{"id":127212,"date":"2024-08-13T14:30:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T18:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/?p=127212"},"modified":"2024-08-13T14:58:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T18:58:17","slug":"how-montclair-state-universitys-public-health-experts-are-helping-address-maternal-and-child-health-maternal-mortality-and-maternal-morbidity-in-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/2024\/08\/13\/how-montclair-state-universitys-public-health-experts-are-helping-address-maternal-and-child-health-maternal-mortality-and-maternal-morbidity-in-new-jersey\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can be Done about the Maternal Health Care Crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ÌÇÐÄvlog has been at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/nursing\/2021\/02\/16\/nurturing-equitable-health\/\">forefront of illuminating maternal and child healthcare<\/a> for years and preparing a healthcare workforce with the knowledge to help address the growing problem of maternal mortality and morbidity, an increasing concern across the United States, which far exceeds the number of <a href=\"https:\/\/tcf.org\/content\/commentary\/worsening-u-s-maternal-health-crisis-three-graphs\/\">maternal mortality rates<\/a> of all other industrialized nations. The University also is working to develop the current maternal healthcare workforce.<\/p>\n<h3>Maternal health statistics<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>With the <a href=\"https:\/\/worldpopulationreview.com\/state-rankings\/maternal-mortality-rate-by-state\">fourth-highest maternal mortality rate<\/a> in the country, New Jersey has placed a growing emphasis on maternal health.<\/li>\n<li>The numbers are higher for <strong>Black women<\/strong> who are three times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related complications.\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.gov\/health\/maternal\/morbidity\/mhh_reportcard\/reportcard_new\/index.shtml\">https:\/\/www.nj.gov\/health\/maternal\/morbidity\/mhh_reportcard\/reportcard_new\/index.shtml\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Up to 60 percent of these deaths are preventable, according to national data, says Montclair\u2019s Assistant Director for Maternal-Infant Health Policy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/profilepages\/view_profile.php?username=wodnickj\">Jill Wodnick<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What Montclair experts say about maternal health<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cThe state of maternal health is in desperate need of transformation,\u201d says Wodnick, a perinatal educator and doula mentor at Montclair and former member of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women\u2019s Global Prenatal Initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Whether looking at maternal morbidity and mortality rates or how many infants survive until their first birthday, \u201call of those indicators that are used by the CDC [Center for Disease Control] that are used by federal and state governments, the indicators for consumers show that maternity care is inequitable, unjust and unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>\u201cMaternal health requires bigger structural changes that allow early, consistent access to prenatal care.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/experts\/dr-stephanie-silvera\/\">Stephanie Silvera<\/a>, Professor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/public-health\/\">Department of Public Health<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a member of various federal and state task forces, Wodnick says she is fortunate to work on systems to improve maternity care in New Jersey. \u201cMontclair brings to the table a diverse, inclusive, incredibly interdisciplinary approach to complex issues that we can\u2019t be reductionist about, that we have to be thoughtful, intentional and collaborative about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Taking action on maternal and child health issues<\/h3>\n<p>To that end, Montclair\u2019s Department of Public Health, part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/\">College for Community Health<\/a>, has created the <strong>PHAST-Track Institute<\/strong> to <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">focus on \u201cbuilding and supporting public health workforce capacity and capability.\u201d PHAST stands for Public Health Advancement, Scholarship and Training.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_521\" class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mlt-responsive-image\" data-original-image=\"\/cchl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/125\/2024\/08\/Stephanie-Silvera.jpg\" src=\"\/responsive-media\/cache\/cchl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/125\/2024\/08\/Stephanie-Silvera.jpg.0.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Professor Stephanie Silvera is interviewed by a TV reporter.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Public Health Professor Stephanie Silvera is interviewed by NJ Spotlight News. (Photo by Erika Bleiberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The brainchild of Public Health Professor Stephanie Silvera, the Institute held its first conference this summer, convening state and community partners to discuss maternal and child health.<\/p>\n<p>Such collaboration between institutions, community organizations, and professionals to address maternal and child health issues are necessary, says Silvera, adding that a more diverse healthcare workforce can better serve underserved communities, which is key to addressing health disparities. While the state now requires implicit bias training for all maternal healthcare workers, she says there\u2019s more work to be done.<\/p>\n<p>Among the topics covered during the Institute\u2019s conference were bias training for health care workers, developed by the State\u2019s Department of Health, and the role of fathers in maternal and child health outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Another benefit of working with community partners, Silvera says, is creating research, internship and employment opportunities for Montclair undergraduate and graduate students.<\/p>\n<p>Workforce development for professionals will continue to be the focus of the PHAST-Track Institute, which will address an array of other critical public health topics, according to Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health Lisa Lieberman.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the PHAST-Track Institute, Montclair will offer asynchronous courses to those in the healthcare workforce. Silvera says she\u2019s excited about making the courses accessible to people who have not had an opportunity to obtain a college degree.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>I&#8217;m a ______, tell me more&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Prospective Student \/ Parent:<\/strong> Learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/\">Public Health and other health programs,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/admissions\/visit-us\/\">plan a visit<\/a> to our campus and take the first step in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/apply-to-montclair-state\/\">applying to become a Red Hawk<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media:<\/strong> Contact the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/contact-media-relations\/\">Media Relations team<\/a> for assets or to schedule an interview with our public health experts about this topic. See more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/faculty-experts\/\">Faculty Experts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/media-kit\/\">hi-res media assets<\/a> available for download.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ÌÇÐÄvlog has been at the forefront of illuminating maternal and child healthcare for years and preparing a healthcare workforce with the knowledge to help address the growing problem of maternal mortality and morbidity, an increasing concern across the United States, which far exceeds the number of maternal mortality rates of all other industrialized [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":304,"featured_media":127213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-214_public-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127212"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127217,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127212\/revisions\/127217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/cchl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}