RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Union University is adding a new series of health certifications for students, including its second doula certification, to reduce the disparity between Black and white women in surviving childbirth.
In Virginia, Black women are twice as likely to die during childbirth as white women, and nationwide it's even worse: they are three times more likely to die.
Virginia Union's courses are provided through a grant from the Virginia Department of Health. Leaders say the courses are an important step in reducing inequities that contribute to that ratio.
The VDH grant allows VUU to partner with Birth in Color, a nonprofit that deploys roughly 145 doulas across the Commonwealth, including nearly 100 in Central Virginia.
"People feel a lot more comfortable talking to people who look like them when it comes to anything health-related. What we do see is a lot of doctors actually thank us because we're giving them information that they may not have been able to get from the patient," Kenda Sutton-El with Birth in Color explained.
They can reach pregnant women in remote or undeserved areas and guide them from prenatal care all the way through the birth, which is especially important if a hospital is an hour away.
Alveda Campbell, a new Virginia Union-trained doula who just helped her first mother through childbirth, knows she's addressing an important need.
"Of course, you always think you're prepared, you're ready," Campbell said. "'Oh, I went through the training. They taught me so much. I got it,' and then you get into it, and it's like, 'Oh, we're sweating, we're into it.' But it was exciting. It was amazing. You know, it was something very fulfilling, to be able to be a support system for a mother to bring her child into this world."
With the VDH grant, Virginia Union will also offer allied health certifications in phlebotomy and CPR, which will be new sectors for the university.
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