Oklahoma Moms Need Your Support
It has been a long journey for many mothers here in the state of Oklahoma! Often times I wondered if our mission was taking root in the community as we shifted from place to place, city to city. Then one day I was given a divine message to pack light. Now I could have taken that several different ways. One way could have been to leave everything and follow my passion…
While the other could have meant to take my “light” with me wherever I go. I chose the second. Interpreting that light as my God and my guide. Now here I am, with my lovely Native born Oklahoman husband, and three male children. Watching them play and interact with one another as we go throughout our homeschool day. Managing our process and getting better everyday.
This might sound trivial and out of step of a business owner to post such transparencies.
… But it was transparencies that created this mission you are reading on our website.
It was passion.
It was advocacy for whole family life.
It was about community.
And now that we are in the best place to “re-launch” our maternal health and wellness campaign that states our message loud, clear and unapologetically. We are 100% sure of our culture and how it relates to childbirth, and breastfeeding, and the disparities right here in the place, we hold residency. It is to no surprise that this is not just an issue here, but across the globe. That is why we need to garner the support of our fellow Oklahoman community to say once and for all… We care that one woman dies every minute during childbirth, yet almost all of these deaths are preventable. Here in the state of Oklahoma we have created a strategy to help reduce that number by 2020.
So What’s Up With TIM
When we began this journey into maternal and child health and wellness, we had only a birds eye view of how deep we would be guided into the community. We knew early on that we wanted to be an effective resource in the natural childbirth community, due to the various circumstances we had faced personally, and where we had been of service per our own expertise, which is in homebirth.
Now we have managed to create dynamic support systems and that offers us authentic relationships that many told us – we should not have privilege to because, we were not “alphabetically qualified.” Even though our experiences, and research, and self-apprenticed learning styles, didn’t measure up with privileged practices.
We are a grassroots social welfare organization with a mind to stand up to corporate and privatized organizations and companies that say the issues in the Black community are too much to resolve. Well this year we will finish with a bang because, we will not stop until we see a shift in the issues of crisis within our urban and rural communities.
So we are taking deeper breaths.
We are creating broader relationships.
And we are doing it all on a dental floss budget.
Our Why…
One woman dies every minute during childbirth, yet almost all of these deaths are preventable. In 2001, the UN set itself the goal of slashing maternal mortality by 75% by 2015, but it is nowhere near meeting that target. “Surgery of any kind has risk,” and a C-section is, “still the riskiest way to have a baby. “In the US, almost one third of women have that procedure for delivery of their baby.”
The statistics on maternal mortality in America tell a shocking story when it comes to African-American women. They are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth than white American women. Dr Bill McCool says that even wealthy black American women have a higher rate of mortality during childbirth than wealthy white women.
“People have looked at this from different angles. We know that African-American women tend to have higher blood pressure than the rest of the population, so is there a link there?”JoAnne Fischer, Executive Director of the Maternity Care Coalition, which works with low income women to help them stay healthy during their pregnancies, says: “We do know that there is extraordinary stress involved in racism and in being poor. “”And we know that sometimes this creates hypertension.” Hypertension, obesity and diabetes are all linked, so we have to make sure women start their pregnancies healthy.
“Dr Bill Callaghan, of the CDC, finds that not knowing why African-American women are at greater risk when giving birth has given him and his colleagues’ sleepless nights.” We can say that some of this may be due to socio-economic disparities. “But it does not explain all of it. “And to the extent that we don’t explain racial disparity in pregnancy-related mortality, we’re going to have difficulty making headway into it.” As doctors and US officials try to work out why American women are dying in childbirth, and what can be done to prevent it, Jim Scythes is still mourning his wife Valerie, who was all too briefly a mother.
To read more click here
Our Solution For Shifting The Rates In Oklahoma
In order for us to see a difference we need to shift the way we approach the childbirth community. Together using our history with #GivingTuesday global campaign we can make a big difference. Particularly in the African American community and others of color. The mindset regarding traditional childbirth has been diminished, with the practice of new wave technology and expensive research campaigns that warrant no solution. These outcomes are not because women want to die or want their children to die. These outcomes are from a deep rooted seed in the neurological DNA of generations of post traumatic stress as it relates to the Black community and slavery.
This type of cognitive dissonance is the paramount to our childbearing community. It is our goal to build a committee or coalition of nonprofits, small businesses, and other community leaders to organize a #GivingTuesday movement in materno-toxic areas in the city and surrounding areas. There has been an assault on the womb of all women. This is at a very social and scientific disadvantage. In the state of Oklahoma, there is a core network of privileged, white led childbirth organizations that have not been able to penetrate the community of color. This adversity adds no value to the economic, social, and health care advantages that impacts the way women are giving birth. These include language and cultural barriers. This makes it extremely difficult to make clear and directed moves to support the agenda of the Maternal Mortality Review and Office of Minority Health in the state of Oklahoma.
“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” – Albert Einstein
This is where our program offers a solution because, we have all taken the same route of creation. It is our obligation to put back into the world the equivalence of the best birth outcomes in communities that need it the most. So buy aligning with these organizations and offering women and men of color culturally competent, safe, evidence based education to support their community in childbirth, as certified birth work consultants, educators, and practitioners. Our networks of culturally centered organizations are ready and prepared to be added to our 2016 training calendar to add diversity to the childbirth community. You can help us make this possible in a variety of ways. First we have to determine why you should get involved.
WHY GET INVOLVED…
Purpose: To sensitize the community to the myriad problems that the childbirth community faces in the state of Oklahoma and the world today and motivate them to embrace a Cause that is meaningful to them.
Objectives: To discuss the basic necessities of life, or what is needed to be a part of a safe,
secure, and strong community.
To raise awareness about the most pressing issues, problems and concerns facing people around the globe – and at home regarding childbirth.
Running Question: WHAT IS THE PRIVILEDGE?
Investigate the idea of “privilege” in order to raise awareness about the way other populations DO and DO NOT experience privilege in our diverse communities. By having an elicit conversation about privilege we can get to the root of the cause, thus formulating a strategy to shift the image of disparity in childbirth, with RADICAL Change!
WHEN TO TAKE ACTION
In order to be effective we must take action now. That means to embrace the cause and start raising awareness and mobilize a core collective who is charged to make a difference.
Conclusion
We are a 100% parent led organization, by a husband and wife team of grassroots social entrepreneurs. We strive to maintain a free thinking environment that supports our artistic passions and goals to build our social welfare organization, The InTune Mother, LLC. And because we do everything from home. (i.e.) Home-birth, Home-school, and even work-from-home online, we really value our family life. We enjoy traveling, performing arts, and quality time with our 3 sons. The fact that we network for a living, is an experience that we aim to share with our core group of 3000 individuals across the globe. We dream in color and often remember the visions vividly. We set our intentions, these become our goals and we believe in our power to see them manifest. So stay connected to our website and let us know if we inspired you with any of our content… Also feel free to gift us with a colorful DONATION in support to keep our site going because we are…
Rebirthing Mother Nature’s Undisturbed Intent…
Get Involved With TIM
