April 2021 Newsletter

Do you know Ohioans are shown to be living less healthy lives and spending more on healthcare than people in nearly every other state, ranking 47 out of 50 states with regards to population health? Do you know the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and that Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than White women?

bi3 is fueling innovation to improve population health for all people and funding initiatives to improve maternal and child health and reduce racial and health disparities. Racial and health disparities affect all of us through spillover effects that are detrimental to all members of society, creating barriers to improving health and reducing healthcare costs for the entire community.

Recent national and local change give us hope. The White House recently made its first-ever presidential proclamation marking Black Maternal Health Week with several initiatives to specifically address Black maternal health issues, including funding for implicit bias training for healthcare providers and a provision that allows states to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full year. We are working with Groundwork Ohio to encourage Ohio Medicaid to follow suit. And our funding partner Cradle Cincinnati recently released their Annual Report that reveals 2020 saw record low infant mortality in Hamilton County including record low Black infant mortality.

But with every stride we make, we know there is more work ahead. The Health Policy Institute of Ohio recently released its 2021 Health Value Dashboard. The report, funded in part by bi3, recommends several policies to improve health in Ohio, including focusing on equity — a continued priority of bi3.

This is why we are excited to announce new partnerships with the American Heart Association (AHA) and Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio, both addressing health and racial disparities. We will work with AHA to gain a deeper understanding of maternal and heart health and collaborate with Urban League to drive an equitable vaccination response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We invite you to learn more about each of these new grants, below, and join us on our continued journey to transform health!

Jill Miller
President, Bethesda Inc.

 

bi3 awarded a one year $175,000 grant to the Greater Cincinnati American Heart Association to support the recruitment of Hamilton County women into AHA’s Research Goes Red Reproductive Health Survey, which is designed to engage women directly in the research process. Because cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of maternal mortality, the survey aims to gain a deeper understanding of the connection between maternal and heart health.

The AHA will collaborate with another bi3 partner, Cradle Cincinnati’s Queen Village and other community influencers to identify participants. Local and national data will be reviewed to identify research gaps and results will be shared with stakeholders across the state and help inform programming and policy.

bi3 is also fueling a more equitable and comprehensive approach, including vaccination distribution, to the COVID-19 pandemic through a one-year $250,000 grant to Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio. The grant will build Urban League’s capacity to collaborate with and support the efforts of Black-led organizations through community mobilization, policy solutions and pilot programs.

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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTS

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Cradle releases 2020 Annual Report with record low mortality rate