Introduction: The Maternal Health Landscape in Minnesota

Welcome to The Bond: Our Babies, Our Voices. In this episode we will discuss the maternal health landscape in Minnesota; particularly why we are seeing disparities across Minnesotans. We will also hear more about the Kiwi Cares team and the partners who contributed to this podcast. Please tune-in for the subsequent episodes that will center more directly on birthing people's voices. More information on maternal mortality in Minnesota, including The Minnesota Maternal Mortality Update.Noya Woodrich is the Child and Family Health Division Director at the Minnesota Department of Health. She previously worked for the City of Minneapolis Health Department, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, and the Division of Indian Work. Woodrich is an Alaskan Native, a member of the Athabascan tribe located in central Alaska. She is passionate about maternal and child health and the reduction of health and social disparities, specifically in the American Indian community.Dr. Mira Grice Sheff is the Minnesota Department of Health's State Maternal and Child Health Epidemiologist and the interim Women's Unit Director. She is also the Principal Investigator for the Minnesota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (MN PRAMS), a joint project between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is designed to find out why some babies are born healthy and others are not. Prior to joining the health department, she was an assistant professor at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, where she conducted research and taught graduate-level courses in the subjects of women’s health and injury and violence prevention. She received both her Masters and PhD from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences.Kiwi Cares 501(c)3 is a non-profit in Minnesota that works to improve maternal health outcomes. We work towards our goal by collaborating with community partners and filling gaps in funding to support families.