New legislation addresses long-standing Black maternal health crisis in America

By Shivani Majmudar Medill Reports Amid a global pandemic and a year of social unrest, a long-standing public health crisis was highlighted: racial disparities in maternal health outcomes. Black and Native American women are three to four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than a white woman, according to the most recent […]

Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing

“I am a proud member of the Black Leaders Building Together Coalition and the Chicago Health Equity Coalition that have come together to make sure that safety-net hospitals in the City of Chicago receive the support they need to thrive and that we actually achieve health care equity in the City of Chicago,” said Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance and former education organizer of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO)during a Wednesday afternoon press conference on 26th St. nearMercy Hospital. (Marc Monaghan/Hyde Park Herald)

By Kelly Milan Medill Reports Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and community activists held a press conference outside Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on Tuesday to call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Mercy Hospital from closing amid the pandemic. “This is a life-or-death issue,” said Jackson, head of Chicago-based nonprofit organization […]