The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services held an event Sunday promoting maternal health and programs to help at-risk Black women who are pregnant, or have recently given birth.
The event, held at White Oak Community Recreation Center in Silver Spring, offered seminars highlighting challenges for pregnant women, and county programs to support them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, maternal deaths overall are rising in the United States and, among Black women, that number is especially high. In 2021, Black women were 2.6 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
Angeline Bell with the county’s DHHS told WTOP that the “Right from the Start” event was designed to empower new moms with tools to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy throughout their pregnancy.
Bell said it’s important that expectant mothers know what questions to ask their doctors and to advocate for themselves as they navigate the health care system.
“Sometimes we find that woman don’t know the right questions to ask, and they don’t speak up,” she said. “We want them to speak up and continue to speak up.”
Beyond Sunday’s event, Montgomery County also promoted the Babies Born Healthy Program (BBH), which connects at risk African American women who are pregnant with resources, such as:
- Prenatal education
- Mental health screening
- Transportation to prenatal care
- Cribs and car seats
Unlike the S.M.I.L.E. (Start More Infants Living Equally Healthy) program, which also tends to Black mothers in the county, the BBH program focuses solely on those most at risk — both geographically and economically. To qualify for BBH, expectant mothers must be:
- African American
- Montgomery County residents living in ZIP codes 20903, 20904 and 20906
- Recipients of Medicaid
To apply call 240-777-3118 to apply and schedule an appointment.
WTOP’s Joshua Barlow contributed to this story.
