SEATTLE — Even from a young age, Sauleiha Akangbe knew what she was born to do.
"When my mom used to sit us down and ask us what we would want to do when we grew up, I would always say I wanted to work with the moms and babies," she said.
Akangbe's long career as a doula and caregiver has been rewarding. But with Black women in the US being three to four times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than any other race, she wanted to do more. So, with support from the Providence Health Equity Fund, she founded the Justice, Unity, Support, Trust Birth Network.
"J.U.S.T. Birth comes from the black birth empowerment initiative, which was started back in 2020, and came from a deep and personal experience that I had myself," Akangbe said. "I do just want to say that many of our doulas have lived experiences that our patients experience as well within the hospital systems. And so it was about recognizing that and really getting back to what it is that we needed to do of empowering our doulas our community, our providers, our patients, who all fall within the black, native, bipoc races and ethnicities and really empowering them."
Among the things the network provides is a cultural navigator who shares the same background and language as the mother.
"We are going to be in the patient's room and communicate with the patient to bring that best trust for the providers for the Swedish nurses and for the whole care team. So, the patient is going to be more trusting with the care they are receiving," said Yemi Gudeta, a Cultural Navigator at Swedish.
When Tiffany Renee learned they were looking for doulas for JUST Birth, she couldn't wait to sign up.
"I was so excited that I emailed before the applications were open," said Renee. "When we come into a hospital system, when we come in and we see strangers who are going to have our best interest in mind, but we still have that distrust because we live our lives [as Black women] knowing that every step of the way that I would have to do something extra to prove my worth. I would have to go above and beyond to get the baseline of care. And the way that I am able to show it to my clients and have them trust that they're going to be helped, they see their community, they see their lived experiences. To have a program that embodies and celebrates, protects and boosts all of that effort is wonderful."
Speaking up and being heard - Swedish’s J.U.S.T. Birth Network is raising a voice everyone can understand.
Sponsored by Providence Swedish