RICHMOND — After sitting down Tuesday with Asher Escobar Perone, 3, by his left arm and little Harlem Steele, 6, by his right to ceremonially sign two maternal health bills, Gov. Glenn Youngkin set a new target for Virginia:
Zero maternal deaths in childbirth and the often-challenging months thereafter.
In an appearance at Bon Secour – Southside Medical Center in Petersburg, Youngkin highlighted Senate Bill 1279, sponsored by state Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight, and House Bill 2753, sponsored by Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Chesapeake. The measures, which Youngkin previously signed into law, say hospitals and birth centers will need to have standard protocols for some of the most dangerous ailments surrounding childbirth, including obstetric hemorrhage, preeclampsia, eclampsia, and other life-threatening conditions.
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Jordan knows something about them.
“I assumed once I was discharged from the hospital the hardest part was behind me, and I was absolutely wrong,” Jordan told a crowd of mothers and health care workers for the ceremonial signing of her bill.
“I didn’t understand the warning signs that something was seriously wrong … but I knew something wasn’t right,” she said.
She called a friend who is a paramedic and “I said ‘this is how I feel, am I crazy? Is there something wrong here?’ He didn’t let me finish my sentence. He said ‘I’m sending an ambulance to your house right now.’ ”
Jordan was suffering from preeclampsia. She came close to losing her life.
Youngkin said: “Let’s make sure everyone understands that when the next Emily Jordan calls, they know exactly what to do."
He said a statewide push to bring in doulas and midwives and expand training for obstetrics nurses and doctors is broadening access to maternal health care, while the state Medicaid agency has expanded coverage for postpartum care from 60 days to a full year.
That’s brought down maternal deaths from an average of 46 a year in 2021 and 2022 to about 20 a year now.
The bill and the protocols it will require — Youngkin called them “safety bundles” — are not the final step, he said.
Virginia will roll out a mobile app to help new and expectant mothers stay on top of their own health, and will later this year deploy mobile maternal health clinics in areas of the state where care is hard to get, Youngkin said.
The app under development and procurement for the mobile clinics is underway. He said he hopes to see these hit the road by early next year.
“We have to make sure that babies have healthy moms, that they themselves are part of a healthy family and therefore we will have healthy communities,” Youngkin said.
