The past six weeks I have been conducting interviews with people of color that are currently pregnant or have recently given birth. While a majority of my interviews have been completed, I have a few outstanding interviews with participants that needed to reschedule. 

For the most part, the interviews were really insightful. Some were joyful and others were heartbreaking, but as a whole I learned a lot about their interactions with healthcare workers and the ways in which their healthcare workers can better support pregnant people of color. 

Besides the remaining Laidlaw work that needs to be completed, later this summer I will be shadowing an OB GYN. It was really important to me to talk to people of color who have recently given birth directly, instead of reading about their experiences from a secondary source, and it's clear there are many ways healthcare professionals can better support their patients of color. I am really excited to shadow an OB GYN because I want to understand how feasible some of the suggested improvements are (ex. some of the interviewees felt rushed during their visits, but some providers have huge caseloads and are unable to spend more time with their patients). 

The other thing that I am doing this summer is I am working at the central office of a local hospital system, specifically in the Women's Health department. Healthcare providers are often part of a larger system and some of the improvements suggested will require more systemic change. I think working at the central office of this hospital system will be really useful in understanding the ways in which systemic change can happen within hospital systems, and shadowing an OB GYN will be helpful in understanding what changes healthcare providers are able to make themselves.

I think all three perspectives are necessary in order to effectively change the way people of color experience birth. I am looking forward to taking what I learned from the interviews into my other experiences this summer.