BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK/KBFX) — The 3rd Annual Latina Maternal Health Fair was held at Cal State Bakersfield, a way for families who are expecting a child can educate themselves on their health.
Kern County is one of the many places in California with a large Latino community, but it’s also a place where several women have experienced pregnancy-related complications.
For the third time, a nonprofit called ‘Save a Mom Save a Family’ has been working to provide resources that didn’t exist, especially for families who suffered a loss.
“Unfortunately we face so many tragedies here in Kern County and in Bakersfield, we’ve lost so many young mothers and babies needlessly when they should never have passed when they have,” said Co-Founder Michele Monserratt-Ramos. “Our focus is not only to bring resources to families here, but also to seek accountability.”
Families that have gone through a traumatic loss have called for change in the healthcare system, and their fight led them to the county, urging the Board of Supervisors to recognize the month of May for its awareness.
Now, the recognition has gone statewide.
The nonprofit says for years they’ve worked to obtain accountability for families by following medical board complaints.
One recent case Eyewitness News looked into involved a Bakersfield OBGYN who got penalized by the California Medical Board for approving pain medication for a pregnant woman before she died in 2020.
“We decided at some point to start a campaign ‘Bakersfield Families Call to Action’ and it was outreach to families in Bakersfield about maternal negligence and how to advocate for your families, and a lot of other families came forward,” Ramos added.
Kern County Board of Supervisor Leticia Perez was also one of the many guest speakers invited to attend the event.
Perez, like many, shared her own experience with Eyewitness News, and the lack of information there was compared to now.
“I have two sons, Jude and Noah, and in between those two sons I had three miscarriages, one where I lost so much blood I ended up in the emergency room, and I never really had these conversations with anyone. No one really ever talked to me about Latina Maternal Health,” said Perez.