Ep.5/ Maternal Health Disparities and Myth of Black Hyper-Fertility In General Society And In the Black Community with Yvonne Ortiz
Maternal Health Disparities and Myth of Black Hyper-Fertility In General Society And In the Black Community with Yvonne Ortiz
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Note: This transcription has been created with a help of an AI thus errors and mistranscriptions may be present.
Hello, maternal health 9 1 1. What's your emergency?1, 2, 3, 4.
Hi, I'm Dr. Jill Baker. I'm a wife, a mother, a community health scholar and executive director and a fertility coach. More than 12 years ago, I was on my own infertility journey. Since then, I've made it my personal mission to help anyone who is on their own journey to become a parent, as well as shed light on infertility and maternal health experiences of bipo women and couples.
Now let's begin this week's episode of Maternal Health 9 1 1.
Good afternoon, maternal health 9 1 1 listeners. This is your amazing host, Dr. Jill Baker, and I am super thrilled to have with me today my dear friend, sister, and colleague, the amazing Miss Yvonne Ortiz, who've I had the pleasure to work with for many years at Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine and all of the work that she has done in her role in the D E I.
Community. And so we're gonna talk about that a little bit as well. And so not only is she just a wonderful, lovely sister, then I found out that she was from the Bronx. And I was like, wait, what? I'm meeting somebody from the Bronx in Jersey. I don't, Yvonne, I don't know if you remember that.
I was like, where from? Oh
my gosh. .
And we were talking about, high schools. And, our family. And I, I still have family in the bx, Yvonne, I know you still have family there as well. . And so to have that, connection to, to our heritage and that very special experience of growing up in the Bronx, which you know it was, had its challenges, but it was also so much.
Beauty and amazing things. That And
joy. Yeah. And joy. Yeah. There's a lot of people when they think about the Bronx, they don't talk about that. It's like there's a lot of joy. A lot of love. Yes. In
the neighborhood especially. Yeah. Neighborhood love.
They used to, back in the day, the professor, which is really funny cuz look what?
What happened, you were called the
professor. Yeah. Cause
I was, my nose was always in a book. . Oh my god. See, I was the cool nerd. Like I could code switcher ,
I was also the nerd. I didn't have a cool name like the professor. I just got made fun of all the time. always . Or being on the porch with a book.
, that didn't go over very well.
But I was either on roller skates or my nose was in a book, one or the other.
See there? Oh, yeah. In skating. Yes. Roller skating.
Yes. I'm a little bit, I'm a little older than you are. I'm a lot older than you are. Skates back in my day had four wheels, a little more seasoned to get
That's real roller skating .
Oh my gosh. So see, we found out we have some, we have something else in common. And then I, we ended up, I don't know, we ended up somehow, talking about our our journeys into becoming mothers. . And then I remember sharing with you going through my infertility experience with my, the twins and then that led into a whole other conversation. I believe this was thir two years ago. . And I said, Yvonne, I need you on the show. . And so it has been two Yeah, two years Yeah. Of us trying to sit down together and have this conversation that I was like, this is a conversation we need to have.
So we're gonna talk
about it, we're gonna get into it today.
So I want to give you, your, your formal, introduction to the world so everyone knows who you are and the, and the work that you. So Maternal health 9 1 1 listeners, Yvonne Ortiz is the in inaugural Director of Diversity, equity and Inclusion at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, or Rowan, Sam, as most of us call it.
And as part of the division of Diversity, equity and Inclusion, her role is to guide the medical and scientific communities to create a teaching, learning, and working climate where everyone can thrive. And part of her work is to increase the diversity of the physician and science work scientist workforce, which we know is so important.
and she also prepares culturally humble physicians. I love that term, and researchers who cannot be realized without introspection and action. Regarding anti-black racism, bias, heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia to enhance medical practice, a former first generation college student from Bronx, New York.
Ms. Ortiz is the graduate of New York University and the College of Education at Brock's University, new Brunswick. Her passion for d e I in medicine stems from her experiences as a patient and also as a mother of. College age, young adults. As a family, we know the blessing it is to have doctors we trusts, and who listen.
We also know what it's like to not be believed, told your symptoms are not real or your pain is in exaggeration. We also know what it is like for healthcare providers to treat loved ones who do not speak English as a first language, like they are invisible, yet need immediate emergency care. All those experience have had lifelong consequences for health in general thriving.
And that is from the words of Miss Yvonne Ortiz. . In addition, she's a seasoned higher education administrator for 30 years and a presenter at numerous national conferences. Yvonne has been recognized for her professional and civic work in equity and justice, mental health, mentoring and intersectionality in L LGBTQ Q I A plus black and brown communities.
Yvonne is also an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. So without further ado, welcome Yvonne Ortiz to Maternal Health nine.
There's so many things we, we can talk about. And again, as I said I was very fortunate to work with you at Rowan Sam, and work on some of the d e I initiatives that you have been so integral in working on. But I also know one of the places that we are both very passionate about are maternal health disparities in this country.
And since this is my new show and it's called Maternal Health 9 1 1. So the first question for all guests is, why is maternal health an emergency from your perspective with all of your hats in this country in 2022?
Oh my goodness. , know this now, right? I have this information now, but I have to say, when I first became a mom and when I was trying to get pregnant and struggling I didn't know any of this, right?
I didn't know we were in a crisis in this country. The state of New Jersey, which is where I live now, and where I work has the fifth highest rate of pregnancy related mortality ratios in the country. When number five? Yes. And I
think it's, is it seven to one now for every Yeah. Seven to one. White woman.
There are seven black women that die in New Jersey.
Yeah. Even if you account for insurance status, socioeconomics, education in fact, a white woman and I wanna be clear, it's not to say that they're, that people in crisis aren't, don't come from all walks of life. And that's important. But yeah, a white woman without a, with a high school education without access to insurance, can fare better than a black woman with an education and insurance.
So we know that it's not because of those access issues. And that's something that, a story that we've been telling over and over again in medicine for a long time. And so I think when you start to become more aware of what's happening in your state, what, what's happening across the country, you start realizing, wait a minute what's happening here?
And when we start talking about this persistent these persistent perceptions racialized perceptions about human beings and how that impacts patient care I think you see it very clearly with regard to me to maternal health. . I think so many people are unaware of what's happening, and it is a crisis.
It is a crisis throughout the country. And just I've been surprised when I do professional learning and I talk about bias in medicine and maternal health and infant mortality are things that I use as examples to point to to talk about that bias isn't just about good and bad people, right?
It's about how these messages about human beings, how those things get internalized and passed down and passed on and people's practice, and then how they treat other people. ,
you raised a good point there because I think that's something that people think and I've had the pleasure of being able to teach medical students and also work with you on teaching them as well.
. And I think that part of it is that I can't be, if I'm biased or if I admit that I'm biased, then that means I'm a bad person and I don't see myself as a bad person. I would think it's especially for medical doctors in tra not saying that more advanced medical doctors don't think that way, but also, medical students feeling that way as well.
And if that's where you stop that, you just think to have bias and I don't have any biases or I treat everybody the same. It's about giving people what it is that they need, right? Not necessarily treating people the exact same way from patient to patient. Care does not look the same, right?
From patient to patient, depends on their symptoms, depends on who they are. Their ability and access to be able to follow the instructions of their healthcare providers, et cetera. All those things, go into account, right? So we don't treat patients the same, but somehow when we talk about bias, there's this like kinda wall sometimes of no, I, and no, I don't have any biases.
And if we stop there, we're unable to see, why maternal health is at a point crisis in this country. We're unable to see that. We're unable to. The very real conversations we need to talk about solutions because we just, stay there. That person just didn't get good care. But we don't talk about the ways in which bias drives how it is that some people are treated and others are not so much and or listened to or, symptoms, when we talk about them, people aren't believed and things like that.
So I think we've also worked hard on trying to give very kind of tangible examples. And we've also had we've been able to, you and I together worked on a number of maternal health kind of seminars where we had the students like listen to, men and people who lost their wives and their partners in this, maternal health crisis for bipo couples and.
So I, I think there's a shift. I think you would know that more than me, but I think it's been us, I think being creative in finding ways that what has happened before in education before is not really working right now. Because these disparities are not, have not changed. , I don't know if you agree or disagree.
I think I mean I know the disparities haven't changed much. And certainly not moving in the direction that they, that we need them to be. I think that there's growing awareness. Aftershock, the documentary on Hulu certainly was Omar
Mayard, who was on our panel
two years ago.
And we had a panel discussion on aftershock the Monday before Thanksgiving here at the School of Osteopathic Medicine. One of our panelists, Dr. Carla Clements who is a nurse practitioner and also one of the producers for a documentary coming up called Listen to Black Mamas that focuses specifically on New Jersey and the maternal mortality crisis here in New Jersey.
And that's coming out soon. So it's a really great discussion. And so I'm, I have some hope because I think there's more people talking about it. It's getting out more into the mainstream where everyday people are talking about it. I had a professor here at Rowan's main campus actually emailed me personally to say, I'm really glad that you're having this panel discussion and talked about his daughter's struggles and and this particular faculty member is white.
And he said, I want people to understand that, that this affects all of us. Because when, we talk about bias, I think one of the things that comes up is race, but there's also the gender biases. Yes. That come up. And I'll talk about that a little bit later on in, in recounting some of my daughter's experiences as well.
So I love that there's a shift happening and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I also had a Dr. Neil Shaw is gonna be on the show when we were having a conversation as well. So shout out to Dr. S Shah, who's also in After Shock. And shout out to Amari Maynard, who is, just a trail bla trailblazer and just turning his pain and loss into activism.
And I know I heard from a lot of students personally when they heard Omar's story and his, wife dying, what, four weeks after giving birth to their second child, . And so think in that, in the real time and them listening to people who care and who are, comfortable with sharing their stories I, I was moved when I had the students reach out to me and say, I'm so glad that you all had that as programming.
, I didn't know, I didn't know anyone who experienced a loss like that. . And it, it's going to make me be a different kind of, Doctor in the in the future. Absolutely.
Yeah. And I do wanna give a shout out to the National Coalition of a hundred Black Women, the South Jersey chapter.
I'm
so glad you said that. Marguerite Hall. Yes.
And Dr. Hall came to me and connected me with Dr. Clements and told me about Listen to Black Mamas. Yeah I'm excited. And
you connect me to Dr. Hall and Dr. Hall's gonna be on the show yay. It's about supporting each other and I, I'm feeling like the Jersey community is just really engaged and connected in this work.
, I'm happy about that as well. It's exciting. So let's flip it, not flip a little bit but in the same vein and kind of talk about infertility. Because at the disparities with, infertility and, black women suffering from infertility twice as much as, white women are.
And those disparities are not changing either. So why do you think we are having the disparities that we are seeing for black women?
Why what do you think are some of the factors? I don't I definitely think stress, racialized stress, I think is it's, I know it's very real. It's a real thing and you carry that in your body. And I think. We don't talk about it. We don't talk about it. I think for myself, and I can only speak for myself.
I assumed I'd be fertile. I assumed that I'd be able to have my own biological child when I wanted. So did I and
I thought it was just a box that I was gonna check with all the other boxes.
Yes. And when I realized, so I had done and I'll talk a little bit about my infertility journey at the same time to give some context to what I'm saying.
I had done most things in my life growing up. In the way that society says that you should. And when I say, should I'm not being judgy. I'm putting that in like scary quotes. I studied hard, I got good grades. I went to college. I did well in college. I went to graduate school. I met somebody that I thought I was evenly yolked.
Box box, yes. Checking box. And I got married. got married despite the fact that I had very real concerns about marriage after watching my parents divorce, but I always knew that I wanted to be a mom. Yeah. The marriage thing, I was kinda like, eh, yeah. Yeah. Initially, but I was like, okay lemme give this a shot.
But I always wanted to be a mom, right? Yeah. But I planned on doing so later in my career, I was fresh outta graduate school when I got married. I was 23. I was young. I was super And super young and And so I plan to, be married a while before we had children get, get to a certain point in my career, which was in higher ed.
So I started off in housing.
And that sounds like a good plan cuz we know now on the other side, but once the kids come you're like, dang, I should have had more time for myself.
And and I assumed at the time that I wouldn't have challenges getting pregnant and it would happen when I wanted.
And why would, do you think I can't really describe right, , can't really describe, like when I had this kind of shift in focus in my twenties I had already been married a couple years and I started thinking that maybe waiting wasn't such a good idea. Despite the fact that my husband and I both were wanting and working towards terminal degrees.
And I was also working full-time in a demanding role and I was living on a college campus cuz it was one of these live on-campus roles. Special position, right? Yep. And and so I had an unsuccessful pregnancy in graduate school when we were engaged and we weren't ready. And I, when it didn't work out, I had a mixture of sadness, but also relief.
And so once, we decided to start trying. And we were married, we tried for a year, and I didn't get pregnant, right. And I started to feel really guilty about my reaction. The first time when I got pregnant, when we were engaged I just started feeling guilty that I had any sense of relief.
It was like I was sad, but I was relieved all at the same time because I had these plans. I had these plans and and we continued to try. We tried for almost two years of trying and just, I tried everything I could. Unprotected. I was reading in
inter course two years. Yeah.
yeah.
Yep.
Yeah, two years. I was reading books, what to do to help your body Prepare for pregnancy. I was taking all the vitamins, watching my diet not for the purposes of losing weight to help with fertility. I was doing all the things if you would've told me, I think at one point back then they said, if.
Stand on your head, like for 20 minutes a day, like after intercourse. I would've done it. You get to that point, like I literally, cause it's so long was like, I was willing to try just about anything. So I pregnant at that and at that point, yes. And still nothing. Yeah. And I finally, it took me almost two years to even discuss it with my pri with a physician.
What do you what made you wait until two years to go to
your doctor? I was in disbelief. I was like, because during the course of those two years, I started to, every once in a while share with very select people that I was having trouble. And they were like, oh, you'll be fine and you'll be fine.
You just, you're too stressed out. It's that career you have. It's that job you have, right? Like you just need to go on a trip and you'll be fine. Did you have complying that somehow it was within my control or, the challenges you have way too much stress in your life. It's this career that you've chosen.
You live on campus, you're running around with college students all hours of the night dealing with emergencies, mental health emergencies, all kinds of things. You have too much stress with your career, right? And again, implying that it's in my control, it's my fault. And I even got comments like, there's no way you can be infertile.
You're in, you're Puerto Rican. It's that comment. And I was like, what? Yes. So somehow I'm genetically I immune right? To being infertile. Like what? And so I just had, I carried a lot of guilt, right? And a lot of shame. And that is still a myth and. . Yeah. And my primary care doctor at the time was a black woman, and I finally, she was like, is there anything you wanna discuss?
And she was wonderful. And I was a healthy person. I didn't have any medical challenges, so I didn't necessarily go to the doctor all the time. Because I didn't need to just for regular checkups. And this particular year, I remember her name was Dr. Joanne Williams. Shout out to her. She used to be the director of Student health at Emory University.
Emory, shout out. I worked at the time. Williams. Yeah. Yes. I'm not even sure she's still practicing. She's also a facul was a faculty member at Emory UHS Med School. And most wonderful person. And that finally, that, that day I just started crying and said, I've been trying to get pregnant and I can't.
And I just
Oh, yeah. Been, I know. That cry. That
cry. She was everything. Like she was so helpful in this whole process. And so that's finally when I was referred to a fertility specialist. Do you
think that things would've been different for your outcome with your infertility if you didn't have Dr.
Williams as your doctor at that time?
Yes. And I say that because she was my cheerleader, right? Like she really was my cheerleader. When I think about. infertility among bipo couples. You know what you asked before? I think that the challenge is we don't talk about it. We don't talk about it.
So we I know from myself and my husband then we felt very isolated. Yes. We didn't have peers to talk to about this. First of all, we got married so young that most of our peers weren't married and weren't having babies at that point, weren't thinking about having babies. So our friendship circle, They were in a whole other part of their life compared to us.
And that's why I mentioned how young I got married and stuff. So we were outliers in that respect. But in general, like support groups, things like that. You don't walk into a support group seeing people of lots of people of color, black and brown people in these support groups talking about, we're having trouble conceiving and what that's like.
And the comments from family. What do you mean? Your grandmother had 10 children and and those, cuz he would get those comments, and surely there's nothing wrong with him. It's me. It's me. To the point where initially the fertility specialist didn't even, and granted this was a long time ago cuz my kids are now 24 and 22.
So that gives you a sense of how long it's been. But they didn't even check him. What They didn't even, no. And I was just like, wait a minute, so it's just on me.
Star check. No.
Testing the screen. Not initially, no. Like it took I was just, and so that's where I think my primary care physician was so helpful because she would say, when's your next appointment?
I want, I wanna check in with you after that appointment of what they said, what you should ask, what maybe you could ask based on what they told you. And so she really was really helpful. I love that. Helpful. And just took an interest and a care for us both me as her immediate patient, but also with him of, would you like him to come to part of your appointment so that I could talk to both of you about how you're doing with all of this, and.
and he wasn't initially her patient, he actually loved her so much. He wound up switching primary care doc and she became his primary care doc too. But she was just so wonderful. Like I literally hands down, she is one of the best physicians I've ever. Oh my goodness.
Hands down. And then at the same time, so not only was she providing you with such an immense amount of care and care for your husband , but she also showed you how to advocate for yourself. . Cause there always, there, there's a constant theme of in these situations, particularly with infertility and pregnancy, that you have to advocate for yourself.
And she knew, working at Emory, she knew the kind of stressful job that I had dealing with mental health and college students.
I'm a very empathetic person and so that's stuff that would stay with me. I'd have sleepless nights and so she would tell me, I want you to keep a notebook by your bed. And it's something I still do. And when you can't sleep and you're like, your mind is racing and you start thinking about all the questions you have for your doctor and you think you're gonna remember, I want you to write it down, I want you to park it there and then do these things to try to go to sleep, and then and park it there. And and that's the list that I would bring to my appointments with my doctor and and what about this? Or I heard about this, or, and yeah. And she
had and reason the worst that you're still Oh my gosh. So you're still using it now? Yep.
I'm
still doing it.
Yeah. And this, and we talked earlier about stress. Stress does not help anyone trying to get pregnant. . But then when you're going through infertility and I can say this particularly for the woman because you feel like it's on you , that you feel helpless. And you can't help but stress out.
But the stress is so counter to the whole out ultimate outcome of trying to get pregnant and then the stress of being a woman of color dealing with racism and discrimination in your daily life. And I always think of the, weathering phenomenon from doctor Geronimus and the cumulative stress that has an impact on women of color.
And then continues to have an impact on fertility and pregnancy outcomes. . . So the educated woman of color, this is exactly why we have issues with getting pregnant. . Yeah,
absolutely. It's a lot to carry in our bodies and yeah. .
So what was the, so once you had this two year mark of not successfully getting pregnant so what was the kind of the next step for you all in, in your process?
So we and I have to say this people were listening. I don't want to,
I don't want anyone to feel like I'm comparing, or don't compare your story with mine. We. . I mentioned I have children. They I did give birth to my children. I have the privilege of being able to eventually get pregnant and have two successful pregnancies. And so it's not, I'm not comparing right.
Our fertil, our infertility that process really abruptly stopped. And what I mean by that is that, as I was, monitoring my ovulation as I was continuing the things that I was doing with my diet and stuff like that, things that the fertility specialist was suggesting they also have the conversation with you about, other treatments and what it's gonna cost.
That, and that is not covered by, I. Back then it wasn't right. I don't know, what people's situation. I know that there are more now, there are more options, places of employment that cover it, but back then it was not covered. And I had impeccable health insurance at the institution.
I worked and it was not covered. And so that's why I say it stopped because financially we couldn't afford any of that. There was no way. And I remember I had just an overwhelming sense of sadness that I was like, I've gotten all this education, I'm doing all this work, I'm doing all the things that people said that you're supposed to do.
And the thing that I actually wanted more than anything else is to be a mom. And in my mind, you can be a mom in many different ways, but in my mind, I'm like, I pictured myself being able to have a baby, physically have a baby, right? Carry, have a baby. And yes, I can't do that. And I was devastated sister and was trying to figure out how to tell my parents mm-hmm. and my grandparents. Did they know that my maternal grandparents, they know you help raise me? Did they know you were, they did not know any of this? Did they know? I didn't tell any of them. Okay. I didn't say a word cuz I didn't wanna deal, not that they would certainly it would be from excitement, right?
I didn't wanna deal with the pressure so you guys are trying, you have anything to tell me? Like, Like I didn't wanna deal with that and so I just didn't say anything. So I think they probably assumed, no, they're just caught up in their careers in school and, they're just, they're not thinking about that.
So I didn't, to their credit, I didn't get pressure from them, but I also refrained from telling them the struggle. Because I think I just kept hoping that it was just gonna work out. . And and so I finally decided, we were living in Atlanta. My family is in New Jersey and in New York, and decided that I would take a trip home.
And during that trip I was taking the trip solo. My husband wasn't coming with me. And that, during that trip I would actually tell them that we're, we've been trying and we're having trouble. And that I wasn't sure that I'd be able to have a baby. And that's a heavy load. Yeah. And it came at a point where I hadn't had my cycle for several months.
And so I remember going to my fertility specialist cuz I had a regular appointment and saying, Hey, I haven't gotten my period. I really think I'm pregnant. I feel this, I feel that, I feel these things. I think I'm pregnant. And they did a pregnancy test. They didn't do a blood one, they did a urine one and it was negative.
and the person came in and they said, you know what it is that you really wanna be pregnant. And this is not uncommon for women to almost feel like they're having symptoms, like they're pregnant, but they're really not. You just wanna be pregnant so badly. And I was like, what? That doesn't even make any sense to me.
But okay. And I took that and so that appointment had just happened just before I went on this trip. Got it. To see my family. So I'm walking with that and I remember when I told my grandmother, I had it all prepared they're gonna be so upset. And my grandmother was like, No miha, you'll be fine.
And it was just like denial. Yeah. You're in denial. And my father was like, oh, you'll be fine. And he is, shout out to my dad, he was like, one of those, you just need to go on a trip, you'll be fine. And I was like, what? I was like, alright, all right. Look at all the love. Nobody is reacting the way you thought that I'm expecting.
And I just remember thinking feeling heartbroken. Wow, y'all are really not hearing me. This is a problem. And okay. And I remember a cousin, her children were visiting and I was roughhouse playing with them and little boys and I'm playing with them and I remember my grandmother like, Miha, take it easy.
Be careful. And I was like, wait, what? I was like, I'm fine. Whatcha are you talking about, healthy 20 something year old, roughhousing with some younger cousins and And it actually turned out that I was actually right. I was pregnant. But when I finally found out, I went to my primary care doctor, I said, look, I've always gotten a cycle.
They're telling me my, my, the fertility place is telling me, no, you're not pregnant. And cuz I had taken some other pregnancy tests at home and it wasn't coming up in my urine. It wasn't coming up in my urine. I said, but I haven't gotten a cycle. I don't know what's going on.
She said, come into the, I had called her and so she said, come into the office. She said I'm not in the office today. Go see my nurse. They're gonna take your blood
because that's how we going know for sure. blood test. I
was not only pregnant, I was very pregnant. I was at the end of my first trimester.
Oh my goodness. With my daughter Ka. Yes. I was, yes.
People I didn't know. So the shock is real.
I'm, and I was like, I'm what? And I remember oh my gosh. Her nurse called her cuz I was waiting and she said, do you wanna just sit here and wait while they, do the labs? And I said, yeah, I'll just wait.
I'm sitting there. I'm like, I know what they're gonna tell me. They tell me I'm not pregnant. Like I was so used to just so many tests, so many tests. And the negative, the million negative tests I wasn't getting myself worked up. And I remember. A nurse walked in with balloons and my doctor, she ran from the other side of campus she was dealing, was in a meeting on campus.
Cause she's the director of student health as well. And she ran in and she was like, honey, you're pregnant. I was like, what? And then she was like, you wanna call your husband? And she's like dialing his, so yeah, what a way to find out. Yeah. Yeah. I was very pregnant and then it was like, thank goodness I had been taking lots of vitamins and stuff to prepare my body.
That was a good thing. Because you
were already taking the prenatal vitamins and everything.
Oh my God. Yeah. I was already.
I cannot believe. I'm so glad you didn't tell me that until now. .
Oh my gosh. Gosh. And in the course of this, I had a miscarriage at 1.0.
Leading up to scream. It had sorry. And I had a miscarriage actually after both my children when I was well into my thirties. Yeah. So I would've actually had four children. Oh, not too.
. my gosh. Just
but yeah, I I made all the mistakes and so I think that's part of why, when you asked me if I'd come on to the show, I said yes, because I think more people do need to talk about it.
Cuz I just kinda, would cry at night, cry to my husband, we'd cry and then get up and. and do it again, masking, because
it's going go through your day. It's a battle. , it, is battles. Like you have to get up every day and do the whole thing all
over again. Yeah. And there were people at work like, you're so young, you have time.
What are you doing? Why are you trying to get pregnant? Who don't do that? Who don't realize the struggle, the struggles I was having? And would just say, but you have such a promising career. You're on the track to be a president one day. What are you doing? You're gonna mess up your career. And I was just like, some things are just more important.
And for me, this is the choice. I'm making everyone out there. When I am breathing my last breath on this earth, I'm not gonna regret that I didn't become a college president, but I would regret that I wasn't a parent. And that's where I was. And I was just like, this is what it is.
This is. This is where I'm at. Yeah. And I think we have
to
be careful about not judging people about their reasons for why they want to start a family when they want to start a family.
All right. Cause people were just like, you're so young, you got married so young. Why'd you do, like, why'd you get married so young?
Why'd you my, yeah, my husband and I would get those things all the time. Wow, you guys are superstars in your areas and why'd you get married so young? Why are you starting to have kids so young? And I was, and this experience just, it teaches me you cannot take for granted that you can have children whenever you want.
And it really impacted also my supervision of when I supervise people and have teams that I work with of just trying to be a really supportive supervisor of you write your own story and when you wanna do that, I support you. Because the last thing you need is, extra pressure at work.
That never helps, when you're trying to start a family no, that never helps. Put first things first and work is not first,
but you too. Were actually on the right path because the time that we as women of color and black women think that we have, we really don't. We don't . And it's really the sooner you start the better we are still trying to figure out, okay, how are we gonna make our career goals work around this goal of being a mother.
Absolutely. Story of
yes, but there's, yeah, there's a place, there's a place in the, there's, if, in our exper with our experience, and it, for us, it was over two years of.
everything. Unprotected, sex, medicine, the whole shebang. Two and a half years. But I wouldn't change anything about that experience because I know that if we didn't go through that experience, I wouldn't be here doing what I'm doing now. But one, but I would have started trying to have kids earlier just to lessen the overall burden of the emotional more.
More so the emotional burden of the experience of trying to get pregnant.
. So I got married at 23. I had, I gave birth to my first child, Kama at 28, and I had my son Esteban at 30. Oh,
that's
beautiful. And they are big people now. And now they're enjoy them when they're little. Go fast. You keep saying that so fast.
I feel like Yes. I'm trying to tell them you've been, I'm an empty nester now and it feels so strange. I'm just like, I don't have anybody to cook for. And I'm like,
when am I gonna get to the point I don't have to cook for
these kids? I, my son was a very early riser as a child. Very early riser, emphasis on the very
It didn't matter if he went to bed at seven or 10. Yes. He was still waking up at five. That's my daughter, Jim. Yes. And you feel this little hand on your face and he'd be like, good morning mama. And I was like, oh, good morning iste. And he's mom, I'm hungry. And I'm like, okay honey. And one morning and we literally would be sitting there like three hours, just me and him, which I grew to treasure cuz it was just time with the two of us.
, before his sister and his father would wake up and his sister was a night owl. She was the total opposite. . So I had a night owl and an early riser and I was like in between the two. I didn't get a lot of sleep. And and I said one day I said, is that one, why don't you ever wake up Poppy?
And he was like, oh no, because Poppy's sleeping. And I was like what the heck doing . You don't think I was like that asleep? And in those moments I would just remind myself, no, I really wanted this experience. And I was like, and it is.
Yep. So now I'm, I
have a, it's a very sleepy experience, you I
have a do-over with all that, with Amari, with the youngest one cuz he's an early riser and he always comes to me first for the morning hug.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was like, oh no, Poppy's sleeping. And he said that once in front of his father and his father's yeah, that's right. I was like, . I was like, you gotta be kidding me. And I was like, alright, that's our special time. So I'll take it. I'll take it I'll take it. And yeah, that's, it's actually a beautiful thing.
It's some of my best memories with him. And now he's in college and has a full beard. Oh my gosh. I know. They've been taller than me since they were 12. Oh, not that's hard. Like just over,
fairly five feet Gem is taller than me now. I'm five one too now. The other two will be next. I'm sure. I'm sure.
I'm sure. So let's talk about Kama a little bit. . And you know what? Going through or whatever, you whatever. You are comfort. I know you and I have had personal conversations about this, and I was Yvonne, if you wanna share, we can share. Yeah. Is she, uncomfortable and
Yeah. So my daughter, yeah.
And I've gotten permission from her. Perfect. So she's 24. She turned 24 on Halloween. She was born 24 on Halloween night. Yeah. She was born on
Halloween. Happy beta birthday.
And I'll say this, I didn't get into my pregnancy with Kama. My pregnancy with Kama was a C-section.
Okay. And I was in labor for 47 and a half hours. And I realized later on that shouldn't have been the case. That's very long. That they shouldn't have allowed me to go through that as long as I did. I didn't get an epidural until about an hour 36. Wow. Yeah, because I was trying so hard. I had.
Just went through so much to get pregnant. That I was just deathly afraid of taking any medicine. Like I wanted to have natural, I wa I tried and I remember I broke down in tears and my husband looked at him and I said, I'm so tired. I was like I can't. He was like, it's okay. It's okay.
And I was just bawling crying as they're giving me this epidural. And and I had a tough experience with Kama in terms of, there were points. Her heart rate would take a dip and then would go back up and . So they finally were like, we need to do a C-section. And I learned from that experience.
I was like, take that s off your chest. Stop trying to be superwoman, right? And just get the epi delivery and labor will take a day,
get the epidural off your chest real quick. .
And and I got the real bad chills with the anesthesia, so they had to strap me to the table cause I was just so cold.
So the first time I nursed her, my, my husband is the one that held her to my bosom because him and the nurse, because I was literally trembling so much. Yeah. But with Thete, I was able to have a vaginal birth after a c Csection had a I had a V A C and Oh, that's amazing. My son was born in Athens Regional Medical Center in Athens, Georgia.
My daughter was born in Atlanta. At that point I was working at the University of Georgia. And and so we had a different practice and some of the experiences I had with going to a practice where there's multiple physicians Yes. And you have to get to know all of them. And that wasn't the best experience.
There were some doctors I loved. I went through that. Other
doctors with the twins. Yep. We were, I always had a different
provider. Every visit and I just, I hated it. Yeah, I didn't like that. And the, and there was, and we, my husband and I said at the time I say my husband at the time, cause I'm divorced now after 22 years of marriage, but we're we co-parent really well and and I remember he and I looked at each other and I, we said we like everybody except this one doctor.
I was in labor so long that initially when I went into labor, he was the head of the practice, a black man. We adored him and we were like, yes, we got him. We struck gold. This is who's gonna deliver our baby? It took so long he went off. Cuz they rotate, off rotation. And then it was the doctor, we couldn't No.
And I remember after that, he just really lacked the emotional intelligence that you should have as a physician.
I'll just, especially if you're delivering babies. Yes. Can we just say
that? . Yeah. When he said, we're gonna have to have a C-section because, and these are, I need to talk to you about some of the potential, things that can happen with a C-section.
And he said, and one of those things is you could die, but he said it just like that. And I was just like, and after being in labor for 40 plus hours, I was just I lost it. I started crying and stuff. So Kama, so it was a very eventful Yes. Delivery, traumatic birthing situation with Kama and with his semi, it was a feedback 12 hours.
Oh. I was like, oh, this is a piece of cake. I was like, this is great. I was like, gimme those food meds. Let's go . I was like, this is great. , and we went to a practice where it was just one doctor. That's who I was gonna have. Yes. No matter what. And that was just all the difference in the world.
Esteban gained a lot of, I didn't gain a lot of weight with either one of my pregnancies with my daughter. I actually lost weight initially because I was vomiting so much. Yes. Cuz I had such bad morning sickness with my son. I didn't. But with both of them I didn't gain a ton of weight. Healthy weight, but not Yeah.
Like a lot. And and yeah, and his doctor was phenomenal. But I say all that to say that, from those birthing experiences, I tried to raise my children in such a way that I was pretty open about talking about reproductive health and, why these things were important and, and was pretty open with my children.
Not necessarily inappropriate. And but. Pretty open with my kids and talking about that. And and we were told by my daughter's pediatrician at the time that if she wasn't sexually active, that she didn't need to go to an OB G Y n, that she could get her care from her pediatrician.
This is what we were told at this time. Okay. So my daughter was 17 and was not, didn't have an ob GYN rather didn't have an a gyn. She just would see her pediatrician and still hadn't made the transition to finding an a, adult care doc. Yeah. At that point she had been having stomach issues periodically vomit sometimes with just, with only nausea, sometimes also with vomiting.
Oh. And at this point my. Then husband and I, we were separated. We were living separately and the kids were spending a week at my place, a week at his place going back and forth and the stress of all that she was in high school. My daughter was a year round athlete, so she was in hip top shape, very active track.
She ran summer and spring track and was super fit. And she started her cycle later than I did. I started my cycle very early, very young. And so did my mom and she didn't, and we were always told, because she was a year round athlete, that was normal. Okay. And we didn't think anything of it.
So she didn't start her cycle till she was 14. Ok. Actually 13, but she was about to be 14. Ok. But was somewhat irregular with her cycle. And again, was told that. That was normal. So when she started having these stomach issues we initially didn't think a lot of it, we thought maybe it was stress from what was happening in our family.
But this particular day her father dropped her and my son off at my house. I was not there. I was finishing up brunch with some former students and and my ex-husband called me and said, Hey, want you to know that the kids are at your house. And Kareem was having one of these bouts with her stomach again.
So I was like, okay I'm paying my bill and I'm, I'll be home in 15 minutes. And when I got home, she had uncontrollable vomiting. She couldn't even hold down two ounces of water. I tried to take her to urgent care and they were like, we're concerned that it might be an appendicitis.
Take her to the er. So I try to take her to the ER of the hospital that's literally across the street from the urgent care. And they don't wanna take her cuz they said in Austin if a person is under the age of 18, you need to take them to the pediatric hospital, which was across town on the other part of Austin.
Wow. So she could barely walk. She was in so much pain. Now I said she's a year-round athlete. Tough cookie. She actually allowed her brother to carry her and put her in the car. She's the older sister. So you need to understand the dynamics of that so that, older sibling is not allowing her to do that.
Exactly right. And so we, are turned away at the first hospital. We go to the pediatric hospital. She brought into the er, they check her, it's not an appendicitis. She continues to vomit, can't hold down any fluids. They have to give her an IV cuz she's so dehydrated and they can't figure out what's wrong.
They give her pain meds. It's not, she's still doubled over in pain. So they wind up admitting her. They do every GI test. Known to humankind. They also do an ultrasound initially and a regular ultrasound. And they said, we saw a small ovarian cyst, but it's really small.
We don't think that's the cause of any of this. And so they proceed to go through all these GI tests and so they bring in a GI specialist and he, after a week's worth of testing, we can't get her a week in the hospital. We can't get her pain under control a whole week. She's miserable a whole week.
She's not eating. Because for a lot of these tests, she can't eat. So she is having a whole lot of Powerade to this day. She won't drink Powerade anymore from my goodness ordeal. She's Powerade, Gatorade, I'm not drinking it. And she's an athlete and she's I can't do it. I just can't. And and fast forward, the GI Doc is like, Hey, this is not a GI issue.
And so the care team the lead doc is yeah, we can't figure out what it is, but it's not a GI issue. And I said what about that ultrasound that you mentioned? There was a smaller variances. Oh no that's nothing. And then they start, the hospital starts pressuring us to release her.
What? Because they're like, this isn't a GI issue. The thing with the cyst, you can go see your own gynecologist. I'm like, she's not established with a gynecologist. A whole week. And so they're like a whole week. And so they say
let's oh so they start pressuring us to, to release her. And that has its own level of stress because you've got people coming to our daughter, when we happen to step out, her, her like her dad or I happened to step out are you ready to go home? And she's what do you mean go home?
Like I can't barely walk and I'm in horrific pain and you haven't figured out what's wrong. And she's in tears cuz she feels like nobody's listening to her. Oh. Oh my goodness. At one point. , one of the physicians is like, is it really as bad as you say? I just can't imagine that this is really that bad.
We can't find what's wrong. So therefore you can't really be, you're being dramatic. You're a teenage girl, you're being dramatic, teenage girl of color. All of those things going, things hanging and just, yeah, like you're being dramatic. It's not that bad. And saying stuff like that to her. And so her father and I are livid and we wind up getting another care team cuz she's been in there over a week.
So the care team changes and when the new doc comes in there, he's going by what he's been told. At one point I lose my temper in the hospital cuz I'm so infuriated that people aren't helping my daughter. And I'm. Seeing her miserable as
a good mother
would tears, right? And they send a social worker to talk to me and the social worker comes in and she says I understand that you're afraid of your daughter being sent home cuz you don't know how to care for her.
And I was like, this is not about that. I'm inept as a parent. This is about that. My daughter's in pain, she's been in pain. You guys can't figure out what's wrong and she can barely walk. How are you gonna send her home? And then scare us into thinking like, your insurance is gonna pay for this if the doctor doesn't think it's necessary for her to be right.
We were like, this is ludicrous. And I'm thinking to myself, this is happening to us. We have insurance. We speak English as our first kids. You're educated. We're educated. None of it matters. My, my ex-husband at the time worked for the mayor Oh. Of Boston. And this is happening
to us.
Political connections.
Doesn't matter. And I can only imagine what happens to other people. And and I remember, yeah. So that portion I
have to ask, was there ever a point where you were like, this isn't about racism, or did you all feel at that point? I was
like, this is clearly, I didn't start off that way.
I initially said and her GI doctor was fabulous. Was really fabulous. But he was like, I, this is not a GI issue. Like it's not, I've done all the things. It's, this is not that. And he was great. Her nurses were fantastic. But just that first care team, I was like, oh my goodness, nobody is listening to us.
And so when this new doctor comes in from the second care team, he starts with, I understand that you. They were talking about releasing her. You have concerns, and he's repeating some of what he said. And I said, look, I said, my concern is nobody has figured out what's wrong.
And when I bring this cyst that they saw, they just don't talk about it. They're just like, oh, it's no big deal. Whatever. But yet you haven't really explored that, but you don't have any answers. Right? And she's miserable and she's in pain. And now we're, I feel like we're being bullied to, so this is
to figure it out, the pain myths of women, children of color not being listened
to.
And, not that you've gotta be superwoman, but just to be clear, my daughter plays college rugby. My daughter is a year round athlete. I remember she broke broke a finger in the middle of a basketball game. She broke a finger. She kept playing and she didn't tell anybody cuz she was like, I'm gonna win this game.
Stop. Stop. She kept playing and so this person, this, my child is sitting there bawling in pain and because I know that about her, I'm like, something wrong. Seriously wrong.
Your daughter is super strong.
And I'm just like, nobody is listening to me. And I remember telling this physician, look, she came.
I understand that with childhood obesity and all the things, you don't know her. You're seeing her. My daughter is a year round athlete.
She has, she came in here with a six pack. She has a small baby bump right now. Something's wrong. Her stomach. Look at her stomach, and that's what got him. And he was like, what? And so fast forward, he had another physician listen to her stomach and the physician said, there's something wrong. He said, her stomach sounds like a drum.
It should not sound like that. And then the other the physician who was now leading the new care team, he said, the problem is that we're gonna need to do an ultrasound. Another ultrasound. He said, the problem is we don't have a GYN on staff. This is a pediatric hospital and it's religiously affiliated.
and I was like, I don't understand. How is it that any hospital girls have girl parts and they don't have to be sexually active for their girl parts, tubes, uterus? I was like, so what does that have to do with anything? And I'm like, and meanwhile I have no choice but to bring my minor to this hospital because I tried to go to another hospital and you wouldn't let me.
But now you're telling me you don't have the specialist that she needs. No. You don't even have them on staff. So now you've gotta call GYNs all throughout the city to see if they are willing to come to look at my daughter. No, after she's been in here over a week. Are you serious? And so what was their response to that?
At that point, I think they just all knew they just had to take it. Cuz I, that point I probably had yelled at probably, and let's make almost
every doctor that came in there, other than let clear, if you didn't keep, if you and your ex-husband Esteban, if you didn't keep advocating for her over and over and not give
in, they would've released her.
They would've released her. And my daughter. She it turned out so they ordered a ultrasound and I remember when they came in they were preparing for the ultrasound and I realized, I said, wait a minute, what kind of ultrasound is this? And they said, A transvaginal ultrasound. And I started crying and I started, because my daughter Virgin.
And her father had this blank look cuz he didn't. And I said, I told her dad, I said, that's not that kind of ultra ultrasound deer. He, his eyes opened up and my daughter has no idea what's hap she's what? What's happening? And as a mom cuz they insisted that we really have to do this to be able to get a better look they had to do.
I knew that was true, yes. But just for my daughter to have that experience and be a virgin, and I remember I laid into them because I said, it's very kind of just careless and thoughtless that you didn't put two and two together. Like not all teenagers are sexually active.
And and you assumed that this wasn't gonna be, she may not have had that
she needed to be prepped. Ever been ex, ever been exp she
needed to be prepped for. So after that that the transvaginal ultrasound she the doctor was able to find a GYN that would come to see her.
He had a hard time because most people were like, you've had her in there for how long? They're like, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. I want no parts. Oh my goodness. And and the person who's her, g y n now, Lisa Carter had been doing surgery all day and said, I've been doing surgery.
I'm really worn out. She said, I'm gonna send one of my associates over. And her associate came over. She talked to my daughter, she talked to. Kareema's dad had had to go back to work cuz this is weeks and days of not being at work. And at the time, president Obama was in Austin that day.
Oh my goodness. And so he needed to be at work. And so I remember he was at work and I was trying to reach him, but Dr. Carter's associate came in and and talked to her, checked her, and then went outside and said she needs surgery right now. The ovarian cyst had started leaking and it was leaking so badly that in surgery her appendix was stuck on her right ovary.
So they were able to keep her right ovary, but it was damaged. They removed her appendix, they removed the cyst, but my daughter went into distress and surgery. My daughter almost died. And my goodness. And when she when they were finished they told me and her father, and then, we talked with her and the doctor later that they thought her fertility may be compromise as a result.
That's a lot for anybody, but that's a lot for a 17 year old single girl. And I just, I can't help but always wonder if you would've listened, if you would've done this sooner, could some of this been prevented that it wasn't quite this bad? She unfortunately, from that surgery, several weeks later, Wasn't feeling right.
Had kept saying, I don't feel right. I don't feel right. Initially I thought, it's just the trauma of everything that she went through. And it turned out that she had developed, just so much scar tissue and stuff. She was trying to was cleared to go back to trying to do sports.
Actually it was not weeks later, it was months later. Okay. She was doing sprints for volleyball tryouts at this point, she's a senior, cuz this happened in the spring of her junior year. So we struggled with her going back to school cuz she could fish, she would walk like she was a little old lady.
So people at school were just shocked because they knew her as a person who was like the anchor on the track team. And they finally went to state after never going to state for so many years and, just used to her being so fit and fast and she's walking like an old lady. With a cane and can't really move and gets winded really easily.
And so when it was time for her to try out for the volleyball team, she could barely do anything. And honestly, they put her on the volleyball team because they felt like she just, she earned the right to have that spot. Yeah. But she wouldn't have made it otherwise. They're like, she's a senior. Yeah, she's been on the team since a freshman, but she barely played.
Yeah. And so when she was doing her drills and doing sprints, she felt a tear and she doubled over in pain and we had to rush her to the hospital from practice. And she wound up having surgery yet again. Again to remove all the lesions and scar tissue that had developed in her abdomen because the first time around they didn't tell us that that getting Pelvic floor physical therapy is really important when you have any kind of abdominal surgery.
Oh yes, I know. I was never told that when I got my C-section and for years I would be in pain or I
was, I wouldn't feel right. Right. I was only told that after I had the twins and I had to do yeah, I didn't know I would have to do that, but yeah, I did that too. But who would know that? How would
you know that?
So if you bring this that you've never heard about pelvic four or physical therapy? No. I'm telling you now, you need to advocate for yourself and you need to ask for that. And so we, we got that after the second surgery, but that's not something we knew about or were told about or Yes. Told we needed to do after the first so this second situation could have been prevented.
Oh. Gosh. Yeah. And so it's just, that's a lot for a 17 year old to carry. She . When she went to college, she decided she wanted to major in biology and either be a nurse or a doctor. Oh my God. She has since changed her mind. After a few years and a really nasty bout with microbiology.
She's you know what, I think I'm gonna be a teacher. . Yeah. And I think also hearing about some of the stress that my med students go through, she's eh, oh my
gosh, she's such a fighter. Yeah, she's a fighter. Yeah.
And thank you Karina for asking, letting
your mom sharing your story with the
world.
Yeah. She said she wasn't ready. Cuz I remember asking her, I said, Dr. Baker wants to know if you, she's I can't. Yeah I understand. I'm not ready. And I, I think,
I think when people hear her story and think about, fertility and just how we, I think take for granted that people are young, are gonna be healthy. They're gonna have, be able to have babies, they're gonna be able to do all the things, and we assume that they're fine.
I remember, fast forward, like we had to drop a lot of her really accelerated classes because she was, had to, she missed so much school. Yes. And up until this whole incident, she had actually never missed a day of school. Like in years I was that parent that was like, I have a fever.
You're not bleeding. Bye. You're good. Let's go. You're going to school. I was that parent. So my kids very rarely ever miss school. And literally Kareema had a perfect attendance until this first incident, right? But she missed so much school that it actually put her in danger of not graduating cuz she would, didn't have enough seated hours.
So we had to start okay, fifth year Spanish, don't need it to graduate, get rid of it, don't need it for college making, just making the bare bones. You pee this. Yeah. Make it just, it's gotta go because it just, the stress of all of it, she wasn't sleeping, she was just having a really hard time, having a hard time with the medication.
And from all of this, she wound up developing a gluten allergy. Okay. Which the GI doctor says is actually, can be pretty common. Okay. When you've had these kind of surgeries and stuff and just trauma to the body, that stuff like that can start to happen. Then she was having stomach issues, so yeah, she has a gluten allergy and so we've had to, she was always a, she's been a vegetarian since she was eight.
She's an animal lover, but we had to change her diet significantly because of the gluten and going through a fad VA diet for a long time of, trying to find what the allergen was is
a struggle. So another issue from
Yeah. All kind of byproducts of this whole nightmare. , but she's healthy.
She's yeah. So
how is she now? How is Kareema
now? She's making her way. She's doing well. My son's doing well. Yeah, they're young adults and really proud of the humans that they have become. They are truly the best of both me and my ex-husband. And I'm really grateful for both
of them. Yvonne, thank you for this talk.
Before we go with all of these things said, and all of your own experiences and that of your daughters, and thank you so much for sharing that with me and the world, and please tell Kama thank you so much because there's gonna be so many people who are gonna, going to benefit from her story and her experience.
With all this said my last question, is there anything you want to share that you think we can be hopeful about regarding infertility and ma maternal health disparities in this country?
I think raising the level of awareness, I'm hopeful about that. And more people are talking about it, I think as patience and as loved ones talking about it, to support each other and to create that tribe right of support is hugely important.
And I know for me what would've helped is being able to talk about it with people who understand the intersections of having these kinds of experiences. Yes. Both within infertility people not listening and putting your fertility at risk. Understanding the intersections of race and gender and just, thinking about how racial trauma affects the body and being able to have a tribe that understands that and talk about that.
But I think, there are medical schools that are working to, including my own to co to create truly culturally humble physicians, right? That know that they're not perfect and they're never gonna have it all figured out, but are certainly working really hard to try to do that and to better listen to their patients to be able to provide them great care, right?
No matter who they are. And and so I'm hopeful about that. Like I , I know here at s o m, I've not encountered any kind of resistance, if you will, to okay, what's going on in the curriculum and what can we do differently to create a next generation that's prepared and how do we prepare our faculty who didn't have, for example, L G B T right.
Plus health, as part of their training. And how do we get them up to speed? How do we have these conversations or medical racism or any of these things, and prepare them about the history of race and racism and medicine. And bias isn't just about, whether someone's good or bad, bias in medicine. And what are the ways in which this shows up. So I'm hopeful about that. I'm, I have conversations with d e I colleagues across the country, at other medical schools, and so I, I am hopeful about that. About this work. It's tiring, but I'm hopeful. Thank
you, my sister.
Thank you so
much. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you
everyone for tuning in this week to this very special show. I'd like to thank my guest again, the amazing Miss Yvonne Ortiz and for sharing everything that we talked about today. I was here cry, crying. I don't know if everybody heard. So this is my first time crying.
I know this is gonna be a lot more tears on the show, but, this is hard. This is hard stuff, but it's important and we have to keep having these con conversations and we have to keep sharing with each other. Like the more we share each other with each other, the more we're gonna make real change.
In these disparities. I honestly believe that. Yvonne, before we leave, before I let you go, please let the listeners know how they can find or connect with you on your social media or whatever you wanna share.
Yeah. I'm a bit seasoned and I will admit that I'm probably not on social media a ton, but you do have social media, but I do have social media.
YT Ortiz is my Instagram handle. I don't really tweet. And also on LinkedIn, Yvonne Terella Ortiz and then certainly you, you can also find me at Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine on our. My
emails on there as well. Thank you, Yvonne, for sharing that so people can get connected with you.
And for everyone else, you can find the MH 9 1 1 podcast on the show on all platforms where you listen to podcasts and maternal health 9 1 1 on Instagram and Twitter. And you can DM me with your questions, thoughts, and how to share your fertility and maternal health story. And for more information on your podcast host, visit ww dot dr joe baker.com.
If you're listening on Apple, please leave a review because that helps the show to improve and I actually listen to your feedback. So thank you all once again, and thank you Yvonne, for being on the show today. Thank you. Peace everyone.
3, 2,
1. Thank you for listening to this episode of Maternal Health 9 1 1. Please follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Feel free to DM me with your questions and thoughts or to share your infertility, fertility, and maternal health story. For more information on this podcast and your host, visit ww dot dr joe baker.com listening to the show on Apple Podcast.
Please rate and review it. It really helps the show and the feedback is welcome.
Here you go.
Join Dr. Jill and Yvonne as she graciously and vulnerably shares with us her and her daughter's experiences and why we are adamant in stating that Maternal Health is an emergency in this the USA.
Some details to note from this episode:
Infertility Disparities
Infertility affects 10% of women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the U.S. (CDC, 2019)
7.4 million women and their partners are affected by fertility-related issues in the US (1,6).
Black women are actually twice as likely as white women to suffer from infertility, according to the most recent data from the (CDC, both from primary infertility (an inability to become pregnant) and secondary infertility (an inability to become pregnant after having conceived in the past).
myth of Black hyper-fertility in general society and in the Black community
“There persists an old, racist myth that Black women are somehow exceptionally fertile. (article- Annalisa Merelli on Quartz.co)
Dr. Joia Creer-Perry, 2018 “Race Isn’t a Risk Factor in Maternal Health. Racism Is.” Black women have always known: We can’t buy or educate our way out of dying in childbirth or having our babies die. Black women who live in affluent neighborhoods, receive prenatal care in the first trimester, are normal weight, and have advanced degrees are still more likely to die or have their baby die than white women in poor neighborhoods, with no prenatal care, who are obese, and don’t have a high school diploma.
About Our Guest:
TYvonne Torruella Ortiz is the Inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Rowan University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine. As part of the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), her role is to guide the medical and scientific communities create a teaching, learning and working climate that everyone can thrive. Part of her work is to increase the diversity of the physician and scientist workforce. Preparing culturally humble physicians and researchers cannot be realized without introspection and action regarding anti-Black racism, bias, heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia to enhance medical practice.
A former first-generation college student from Bronx, New York, Ms. Ortiz is a graduate of New York University and the College of Education at Rutgers University - New Brunswick. Her passion for DEI in medicine stems from her experiences as a patient and a mother of two college-aged young adults. “As a family, we know the blessing it is to have doctors we trust and who listen. We also know what it is like to not be believed, told your symptoms are not real, or your pain is an exaggeration. We also know what it is like for healthcare providers to treat loved ones who do not speak English as a first language like they are invisible, yet need immediate emergency care. All those experiences have had life-long consequences for our health and generational thriving.”
A seasoned higher education administrator for 30 years and presenter at numerous national conferences, Yvonne has been recognized for her professional and civic work in equity and justice, mental health, mentoring, and intersectionality in LGBTQIA+, Black, and Brown communities. Yvonne is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Learn more about Dr. Jill here.
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