Black maternal health improvements in Inland Empire rely on provider training, patient access

Black maternal and infant health aren’t just a national crisis — they are proving to be a regional one as well as more women experience less-than-favorable birthing conditions.

Nationally and regionally, maternal mortality rates for Black mothers are significantly higher than those of White mothers, data shows. Meanwhile, Black mothers are more likely to have a baby with a low birthweight, according to health officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

In the Inland Empire, maternal health experts say there is opportunity to improve these metrics — so long as there are those willing to put in the work.

“I think the reason that they’re experiencing these outcomes is simply because there are not a lot of providers that are practicing through a cultural or responsive lens. And there is a need for that,” said Kendra Flores-Carter, an associate professor of social work at Cal Baptist University works to combat bias in the healthcare field to improve patient experience.

“We know that when people are aware of the trauma that their patients have experienced, they’re more likely to be a little bit more sensitive,” said Flores-Carter, who is a Black mother herself.

Understanding risks

Providers and society must be open to accepting that they may be misinformed about groups socially, Flores-Carter said, and be willing to unlearn that misinformation, which can include stereotypes.

Flores-Carter, social services program director at NAEBOR Clinic in Rialto, which provides prenatal and postnatal services to Black mothers, said that providers must take the time to tailor and individualize patient care, a challenge in most healthcare systems

“They really want to be invested as a provider, and we have many of them that might want to, but the time is limited for them,” Flores-Carter said.

Health organizations must work strategically to allow for more training and time for providers to give adequate care, especially to mothers of color, as they statistically have less favorable outcomes, she said.

Maternal mortality rates statewide nearly doubled for all mothers from 2019 to 2021, according to the California Department of Public Health. In the Southern Inland Region, which includes Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, maternal deaths increased by 18% from 2019 to 2022, CDPH data shows.

Black mothers, however, died at a rate nearly four times higher than White mothers between 2020 and 2022, according to state public health officials, putting it on par with national figures. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows Black mothers nationally died at a rate three and a half times higher than White mothers in 2023.

Black mothers are also more likely to have medical interventions, such as cesarean sections, while giving birth. Such interventions were 7% higher for Black mothers as opposed to White mothers in 2023, state public health data shows.

National numbers from the CDC reflect similar results — Black mothers’ C-section rates were 37% compared to White mothers at 31.1%.

Low birthweight is also more common among babies born to Black mothers.

Riverside University Health data from 2024 shows that Black mothers have double the risk of having a baby with low birthweight — 12.7% compared to 6% for White mothers. In San Bernardino County, Black mothers outpace White mothers 13.8% to 7.2% when it comes to low birthweights.

Low birthweight in newborns is classified as a risk since it can contribute to future chronic health conditions, possible neurological disability, and infant death during the first year, according to the World Health Organization.

It can come as a result of poor maternal health, access to prenatal care, poverty level, and other contributing factors, according to public health officials.

Image

Danette Sanders stands in her home on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Fontana, remebering the difficulties she faced during her pregnancies and labor. 

(Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

Facing the unexpected

Despite her knowledge of the medical system, Danette Sanders, an Inland Empire mom of two and school psychologist, said she experienced inadequate care.

“My birthing experience was absolutely traumatic,” Sanders said. “It was to the point where I would be telling people about it years later, and they’re like, ‘Danette, you know that was a traumatic birthing experience that you had?’”

Sanders went into labor six weeks early due to a spontaneous rupture of the membranes, commonly referred to as a birthing person’s water breaking, leading to an induction and C-section.

“With my eldest, I was leaking fluid throughout the pregnancy, and I would ask my nurse practitioner about it, but because I wasn’t literally leaking fluid whenever I went in, it was, ‘Well, are you sure you’re not urinating on yourself?’ ” Sanders said. “And I’m like, that’s so condescending. That’s so disrespectful.”

She said she felt her concerns were unaddressed and that she did not feel fully informed about her options for delivering her baby.

“As they started the (C-section) operation, I realized, ‘oh, I’m feeling some of this’ and I started freaking out in the (operating room), and because I was beginning to panic, they just put me under,” she said. “So I missed the birth of my first daughter.”

According to the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization focused on ending prenatal and infant preventable health risks and death, preterm birth rates in Southern California are worsening.

In a 2023 report card from March of Dimes, San Bernardino County received a C- grade and Riverside County received a C+, compared to the state’s B- grade.

San Bernardino County had a 10.3% preterm birth rate in 2023, up from 10.1% in 2022. In Riverside County, the preterm birth rate was 9.4% in 2023, compared to 9.2% in 2022, when it received a B- score.

An alternative path

Jade Vehawn, another Inland Empire mom who is also a nurse, chose to do things differently by delivering her baby at home with the help of a midwife.

Vehawn said she chose a homebirth because she felt comfortable and confident in herself to labor at home while monitored.

“I was very adamant about having a home birth. Being a part of the medical field, you just see things and you want better,” Vehawn said.

Her labor started off slow but steady, she said. Eventually, however, things began to stall.

“I was having contractions, but I wasn’t having a lot of progress. (The baby) wasn’t descending,” Vehawn said.

To help the birthing process along, Vehawn said, her midwife employed tactics such as lifting tucks, a positioning method intended to move the baby into an optimal position while still inside the uterus.

“She does the most forceful push, and literally, my feet were elevated off the floor. She was pushing me with all her force into the wall,” Vehawn said. “And in that moment, my reaction was to swing and hit her.”

She didn’t fight the midwife, and after a few hours had passed, she gave birth to her daughter while standing, an experience she said she would not change.

According to data from the California Health Foundation, 2% of births in the state in 2023 took place outside of a hospital. Of that 2%, at least 62% of those out-of-hospital births took place in a home-birth setting.

Vehawn said options such as home births are limited by mainstream medical systems, making it harder for patients to get accommodations that support intervention-free deliveries.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t know what their other options are, even now, and think they have to have a baby in the hospital,” said Vehawn, who is pregnant again and planning for a home birth.

Efforts to improve maternal care and birth results in the Inland Empire, such as reducing C-section rates, are underway.

Riverside and San Bernardino counties are working with the Black Infant Health Initiative, a state program, to tackle issues Black mothers face, such as accessibility to maternal care.

According to CDPH data, San Bernardino County received $2.72 million and Riverside County received $1.8 million in BIH funding in 2024.

The programs offer patients access to birthing classes, transportation assistance, and access to nurse visits at home, among other services, to help overcome barriers.

Local hospitals are also teaming up with area clinics, such as the partnership between Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and the NAEBOR Clinic in Rialto, to improve maternity care for Black mothers.

The clinic is set to open a second location in Redlands in August to improve Black maternal care in the East Valley.

“One of the biggest complaints when it comes to Black women and the care they receive is that we don’t feel like they listen to us,” Flores-Carter said. “So one of the biggest things that we need to do is listen.”