In this segment host, Phil Tower welcomes Dr. Sonia Hassan, founding director of Wayne State University’s Office of Women’s Health SOS MATERNITY Network, a network seeking to end preventable causes of death in mothers and children.
SOS Maternity is a healthcare collaborative led by the Wayne State University’s Office of Women’s Health. It’s comprised of 14 maternal-fetal medicine universities and healthcare systems across Michigan.
Every two minutes, a woman dies of pregnancy or childbirth in the United States, and the latest statistics indicate the infant mortality rate in Michigan is higher than the national rate of 5.6%.
Dr. Hassan noted, "The SOS MATERNITY Network has created a statewide network of Michigan’s finest universities and healthcare systems to declare war on our terrible rates of maternal and infant mortality."
Learn more about the SOS Maternity Network
SOS Maternity is a healthcare collaborative led by the Wayne State University’s Office of Women’s Health. It’s comprised of 14 maternal-fetal medicine universities and healthcare systems across Michigan.
Every two minutes, a woman dies of pregnancy or childbirth in the United States, and the latest statistics indicate the infant mortality rate in Michigan is higher than the national rate of 5.6%.
Dr. Hassan noted, "The SOS MATERNITY Network has created a statewide network of Michigan’s finest universities and healthcare systems to declare war on our terrible rates of maternal and infant mortality."
Learn more about the SOS Maternity Network
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly programmed designed to inform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
In this segment, we are going to talk about an
important issue here in the state of Michigan concerning numbers
regarding maternal and infant mortality rates. In fact, if you
look at infant mortality for the State of Michigan twenty
twenty one, statistics show US thirty eight out of fifty states.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
We are not scoring well when.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It comes to protecting babies and especially maternal health and
infant mortality. That's why we are here to talk with
doctor Sonya Hassan. She is founding director of Wayne State
University's Office of Women's Health and also founding director of
the SOS Maternity Network, just created last fall, a new
(00:57):
network seeking to end preventable causes of in both mothers
and children. Here in Michigan, we don't tend to think
about it, but childbirth can be a very dangerous situation
and it can often end in death for either the
baby or the mother, or sometimes tragically both doctor Sonya Hassan,
Welcome to West Michigan Weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
So this has been a problem for some time. With
you as.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
A medical professional, you've been keeping your eyes on this.
Do we know why this is such a challenge here
in the state of Michigan. I'll start with that and
then we'll dive into why you created the SOS Maternity Network.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
You know it is. It has been a challenge for
many years, and that is really the worldwide. It's also
for sure nationally and then certainly in the state of Michigan.
And as you mentioned so rightly in the beginning that
pregnancy cannot is not always an easy thing. It's not
always safe and can be dangerous. Unfortunately in the US
(01:58):
we are really one of the most danger places they
have a baby at this point in the developing countries,
as you can hand to developing countries who developed excuse me, countries.
But there are things that we can do, hopefully to
change it. The reasons that we're surrounding both problems with
moms and baby dyings are complex. There's a lot of
reasons and some of them are medical and some of
them are related to social and the combination of both
(02:21):
working in that target range is very important and that's
what we hope to do with our network.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And the roots of the network actually started several years
ago in May of twenty twenty, which is doctor Sonya Hassan,
that's right in the middle of COVID and that obviously
presented another layer of challenges for infant health, maternal health
and so on and so forth. This I think a
(02:49):
lot of this has to be born out of just
awareness and education for mothers and for prenatal care.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Is education key component here.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah, education is a key component as well as the
appropriate care for women to be receiving and the most
evidence based and the best care also to be offered.
And so, as you were saying, the roots of our
network started in May twenty twenty where it was very
unique and that a number of maternal feed of medicine
or high risk doctors, so women with COVID were at
(03:23):
higher risk for early deliveries, high blood pressure and pregnancy
and just worse outcomes. And after we found that, we
decided what kind of things can we do in the
next step, and we wanted to go and really attack
the biggest problems that we face, which is infinite maternal mortality.
And so the group got together and became what is
now called the Synergy of Scholars for Maternal and Infant
(03:46):
Health in Michigan or SOS Attorney Network. And that really
also speaks with the urgency of the problem. And we
really wanted to focus on the two things that are
the leading causes of infant mortality and maternal mortality, and
that is early deliveries as well as time blog pressure
and pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, and this is pretty impressive, doctor Sonya Hassan. You've
gotten together fourteen leading maternal fetal medicine universities also healthcare systems.
It's not easy to get big bureaucratic health care systems
and medical universities together. Talk about that process. Obviously, uniting
around this important issue had to help. How did you
(04:27):
seek to put together the SOS Maternity Network.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
So it was a really wonderful experience because we really
found that these places, even though you know they're competing institutions,
you would think it wouldn't be as easy to do.
Not that it was easy, but it was certainly the
desire was there. By all of them got together and
said we're going to for this issue come together, And
what was even more amazing was that we put together
(04:53):
a pregnancy care bundle, which really got together all of
the doctors in this area and for us to agree
on a lot of things easy too. So we did,
but we did very very very easily and agreed upon
the same protocol to be applied at every institution for
each pregnant woman that's in this program. And that process
(05:13):
really showed that there are bureaucracies that prevent things from
happening that we sort of just have to push through,
and everyone involved sort of is trying to do that.
And I think that's the way we're going to make
strides is to recognize where we have roadblocks because of
just things we've done in the past, but to advance
forward with what we want to do for the care
of these moms. But it's been going to have to
(05:37):
happen with such a network because of the wide range
of issues that we're facing and Detroit and beyond, and
with regard to the diverse population as well within the.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
State, women of all different backgrounds.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Doctor Sonya Hassan have births and socioeconomic factors.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Play a role there as we mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Education can play a role where they live, even access
to quality healthcare can play a role.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
A lot of factors here. What are some of.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
The biggest obstacles you are seeing on the southeast side
of the state, and do some of those translate here
in the Greater Grand Rapids West Michigan area.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So absolutely all of the challenges that we see in
Bugancy go across all parts of the state, and we
see that, you know, the three things that were the
main pillars I would say of SOS are really trying
to attack those things. And number one is getting the
best evidence based care and best medical tests to every patient.
(06:37):
And that that does may sound obvious, but that is
something that in medical research. It takes ten years for
something that's been discovered in research to work to get
to a patient into the community and actually be part
of practice. And that's really very, really too long for
something that we know is work. And so we have
(06:57):
those things that can prevent early delivery and free climes,
and that's the number one thing of what we're doing
is trying to get those practices and tests to the
mom And the second thing is access to care and
so whether that means transportation or getting the medication to
the patient in an easy manner. That is the the
number two thing. And the third thing is having a
(07:19):
patient navigator accessible to them or a person that is
in the clinic or the hospital system who can help
navigate the really complicated health system. That is complicated for anyone,
even those of us who are doctors, you know, getting
our own healthcare. You can you find that complication everywhere
you turn. So we are really trying to expedite all
(07:39):
of those three main things. And the challenge is of
the same in Southeast Michigan, is there on the Western
Michigan and Northern Michigan. And in some instances it's just
the way you approach it that is different in terms
of the way you solve the problem based in the
region that you're in. But the same problems exists, and
I think that's why this network work because we all
(08:01):
are really working towards the solution of the same problem.
It's just finding the right way to do it in
your health system or clinic or university. And that's what
we do every day, is trying to solve those problems.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Doctor Sonya Hassan is our guest here on West Michigan weekend.
She's founding director of Wayne State University's Office of Women's Health,
also founding director of the SOS Maternity Network, which is
barely six months old. As we have this conversation on
the radio, doctor Sonias, who continue to grow the network.
Getting the word out is obviously a big goal here.
(08:39):
You've got quite a collaborative as we mentioned earlier, fourteen
of the best maternal fetal medicine, the universities, also healthcare systems,
the big ones across the state, including Corwell Health here
in West Michigan, and they're all a part of this.
But getting the word out, making sure you're speaking to especially.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
The single moms.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
The latest statistic I saw, or at least a statistic
from the last ten years, said nearly forty percent of
births here in Michigan are two single mothers. That's another
set of challenges itself. But getting the word out, how
are you making sure beyond this radio view the interview,
which is a good process, people know about the SOS
(09:22):
Maternity Network, and obviously the universities in the healthcare systems
play a big part in that as well.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Right, absolutely, yes and yes, and thank you again for
having us on the show. Is because it is things
like this that are important for people to find out
that this exists. We are going through a lot of
the physicians, their offices, their health systems and universities, social
media of course, our website and radio, ads and TV
(09:50):
and those things. But it's important that we try to
also reach those people who are not in a health
system or not at the doctor's office, because those are
people that made need this care very much. So it
may not even be coming in for female care. So
we are trying all avenues and that includes community groups, churches,
you know, other areas that might have people gather where
(10:14):
they may not be aware of these statistics and the
risk of pregnancies, and I think that's key as well, as.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You mentioned maternal health is very very important. You mentioned preclamsia.
I think a lot of our listeners may not be
familiar with preclamsia and that is a common condition during pregnancy.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
How common is it and what is it?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Doctor Sonya has Son So it is excuse me, It
is about I would say eight to nine percent of pregnancies,
and it varies based on your region that you're in.
But also it is the risks are to mom and
baby both, and it is really high blood pressure and
pregnancy that's diagnosed after twenty weeks and it is something
(10:55):
that is abnormal in the potenta usually or some sort
of mechanism there that we think, but there is some
mom and baby for growth problems for the baby and
for mom. Having high blood pressure later in life but
also during the pregnancy is certainly there, and we have
things that can reduce that risk by forty percent and
that is one of the treatments that we offer and
(11:17):
people don't realize it. It's a very simple thing to
take asprits and those things are being pushed by us
as part of this pregnancy care bundle. And again, the
number of things that should be done together in tandem
are just a few, but they if they're done together,
we think that that can make a big difference for
(11:37):
a person's pregnancy outcome.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
We've talked about some of the barriers to get into
best health care for maternal health care and obviously for
new borns, obviously socio economic, there are other factors where
geographic factors play into that. But let's talk about the
obviously well known racial disparities in maternal health care. Healthcare overall,
(12:00):
is the SOS Maternity Network addressing those doctors, Sonya.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yes, certainly there are racial disparities with regards to pre
term delivery, especially pre cherm birth rates, which Black women
having the highest rates, and we are addressing it really
across the spectrum because we are very fortunate to be
able to reach women from predominantly African American communities, but
also from Caucasian communities as well as the indigenous population
(12:27):
as well, and so we are trying to reach all
regions decrease the disparity, and some of that happens with
regard to the risk of those complications happening, but also
really sack this as well. So as I mentioned, for
one single person or one area, the complications with the
risks of the same to that individual, but the way
(12:50):
in which they are being treated may be require variation
in regard to what they is limiting them from getting
access to care.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Doctor Sonya Hassan is with us founding director of the
SOS Maternity Network, born out of the Wayne State University's
Office of Women's Health, where she's also the founding director there.
Doctor Sonny, I'm going to give you a chance to
look maybe three or five years down the road, you
have a crystal ball. What do you want to see
the SOS Maternity Network doing maybe in three or five
(13:19):
years from.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Now, you know. So, I would love that all pregnant women,
our SOS moms as we say to them, become an
SOS mom. We would love all pregnant women in Michigan
to become an SOS mom because we importantly think that
this is this is the way for pregnancy outcomes to
be improved. And also we would love the doctors and
(13:43):
physicians and health systems, all of them to be a
part of it too. So I think that we that
would be our goal and wish, and then after that
hopefully we could even give it national, you know, spread
as well.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
What's the best way for people listening to you and
I talk about the SOS Maternity Network here on this
conversation on the radio. What's the best way for people
to learn more? Maybe they want to, you know, be
an advocate on behalf of the program, whether they're hearing
ground rapids or maybe listening and lancing, how would you
recommend they get involved in support the really important things
(14:17):
you're doing with the SOS Maternity Network.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
So we have a website sosmaternity dot org, and that
will allow us firstly for moms to sign up to
become an SOS mom. Wait when you log on, and
then we also would love SOS partners, collaborators, supporters, as
achists as we continue to grow this in the initial stages,
(14:40):
we really want to grow it across the state.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Sosmaternity dot org. Sosmaternity dot org is the best way
to find out how you can become an SOS mom.
I loved your vision making sure that people know how
important this is. And and for those who are married
to a person who is going to give birth you
can support this as well that because healthy births and
(15:07):
reducing pre term births make Michigan a better state overall
in terms of healthcare. Doctor Sonya, is there anything I
didn't ask you wanted to share with our listening audience
Before we wrap up our conversation.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Again, I just wanted to thank again all of our supporters,
all of our collaborators and health systems and universities. They're
part of this, and the doctors that do it with me.
There you know I'm not doing this alone. They're all
writing this protocol and executing in their patients and very
dedicated to doing this. So to thank them for that
and for the advocate such as you that are bringing
them to life would be is really appreciated.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, I need to commend you on putting together the
SOS Maternity Network, doctor Sonya Hassan. This is no small
feat and it's quite an accomplishment. It's a great accomplishment
for our state of Michigan in terms of healthcare.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So congradt on that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And I hope to check in with you down the
road when things are going at even a greater rate
and more awareness, more people tapping into the network, that
would be a good thing. Overall, Thank you so much
for your time and your knowledge and for your efforts
on behalf of mothers all across the state of Michigan.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Thank you, Thank you Phil again for.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Having me doctor Sonya Hassan with us on this segment
of West Michigan Weekend. The founding director of Wayne State
University's Office of Women's Health and also founding director of
the SOS Maternity Network. You can learn more at Sosmaternity
dot oorg.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio.
This is iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan Weekend is
a weekly programmed designed to inform and enlighten on a
wide range of public policy issues, as well as news
and current events. Now here's your host, Phil Tower.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
In this segment, we are going to talk about an
important issue here in the state of Michigan concerning numbers
regarding maternal and infant mortality rates. In fact, if you
look at infant mortality for the State of Michigan twenty
twenty one, statistics show US thirty eight out of fifty states.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
We are not scoring well when.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It comes to protecting babies and especially maternal health and
infant mortality. That's why we are here to talk with
doctor Sonya Hassan. She is founding director of Wayne State
University's Office of Women's Health and also founding director of
the SOS Maternity Network, just created last fall, a new
(00:57):
network seeking to end preventable causes of in both mothers
and children. Here in Michigan, we don't tend to think
about it, but childbirth can be a very dangerous situation
and it can often end in death for either the
baby or the mother, or sometimes tragically both doctor Sonya Hassan,
Welcome to West Michigan Weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
So this has been a problem for some time. With
you as.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
A medical professional, you've been keeping your eyes on this.
Do we know why this is such a challenge here
in the state of Michigan. I'll start with that and
then we'll dive into why you created the SOS Maternity Network.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
You know it is. It has been a challenge for
many years, and that is really the worldwide. It's also
for sure nationally and then certainly in the state of Michigan.
And as you mentioned so rightly in the beginning that
pregnancy cannot is not always an easy thing. It's not
always safe and can be dangerous. Unfortunately in the US
(01:58):
we are really one of the most danger places they
have a baby at this point in the developing countries,
as you can hand to developing countries who developed excuse me, countries.
But there are things that we can do, hopefully to
change it. The reasons that we're surrounding both problems with
moms and baby dyings are complex. There's a lot of
reasons and some of them are medical and some of
them are related to social and the combination of both
(02:21):
working in that target range is very important and that's
what we hope to do with our network.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And the roots of the network actually started several years
ago in May of twenty twenty, which is doctor Sonya Hassan,
that's right in the middle of COVID and that obviously
presented another layer of challenges for infant health, maternal health
and so on and so forth. This I think a
(02:49):
lot of this has to be born out of just
awareness and education for mothers and for prenatal care.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Is education key component here.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah, education is a key component as well as the
appropriate care for women to be receiving and the most
evidence based and the best care also to be offered.
And so, as you were saying, the roots of our
network started in May twenty twenty where it was very
unique and that a number of maternal feed of medicine
or high risk doctors, so women with COVID were at
(03:23):
higher risk for early deliveries, high blood pressure and pregnancy
and just worse outcomes. And after we found that, we
decided what kind of things can we do in the
next step, and we wanted to go and really attack
the biggest problems that we face, which is infinite maternal mortality.
And so the group got together and became what is
now called the Synergy of Scholars for Maternal and Infant
(03:46):
Health in Michigan or SOS Attorney Network. And that really
also speaks with the urgency of the problem. And we
really wanted to focus on the two things that are
the leading causes of infant mortality and maternal mortality, and
that is early deliveries as well as time blog pressure
and pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, and this is pretty impressive, doctor Sonya Hassan. You've
gotten together fourteen leading maternal fetal medicine universities also healthcare systems.
It's not easy to get big bureaucratic health care systems
and medical universities together. Talk about that process. Obviously, uniting
around this important issue had to help. How did you
(04:27):
seek to put together the SOS Maternity Network.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
So it was a really wonderful experience because we really
found that these places, even though you know they're competing institutions,
you would think it wouldn't be as easy to do.
Not that it was easy, but it was certainly the
desire was there. By all of them got together and
said we're going to for this issue come together, And
what was even more amazing was that we put together
(04:53):
a pregnancy care bundle, which really got together all of
the doctors in this area and for us to agree
on a lot of things easy too. So we did,
but we did very very very easily and agreed upon
the same protocol to be applied at every institution for
each pregnant woman that's in this program. And that process
(05:13):
really showed that there are bureaucracies that prevent things from
happening that we sort of just have to push through,
and everyone involved sort of is trying to do that.
And I think that's the way we're going to make
strides is to recognize where we have roadblocks because of
just things we've done in the past, but to advance
forward with what we want to do for the care
of these moms. But it's been going to have to
(05:37):
happen with such a network because of the wide range
of issues that we're facing and Detroit and beyond, and
with regard to the diverse population as well within the.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
State, women of all different backgrounds.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Doctor Sonya Hassan have births and socioeconomic factors.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Play a role there as we mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Education can play a role where they live, even access
to quality healthcare can play a role.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
A lot of factors here. What are some of.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
The biggest obstacles you are seeing on the southeast side
of the state, and do some of those translate here
in the Greater Grand Rapids West Michigan area.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So absolutely all of the challenges that we see in
Bugancy go across all parts of the state, and we
see that, you know, the three things that were the
main pillars I would say of SOS are really trying
to attack those things. And number one is getting the
best evidence based care and best medical tests to every patient.
(06:37):
And that that does may sound obvious, but that is
something that in medical research. It takes ten years for
something that's been discovered in research to work to get
to a patient into the community and actually be part
of practice. And that's really very, really too long for
something that we know is work. And so we have
(06:57):
those things that can prevent early delivery and free climes,
and that's the number one thing of what we're doing
is trying to get those practices and tests to the
mom And the second thing is access to care and
so whether that means transportation or getting the medication to
the patient in an easy manner. That is the the
number two thing. And the third thing is having a
(07:19):
patient navigator accessible to them or a person that is
in the clinic or the hospital system who can help
navigate the really complicated health system. That is complicated for anyone,
even those of us who are doctors, you know, getting
our own healthcare. You can you find that complication everywhere
you turn. So we are really trying to expedite all
(07:39):
of those three main things. And the challenge is of
the same in Southeast Michigan, is there on the Western
Michigan and Northern Michigan. And in some instances it's just
the way you approach it that is different in terms
of the way you solve the problem based in the
region that you're in. But the same problems exists, and
I think that's why this network work because we all
(08:01):
are really working towards the solution of the same problem.
It's just finding the right way to do it in
your health system or clinic or university. And that's what
we do every day, is trying to solve those problems.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Doctor Sonya Hassan is our guest here on West Michigan weekend.
She's founding director of Wayne State University's Office of Women's Health,
also founding director of the SOS Maternity Network, which is
barely six months old. As we have this conversation on
the radio, doctor Sonias, who continue to grow the network.
Getting the word out is obviously a big goal here.
(08:39):
You've got quite a collaborative as we mentioned earlier, fourteen
of the best maternal fetal medicine, the universities, also healthcare systems,
the big ones across the state, including Corwell Health here
in West Michigan, and they're all a part of this.
But getting the word out, making sure you're speaking to especially.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
The single moms.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
The latest statistic I saw, or at least a statistic
from the last ten years, said nearly forty percent of
births here in Michigan are two single mothers. That's another
set of challenges itself. But getting the word out, how
are you making sure beyond this radio view the interview,
which is a good process, people know about the SOS
(09:22):
Maternity Network, and obviously the universities in the healthcare systems
play a big part in that as well.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Right, absolutely, yes and yes, and thank you again for
having us on the show. Is because it is things
like this that are important for people to find out
that this exists. We are going through a lot of
the physicians, their offices, their health systems and universities, social
media of course, our website and radio, ads and TV
(09:50):
and those things. But it's important that we try to
also reach those people who are not in a health
system or not at the doctor's office, because those are
people that made need this care very much. So it
may not even be coming in for female care. So
we are trying all avenues and that includes community groups, churches,
you know, other areas that might have people gather where
(10:14):
they may not be aware of these statistics and the
risk of pregnancies, and I think that's key as well, as.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You mentioned maternal health is very very important. You mentioned preclamsia.
I think a lot of our listeners may not be
familiar with preclamsia and that is a common condition during pregnancy.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
How common is it and what is it?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Doctor Sonya has Son So it is excuse me, It
is about I would say eight to nine percent of pregnancies,
and it varies based on your region that you're in.
But also it is the risks are to mom and
baby both, and it is really high blood pressure and
pregnancy that's diagnosed after twenty weeks and it is something
(10:55):
that is abnormal in the potenta usually or some sort
of mechanism there that we think, but there is some
mom and baby for growth problems for the baby and
for mom. Having high blood pressure later in life but
also during the pregnancy is certainly there, and we have
things that can reduce that risk by forty percent and
that is one of the treatments that we offer and
(11:17):
people don't realize it. It's a very simple thing to
take asprits and those things are being pushed by us
as part of this pregnancy care bundle. And again, the
number of things that should be done together in tandem
are just a few, but they if they're done together,
we think that that can make a big difference for
(11:37):
a person's pregnancy outcome.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
We've talked about some of the barriers to get into
best health care for maternal health care and obviously for
new borns, obviously socio economic, there are other factors where
geographic factors play into that. But let's talk about the
obviously well known racial disparities in maternal health care. Healthcare overall,
(12:00):
is the SOS Maternity Network addressing those doctors, Sonya.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yes, certainly there are racial disparities with regards to pre
term delivery, especially pre cherm birth rates, which Black women
having the highest rates, and we are addressing it really
across the spectrum because we are very fortunate to be
able to reach women from predominantly African American communities, but
also from Caucasian communities as well as the indigenous population
(12:27):
as well, and so we are trying to reach all
regions decrease the disparity, and some of that happens with
regard to the risk of those complications happening, but also
really sack this as well. So as I mentioned, for
one single person or one area, the complications with the
risks of the same to that individual, but the way
(12:50):
in which they are being treated may be require variation
in regard to what they is limiting them from getting
access to care.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Doctor Sonya Hassan is with us founding director of the
SOS Maternity Network, born out of the Wayne State University's
Office of Women's Health, where she's also the founding director there.
Doctor Sonny, I'm going to give you a chance to
look maybe three or five years down the road, you
have a crystal ball. What do you want to see
the SOS Maternity Network doing maybe in three or five
(13:19):
years from.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Now, you know. So, I would love that all pregnant women,
our SOS moms as we say to them, become an
SOS mom. We would love all pregnant women in Michigan
to become an SOS mom because we importantly think that
this is this is the way for pregnancy outcomes to
be improved. And also we would love the doctors and
(13:43):
physicians and health systems, all of them to be a
part of it too. So I think that we that
would be our goal and wish, and then after that
hopefully we could even give it national, you know, spread
as well.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
What's the best way for people listening to you and
I talk about the SOS Maternity Network here on this
conversation on the radio. What's the best way for people
to learn more? Maybe they want to, you know, be
an advocate on behalf of the program, whether they're hearing
ground rapids or maybe listening and lancing, how would you
recommend they get involved in support the really important things
(14:17):
you're doing with the SOS Maternity Network.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
So we have a website sosmaternity dot org, and that
will allow us firstly for moms to sign up to
become an SOS mom. Wait when you log on, and
then we also would love SOS partners, collaborators, supporters, as
achists as we continue to grow this in the initial stages,
(14:40):
we really want to grow it across the state.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Sosmaternity dot org. Sosmaternity dot org is the best way
to find out how you can become an SOS mom.
I loved your vision making sure that people know how
important this is. And and for those who are married
to a person who is going to give birth you
can support this as well that because healthy births and
(15:07):
reducing pre term births make Michigan a better state overall
in terms of healthcare. Doctor Sonya, is there anything I
didn't ask you wanted to share with our listening audience
Before we wrap up our conversation.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Again, I just wanted to thank again all of our supporters,
all of our collaborators and health systems and universities. They're
part of this, and the doctors that do it with me.
There you know I'm not doing this alone. They're all
writing this protocol and executing in their patients and very
dedicated to doing this. So to thank them for that
and for the advocate such as you that are bringing
them to life would be is really appreciated.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, I need to commend you on putting together the
SOS Maternity Network, doctor Sonya Hassan. This is no small
feat and it's quite an accomplishment. It's a great accomplishment
for our state of Michigan in terms of healthcare.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So congradt on that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And I hope to check in with you down the
road when things are going at even a greater rate
and more awareness, more people tapping into the network, that
would be a good thing. Overall, Thank you so much
for your time and your knowledge and for your efforts
on behalf of mothers all across the state of Michigan.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Thank you, Thank you Phil again for.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Having me doctor Sonya Hassan with us on this segment
of West Michigan Weekend. The founding director of Wayne State
University's Office of Women's Health and also founding director of
the SOS Maternity Network. You can learn more at Sosmaternity
dot oorg.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You've been listening to iHeartRadio's West Michigan Weekend. West Michigan
Weekend is a production of Wood Radio and iHeartRadio.
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