Maternity Mortality: What the Miami Valley is doing to help at-risk moms

Women having babies in the United States are now dying at a higher rate than any other developed country according to the Centers for Disease Control. African-American women are nearly five times more likely to die than Caucasian women and he CDC says nearly half of those deaths are preventable. We looked into what is causing these deaths and the work local groups are doing to try and save more lives.

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While researching this story, we met Tiffany Pullen of Dayton, who had a normal pregnancy until one night last March when she went into labor at just 31 weeks.

"They tried everything to stop me. Nothing would stop it," said Pullen.

She gave birth to her son Braxton, who spent nearly a month hooked up to machines in a neo-natal unit.

"You don't want to leave the hospital and then your child is still there," Pullen said.

According to Pullen, she was so focused on her baby's survival, she never gave much thought to her own.

Maternity mortality is a growing problem. The CDC reports that 700 women die every year from issues related to pregnancy. For Caucasian women, the death rate is 12.7 per 100,000 live births. The rate for African-American women is much higher at 43.5 percent.

"There's usually a failure of the system, " said Dr. David McKenna of Miami Valley Hospital. He is a maternal fetal medicine physician who said there are many factors to take into consideration.

"Women are older when they're having babies, so they have more diseases like hypertension and diabetes, which makes sense, said Dr. McKenna. "If you have more women who have complications, you're more likely to have loss of life during pregnancy."

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However, other countries have not seen the increase in maternity mortality that the United States has seen, especially with African-American women.

"It's not genetic differences. It's more of an experience that they've had through their entire life. When we talk about pregnancy, it's important not to just think of it as nine months that's going to make a difference in an outcome," said Dr. McKenna. "It's the woman's entire life experiences. It's what she brings to the table when she is pregnant, her entire life, how that has affected her health, and so that i think accounts for the difference among racial lines and why African-American women , they're such a disparity and why there are so much more maternal deaths."

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The State of Ohio established The Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review to identify why women are dying and to come up with prevention measures.

"I think there's going to be a bigger role for us doing preconception counseling in case of women, particularly those who are going to be high-risk," Dr. McKenna said.

"Help Me Grow Brighter Futures" sees 500 moms in Montgomery County a year. Nurses are referred by clinics, hospitals and doctor's offices and they often see these women on a weekly basis.

"We are the eyes and ears of the physicians between visits," said Marianne Pohlmann. "We do home visits, going in and establishing trust with the families and making sure they're getting the support they need."

Tiffany Pullen credits these nurses for getting her through those some tough times.

"With the help of Help Me Grow, it was kind of an ease for me, like, I know that I'm going to be okay," Pullen said. "I love being a mom."