Maternal Outcomes Matter Showers Tour comes to Freeport to help future moms

In a Freeport church on a Sunday afternoon, dozens of women took part in a baby shower with a special purpose.

With gifts like bottle warmers and strollers given out to families, the goal of the gathering at the Zion Cathedral Church of God in Christ was to improve maternal health outcomes.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services brought the event to Long Island as part of its 2024 Maternal Outcomes Matter Showers (M.O.M.S.) Tour.

The tour, which brings out mental health specialists, birth workers and others, seeks to address the nation’s maternal mortality crisis. Other stops in the tour are expected to include Phoenix and Wilmington, Delaware.

“We recognize that a safe pregnancy and a safe delivery and postpartum care is a right and not a privilege,” said the Rev. Que English, director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services

But throughout the United States that is not always the case. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said upward of 1,200 women in the United States died in 2021 because of maternal causes. Many of the deaths could have been prevented.

Moreover, there are racial disparities within those numbers. For instance, in New York, Black women had a pregnancy-related mortality rate that was five times greater than their white counterparts, according to a report from the state Health Department that looked at pregnancy-associated death from 2018 to 2020.

Panelists talked to the women about how doulas and midwives could help them have better pregnancy outcomes. They told the women to advocate for themselves, and if need be, to get a different physician who would be sensitive to their concerns.

Iyanah Vineyard, 37, who attended the event and gave birth to her first child 10 weeks ago, said having support during a pregnancy is key.

Although she had some issues in her pregnancy, she was glad she could lean on specialists like her midwife.

At the event, she was looking forward to building support among mothers.

“[I’m] excited about the baby shower, excited about meeting new moms because I did a lot of my pregnancy on my own,” Vineyard, who lives in the Capitol Region but is from Hempstead.

In the downstairs area where the baby shower portion of the event took place, a disc jockey played music in a room decorated with balloons and tables covered with blue tablecloths.

The attendees, who were mostly women — often with their babies in tow — picked out items such as car seats and playpens.

Meanwhile, the women also visited booths where they could get information on support for their families. One area had tested women for high blood pressure. There was also a place to sign up to be a doula, who is trained to help women during and after their pregnancies.

One booth gave out information about the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which is also called the WIC program.

Another advertised a support group for single parents. 

Janessa Damon, who is 31 weeks pregnant and attended the event with her mother, said she took a lot of “generosity” and “love” from the event.

“I think it’s a great program. I think it’s a great opportunity for a lot of people,” the 31-year-old Queens resident said.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.