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Q&A
Council Member Hudson inquires about gun violence prevention and black maternal mortality
1:34:43
·
4 min
Council Member Crystal Hudson engages in a Q&A session with Acting Commissioner Michelle Morse, focusing on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's involvement in gun violence prevention and efforts to reduce black maternal mortality. The discussion covers the department's role in the gun violence prevention task force, associated budgets, and strategies to combat the black maternal mortality crisis.
- The DOHMH has a $1,500,000 budget and 7 FTE for hospital-based violence intervention programs and the strong messenger program.
- The department aims to reduce black maternal mortality by 10% over the next five years, acknowledging that 75% of black maternal deaths are considered preventable.
- Efforts to reduce black maternal mortality include mental health screening, anti-racism training for hospital staff, and partnerships with birthing hospitals across the city.
Crystal Hudson
1:34:43
Thank you so much chairs, and hello commissioner.
1:34:47
I wanted to ask about the gun violence prevention task force, which is a collaborative effort between multiple city agencies, all dedicated to stopping the rise of gun violence and increasing safety in New York City's neighborhoods.
1:35:00
What is DOHMH's role in this task force?
Michelle Morse
1:35:05
Thank you so much for the question.
1:35:06
Gun violence is certainly an issue that we at the health department care tremendously about, and we take a public health approach to addressing gun violence.
1:35:15
Our role in the task force is that we've had several members of our team.
1:35:18
We have a team that manages our hospital violence intervention programs, our strong messenger program, and our credible messenger programs.
1:35:26
Members of that team have been in attendance in the gun violence task force since inception in 2022.
1:35:34
So we continue to have our staff participating in that task force, and our team often presents on programmatic data or any of the policy initiatives that are happening around a public health approach to gun violence prevention.
Crystal Hudson
1:35:47
Is there a dedicated budget and headcount for DOHMH for the task force?
Michelle Morse
1:35:52
We don't have a budget for the task force, but we do have a programmatic budget for our hospital based, violence intervention programs and our strong messenger program, which is $1,500,000 and 7 FTE.
Crystal Hudson
1:36:05
1,500,000.0 and 7?
1:36:07
Correct.
1:36:08
Okay, thank you.
1:36:09
And then what hospitals and community based organizations do you partner with, and what results have you seen from these partnerships and trainings?
Michelle Morse
1:36:18
We partner with, I can get you the exact number, I believe it's 10 hospitals through our Hospital Violence Intervention Program.
1:36:25
And then we also partner with a number of community based organizations that lead our Strong Messenger Program, our Credible Messenger Program.
1:36:32
We can get you the exact numbers of how many community based organizations.
1:36:35
Organizations.
Crystal Hudson
1:36:36
Thank you.
1:36:36
And then just my last question.
1:36:37
You mentioned before regarding the black maternal mortality rate that you have a goal of reducing it by 10 over the next five years.
1:36:46
Why just by ten percent?
1:36:48
Or how did you derive that number?
Michelle Morse
1:36:51
Thank you for the question.
1:36:53
The first thing I'll say is that for black maternal mortality in New York City, Seventy Five Percent of black maternal deaths are considered preventable.
1:37:04
So it's true that we could certainly, we hope to exceed our goal of ten percent by 02/1930.
1:37:10
However, when we look at the trends in black maternal mortality and maternal mortality overall, and we also look at the trends unfortunately that worsened slightly during the COVID pandemic.
1:37:20
Our feeling was that we wanted to come up with a goal that was achievable, and a goal that we could really stand behind.
1:37:29
We are certainly always hoping to prevent any preventable death, and certainly our partners in our hospital systems, our doula programs, and our home visiting programs also see that as the goal.
1:37:43
But we did consider some of the trends in worsening black maternal mortality as we were trying to determine what is both a visionary and achievable goal for 02/1930.
Crystal Hudson
1:37:53
Can I just ask one follow-up question?
1:37:56
So what what does that look like exactly?
1:37:59
Like, how are you combating the black maternal mortality crisis?
1:38:04
What does reduction in those numbers look like from a practical standpoint?
Michelle Morse
1:38:10
There are a number of different ways that we're attempting to get to our goal.
1:38:15
The first thing that I'll mention is that one of the top causes of maternal mortality that's preventable is suicide and overdose.
1:38:21
So we have a number of different programs and areas of focus that really intend to both increase access to mental health treatment for people who are pregnant, and we also have a number of programs to increase training of our staff, doulas, home visiting nurses, and other programs to make sure that they are able to identify and screen for mental health concerns amongst pregnant women and postpartum women.
1:38:45
The other thing that we are doing is we are happy to be represented on the speakers' maternal health committee, or maternal health working group.
1:38:54
That working group, I believe, is working on a number of additional ideas that would go beyond the current programs and policies that are in place.
1:39:02
And then the final thing I'll mention is that we do partner very closely with all of the birthing hospitals all across the city to make sure that their staff both are trained in anti racism and also are trained in how to identify perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and improve treatment for substance use as well.
Crystal Hudson
1:39:20
And when you say staff, does that include physicians?
Corinne Schiff
1:39:23
Yes.
Crystal Hudson
1:39:24
Okay.
1:39:24
Thank you.
1:39:25
Thank you, chairs.