Childbirth at a Crossroads

2006 Press Conference

The Status of Maternal Care in Southeastern Pennsylvania

For two years, we collected and synthesized information garnered from over 70 interviews, several focus groups, and community dialogues with publicly available data from city, county, and state health departments.  This fall, we released Childbirth at a Crossroads, a comprehensive report outlining disturbing trends in matenity care and offering recommendations for promoting the health of mothers and their babies. 

	At the press conference, MOMobile advocate Ana Tredicce and a MOMobile parent have their first moments with the hot-off-the-press report.

Acting as moderator, MCC board member Sara Lomax-Reese highlighted the five main themes detailed in the report: Access, Care, Diversity, Equity, and Support.  Gene Bishop, physician, health policy advocate and author of the report, helped present the startling conclusions at a press conference at the National Liberty Museum.  We were pleased to be joined by several speakers including Estelle Richman, Pennsylvania Secretary of Welfare; Joanne Grossi, Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Andrew Wigglesworth, President of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council; Ruth Wilf, Nurse Midwife at the Pennsylvania Hospital; and Jennifer Jagger, Midwifery student at the University of Pennsylvania.  Their presentations augmented the findings in the report, created a lively exchange, and helped lay the foundation for future discussions and collective endeavors that will enhance the quality of and access to maternal care.  

(L to R) Sara Lomax-Reese, moderator, seated with panelists Estelle Richman, Joanne Grossi, Andrew Wigglesworth, Jennifer Jagger, and Ruth Wilf.

After reading the Childbirth at a Crossroads report, share your experiences, great ideas, comments, or questions by emailing mcc@momobile.org!

Learn more about prenatal care in Philadelphia and Norristown.

Research for the report began a couple years ago with two roundtables, during which stakeholders had an opportunity to voice their many concerns, experiences, and recommendations.  For more information on these past sessions, please visit Session 1: Stakeholders Speak and Session 2: How Beliefs and Practices Evolve.

Please visit our Childbirth Crisis News page to read recent articles covering the issues brought up in our Childbirth at a Crossroads report. 

Community Engagement

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