her own — and her community’s — hands and produced a documentary about what it means to be a black woman giving birth in Mississippi. The outcome is a candid, deeply felt profile of community support, grief, fear, and ultimately, hope. “Laboring With Hope” follows the stories of Burse’s family as they recover from and re-frame the grief that pervades their family and community. Burse is candid about the traumatizing effect of retelling these stories, but says it was also cathartic to name her family’s pain and their recovery process. She adds that, “It was too easy to cast this.” For Burse, her family’s experience represents a snapshot into a bigger story, and begs the audience to reckon with inherent racism in the medical system that allows black women to die at a higher rate than their white counterparts. And forces the question: why? A crucial goal with her project is to stop talking about the problem and start looking at the causes and paths forward.“As a public health professional who has done research, but who is really entrenched in the community, the narrative is important to me — for people to have their voice,” she says. “We know what the (maternal mortality) problem is, but we don’t want to talk about it. Part of it is racism in the health care system and that’s hard for people to talk about and it’s hard for people to address and grasp.”

Burse also prioritized putting a face to the devastating maternal mortality stats and trends we see, and says as a black mother herself, it’s important to have autonomy over the narrative, while lifting up voices of those most impacted. “It’s so important to me because being in public health in Mississippi you see all the dollars that come here. They (outside funders)come here to do all types of work and when its over they leave and there’s nothing left for the community,” she says. “Then there’s this narrative about Mississippi that continues to be perpetuated — poor, sick, all these things — but what people don’t get is the actual context behind it.”That context is crucial, Burse argues. “You don’t see these local stories of women like my aunt, who was also an educated black woman who had a job and had insurance, or my sister-in-law who had the same story. (In the media) you’re not seeing all of the different types of women that this impacts,” she says, noting that it’s not just uninsured low-income women who die during childbirth. “There’s a broad spectrum of women that this impacts and it’s not just a small subset, it’s everybody.”For audiences, the documentary is not just a tool to evoke emotion, but more of an action tool, she says. Each screening is accompanied by a panel and her goal is to encourage conversation and impact maternal health policy. “This is an opportunity to do something, not just for my family, but for black women, period.”See the trailer here and If you’re interested in learning more about the documentary or want to inquire about bringing a screening and discussion to your community, contact Nakeitra Burse.

Magnolia Medical Foundation to Offer Doula Services to Expecting African American Mothers.

For Immediate Release – April 27, 2020
Contact: Dr. Erica Thomson | magnoliamedfoundation@gmail.com | (601) 613-3737

JACKSON, MS. – Magnolia Medical Foundation of Jackson, MS has begun a project to improve health outcomes for African American mothers and babies.
“Doulas and breastfeeding have been shown to improve health outcomes for African American mothers and their babies,” said Dr. Erica Thompson, Executive Director of Magnolia Medical Foundation. “African American women are 3-4 times more likely to die from birth related complications than white women; and African American babies have the highest rates of infant mortality. This project will aim to decrease these grim statistics through a comprehensive strategy focused on evidence-based practice.”
Efforts will focus on increasing African American mother’s access to doula services, increasing the capacity of doulas to build a sustainable career/business, increasing community awareness of doulas, and increasing breastfeeding among African American mothers. The project is funded by a $295,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Jackson, MS.
Expecting African American mothers in Jackson, MS will be paired with a doula for the duration of their pregnancy and up to 12-months postpartum. The MS ACE Project will also establish a centralized web-based location for Mississippi doulas and lactation consultants to register their businesses and services. Additionally, the project will employ a media-based educational campaign to provide timely and factual information to support doulas and breastfeeding as necessary components to infant and maternal health outcomes.
“This systems level effort will work alongside other community efforts to address the issue of infant and maternal mortality in Jackson, MS and beyond,” said Dr. Nakeitra Burse, Program Manager. “By increasing access to necessary support services and ensuring that doulas have the capacity to sustain and function as a business, we expect to not only improve health outcomes, but also support mothers in having a memorable pregnancy and birth experience.”
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About Magnolia Medical Foundation

Magnolia Medical Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 to provide preventive health services to high risk and underserved individuals and communities. For more information, visit www.magmedfound.org.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti.
For more information, visit www.wkkf.org