Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1530620
56 maconmagazine.com | December 2024/January 2025 Meet some of the dedicated professionals working to solve Georgia's maternal mortality crisis with innovative medicine, technology, and community outreach A h e a l i n g t o u c h m e a n s m o t h e r s t h r i v e BY JULIA MORRISON | PHOTOS BY MATT ODOM R eading the headlines on maternal health might feel alarming. The United States has the worst maternal mortality outcomes of any high-income country. According to the CDC, over 80% of these deaths are preventable. Closer to home, things appear worse. The Georgia Department of Public Health estimated that the pregnancy-related mortality rate was 35.69 deaths per 100,000 live births, higher than the national average and among the worst in the U.S. This is a crisis that particularly affects Black women in Georgia, who face maternal mortality rates more than double that of non-Hispanic white women. The announcement that Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey had dismissed all members of Georgia's Maternal Mortality Review Committee set off news stories nationwide as this article hit press time. This was a consequence of protected health data being leaked to investigative journalism outlet ProPublica. The public health department has said the committee will be reappointed, as soon as February 2025, to not disrupt the vital data of the committee. Looking beyond the headlines – there are reasons for hope. First, statistics around the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic were considered an anomaly, with pregnancy complications both caused by the virus as well as strain to the healthcare system. Maternal deaths have now returned to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, a paper attracting attention this year in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology by Joseph et. al. argues official U.S. statistics about the maternal mortality rate could be overstated. Here in Georgia, a network of practitioners, researchers, nonprofits, and care workers are fighting to make sure not a single mother becomes another statistic. This story highlights just a fraction of these thoughtful efforts to reach out to women within a labyrinthine health system and prioritize