Anticipation is steadily rising as mothers and health advocates alike prepare for the opening of Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health, located on 1200 Pecan Street SE, on April 15. Located in Ward 8 on the St. Elizabeths East campus, the District’s newest full-service hospital is intentionally designed to combat health disparities, such as maternal mortality, which disproportionately affects African American women.
Ward 8 resident and mother of two Jae-B Love has delivered two children in the District 11 years apart. However, barriers to more accessible, quality maternal health care have been a persistent issue in her community despite the time lapse. Uon delivering both of her children, she knew that traveling outside of her ward would provide better quality care and birthing outcomes for her and her children.
“When I had my son, I didn’t want to go to Greater Southeast (later named United Medical Center),” Love told The Informer. “I knew a lot of people were going to Greater Southeast, but I just knew I didn’t want to go there. I was working at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the nurses knew me, and I felt that I would receive good treatment there.”
For a long time, families in Wards 7 and 8 have had to manage the challenge of securing quality maternal health care amid facility closures and challenges. Since 2017, the D.C. Department of Heath ordered the closure of United Medical Center’s obstetrics ward due to a series of “dangerous mistakes” made by hospital staff during the care of pregnant women and newborns, and inadequate monitoring and treatment.
Having the benefit of working in the maternity ward of MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Love had witnessed the higher quality of health care provided in the 66-year old hospital. Despite having to travel to Northwest for care, for Love it was an easy choice deciding where to deliver children.
However, for many women and mothers raising their families in Love’s community, access to better care across the District is not always a tangible option.
In spite of the nation’s capital having one of the largest economies in the country, the irony behind Black women struggling at such disproportionate rates — particularly amid a national maternal health crisis — peaked the attention of Dr. Alecia McGregor, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She conducted research in conjunction with Howard University to pin a better understanding of maternal health disparities seen in largely Black communities across the District.
According to McGregor, the research centered in Wards 5,7, and 8, revealed significant access issues, including shortages of obstetricians, birthing rooms, and staff, and the practice of diversion, particularly affecting Black patients.
Policy recommendations included improving Medicaid access and addressing transportation barriers to ensure equitable maternal care.
“We have high and rising rates of severe maternal morbidity, and we have huge racial and ethnic disparities across this. Nevertheless, we see hospital maternity wards steadily closing, often in the most vulnerable communities,” McGregor said in a recent presentation during a local Health Alliance Network meeting at the Dorothy Heights Library in Northeast D.C.
McGregor detailed that there are massive gaps in access to care across the District, as maternity ward closures closest to Ward 7 and 8 residents have left the only hospital obstetric units in the Northwest, which happens to be the most affluent quadrant of the city. Further, the nation’s capital grapples with a very wide Black and white wealth gap, with white households showing a net worth nearing 81 times greater than Black households in the District.
Moreover, D.C. shows a considerably higher maternal mortality rate than the national average, with the rates of severe maternal morbidity — life threatening complications that happen at or around childbirth — being the highest among all states according to a recent national study.
Recently, the D.C. maternal mortality review committee report, details that between 2014 and 2018, 90% of pregnancy-related deaths in D.C. occurred among Black birthing people, despite them comprising about half of all births.
Local health care officials and political leaders are working to combat those statistics.
In January, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the District was selected to participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Transforming Maternal Health initiative. Through this program, D.C. will receive up to $17 million over 10 years to enhance maternal health care for Medicaid beneficiaries, particularly focusing on equity, whole-person care and one year of postpartum treatment.
“This funding will help us connect more families to the resources and support they need for a healthy pregnancy and postpartum experience,” said Bowser in a statement. “We know that when we invest in maternal health, we are investing in stronger families, healthier communities, and a brighter future for our city.”
Transportation Issues Contribute to Maternal Care Challenges, Cedar Hill Provides Close Care for Wards 7 and 8
Transportation persists as a major barrier for mothers when accessing maternity needs.
Timing was certainly of the essence when she went into labor with her daughter. Feeling her water breaking in the early morning, Love attempted to give birth at a community birthing center in Northeast, D.C. But with the center filled to capacity, she was forced to take an Uber to Washington Hospital Center, suddenly finding herself in labor while en route.
“I was giving birth in the Uber when my water broke. She was coming out. I remember being on my knees, looking back out of the window [looking at the] traffic,” she told The Informer.
Despite having United Medical Center in close proximity to her home when she was in labor with her now 5-year old daughter in 2020, the closure of the hospital’s maternity ward left her with no other option than to rush across the Anacostia River for care.
“A lot of mothers don’t have a way to get [to the hospital and back] home. A lot of mothers and their partners are not together after the baby,” Love said. “I was fortunate with both of my births to have my partner there to get us to the hospital, but we still had to spend money taking Ubers to get there.”
With the upcoming opening of Ward 8’s newest hospital, Tony Coleman, chief executive officer of Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health, is placing significant focus on providing stellar maternity care to Ward 7 and 8, as they prepare for its opening on April 15.
“We have what’s called the Cedar Hill Alliance for Health Equity, where we look at certain ailments that plague the community at a higher rate,” Coleman said during a March 3 Health Alliance Network meeting. “Two things that I’m particularly interested in at the outset are maternal health and substance use disorder. So we’re going to be looking at a number of things, but those are the two things that I’m zeroing in on.”
The hospital is slated to have four labor and delivery rooms, two cesarean section rooms, and 14 postpartum and antepartum rooms for observation and recovery.
Love looks forward to the opening of the new medical center, hoping that its presence will bolster economic and health outcomes in her community.
“Having maternal [care here] is a plus, we need that, because they shut down everywhere else so we have to travel far,” Love explained. “There are a lot of young girls who are getting pregnant early, and they often don’t have their partners there with them. So it’ll be good that this is close and we can get there easier.”
She is also excited about the economic and career opportunities that come with the opening of Cedar Hill.
“I also know that it is going to bring more jobs, and I hope that will lessen the violence,” she said. “I hope they don’t hire all staff outside of Wards 7 and 8 and instead start here first.”