Happy Mommies Healthy Kids Inc. is our non-profit organization that supports efforts to improve the lives of mothers and their children. We have created videos to encourage parents to make healthy lunches at home for school-age children, encouraged literacy activities, and hosted the "Ultimate Game Night" for families at The Orlando Science Center. In addition, we hosted volunteer opportunities at the Ronald McDonald House to create care packets for new mothers with all the supplies they need to bring home a new baby. We also made meals and fun activities to support current families with sick children utilizing the facility.

  • Jamilah Channel is a proud native of The City Beautiful, Orlando, FL. She is a graduate of the great Bethune Cookman University with a Degree in psychology. She is a DONA (Doulas of North America) and Commonsense Childbirth trained Birth and Postpartum Doula; she is a lactation advocate, a midwife assistant, a Newborn hearing screening technician, and the Lead Family Research Navigator for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development study at the University of Alabama site.

    Jamilah is the wife to Andre Channel and the mother of 2 amazing children, her son Ase’ and her daughter Na’ima. Jamilah is very passionate about advocating for individualized maternal health care and the well-being of families during the postpartum period. She finds courage and strength through learning and honoring black history.

    She is excited to educate others about the physical and emotional care of an expecting parent before, during, and after childbirth, hoping that one day, it may save a life.

 

The Root of It All

Understanding the Inception of the Black Maternal Health Crisis

Since the Black maternal health crisis was officially brought to light, we constantly hear the statistic that Black women are 3 times more likely to die during birth and postpartum compared to their white counter parts. It has also been stated that it doesn’t matter their economical or educational status, The only thing that causes them to die at a higher rate is simply the color of the skin that they were born with. Nothing they can change, nothing that can be added or taken away is the single deciding factor on their probability of surviving childbirth.

When presenting these statistics it is rarely accompanied by the cause of why this is happening or even the solution of how this issue can be resolved. The statistic is constantly stated and presented with no thought on how it may actually affect a currently expecting person and their unborn child. “Unless you heal the root of a problem, the pain will not go away. You can hide from it, but the problem stays until you dig deep”. — Leon Brown

Digging deep to the foundation of Obstetric and gynecological care reveals the horrific truth of why the cause of the black maternal health crisis is currently an issue today. The root of it all leads to Dr. James Marion Sims. Sims is considered the “father of modern gynecology” He invented the vaginal speculum and the surgical procedure to repair vesicovaginal fistula which is an issue that causes pain and urine leakage after childbirth. These are great things that have made a difference in women’s health, but the deeper issues are that he used enslaved black women for his research, running test and trials on Anarcha, Lucy, Betsey and other women who weren’t even given the dignity of having their names recorded. We honor them as the mothers of gynecology since their bodies were sacrificed against their will for the advancement of medicine. Sims somehow came up with the notion that black people could endure pain better than their white counterparts. This belief led him to experiment on these women without the use of anesthesia. His misleading thought process has continued through systemic racism and has brought us to the current state that we see in maternal health care today.

Knowing that ancestral trauma is real and can be carried down from one generation to the next my hopes are to leave you with a since of peace and actional steps that can be put to use to end this black maternal health crisis and to reclaim birth to be the empowering and positively life changing experience that I know it to be.

The first thing that can be done is to educate yourself on what your options are when it comes to your care during pregnancy and delivery. Find a pregnancy and childbirth class that is being offered by an unbiased entity like evidence based birth, Lamaze or the Bradley method.

Secondly hire a Doula. A Doula is a birth worker who provides physical and emotional support for expecting and postpartum families. Experienced Doulas have connections to resources and information that can make navigating the maternal health system easier.

Lastly speak up. Rather you feel uncomfortable during a prenatal, you have pain or discomfort and you are not sure about it, you feel mistreated by any type of staff or medical professional please say something, and continue to say something until you are truly heard. You don’t have to suffer in silence physically or emotionally. Your wellbeing is worth way more than the concerns of someone’s feelings being hurt. Remember you are worthy of proper treatment regardless of your skin tone, economical status or your educational level. The simple fact that you are a living and breathing person who is bringing life into this world makes you more than worthy.