the Mississippi Delta King of Catfish and Cotton and the
Delta blues. Mhm. A place that sometimes seems froz
in time. Many gravitate to the old ways of doing things.
Change is hard. She is 18 weeks but Mississippi Delta
native doctor Lakisha Richardson and O.B.G.Y.N. At
Delta Health System. Women's Health care Clinic says
it's necessary to change the trend of babies dying.
Unfortunately, you know, there are a lot of traditions
or cycles that really need to be broken, that older
women passed down to younger moms that have, you know
have worked or babies have survived. But then when you
have that one baby that doesn't then it's like, oh you
know, where did we go wrong Hold on one second. Give me
your date of birth. Dr Richardson not only grew up in
Indianola, but came back after school to raise her
family here. Mississippi leads the nation in infant
mortality rates For every 1000 babies born, 10 of them
die in Mississippi. Half of the state's population
lives in rural areas. The Delta region in Northern
Mississippi is one of those areas. These communities
are more likely to suffer from health inequities.
in the Mississippi Delta aren't the only ones fighting
this infant mortality battle. Women in Arkansas also
live in rural areas. Many of them having to drive over
the US82 Greenville Bridge just to see doctors on the
other side. It's a long drive, especially when you
expecting they come from all over. Unfortunately.
Unfortunately because it could be a dangerous drive.
Good morning, Miss Winfrey, New mother Tower Winfrey
Hawkins started having contract on her way to an
Arkansas hospital. The hospital that we called in Lake
Village, they told us they didn't have an O.B.G.Y.N. Dr.
And that if the baby wasn't already coming out I was
crowning to keep going to the next hospital, she
delivered her baby in time safely. But the hospital
almost an hour away. I was worrying about the doctor
had said my uterus was tilted so I was worried about if
the baby is going to be able to come out the way he
needs to, if there's gonna be an umbilical wrapped
around his neck because the way I was sitting in the
car Unlike here, those who live in big cities have the
luxury of driving 5, 10, even 15 minutes to the
Doctor's office in the selection of doctors, vast rura
areas do not have the same comfort. The drive for the
30 minutes to an hour in the selection of doctors and
specialists. A small group to choose from those
specialists in a place like the Mississippi Delta at an
hour or more depending on where the doctor's office is
located. Every nationwide there is an O.B.G.Y.N.
Shortage. And living the rural life isn't an easy
selling point for recruiters. So the Delta region deals
with packed waiting rooms and some doctors see long
days on average, how many patients on your O.B days do
you see um minimum would be 40 anywhere up to 60 or 80
Just depending on where we are in the OBI volume. Hey
brady, how are we doing That volume isn't good for
doctors who may feel rushed in the exam room. It also
isn't good for patients who don't get a pool of doctors
to pick from. You know, these southern moms like giving
greens and corn bread, all that baby can have some corn
bread liquor and you just feel like uh no they can't dr
Richardson says while many new moms try to do the right
thing, they're heavily influenced by well meaning
elders diluting formula. You know when you have moms
that are on WIC and Wick only gives you a certain
amount of formula per month and they don't want to buy
any additional formula. You know, somebody tells them,
oh just dilute that formula. You know, you don't have
to do what the instruction says. Just give it a little
bit more water and you know, for babies too much water
is bad. And so then you have a baby come in, that's
malnutrition that's dehydrated or this hyponatremia
because they've been getting diluted formula. Then you
have a death. So the pediatrician is saying this is
what you do, this is what the baby can have. But then
they go home and mom and grandmama says, oh the doct
know what they're talking about this The same thing I
gave you this baby can have this and so who do they
trust You know, do I trust my 80 year old grandmothe
and my 50 year old mom or my pediatrician that I just
met you know two weeks ago. Those old ways. Just part
of the problem. Doctors say women are having babies
later in life and insurance companies can hold up
medical care like access to the right drugs to stop
preterm delivery. You'll be surprised how much we have
to fight insurance companies for just the basic care
that our patients need. So I have one insurance carrier,
I have a patient now we have to get prior authorizat
for every single thing for her pregnancy, for
ultrasound, for blood work for her prenatal
appointments. So every time you do that, that's a two
week delay in care. You know when they already know
what the standard of care is for obese. So why do we
have to get this authorized from you Because they don't
want to pay for it one because they're hoping that
won't do it and this young lady won't get prenatal c
and just get frustrated and just come in and have a
baby and they save all this money from not have to do
what they're supposed to do. Someone has to stay in
this community to help dr Richardson says she's happy
to try to turn that turn around some days I feel like
if I weren't here, those numbers will probably be twice
as high because you know, not everybody is going to go
the extra mile, you know, reach out, call mom, try to
do the extra education and I feel like, you know,
ultimately I never wanted to come back to Mississippi,
so this is why I feel like this is where God wants me
to be right now. This is where I need to be. Those
always are just part of the problem. Somehow, we need
to give way to new ideas to help make these rural
communities stronger, timmy. S like Newsy Greenville
Mississippi.