Narrative Nation Inc., the tech and media non-profit, and creator of the Irth app, announced a new pilot partnership with MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach to become the first hospital in California developing new standards of prenatal and postpartum care and quality improvement based on the feedback of Black and brown birthing people and new parents.
Irth, as in the word Birth, but without the B for bias, is the first of its kind Yelp-like review and rating app for parents of color to leave and find reviews of OB/GYNs, birthing hospitals and pediatricians. The qualitative reviews in the app are turned into quantitative data to provide hyper-local, community-centered feedback to hospitals, and create new metrics of care based on the Black patent experience with a goal to make births safer, more respectful, and equitable.
“Everyone has unconscious biases that can impact the way care is provided,” says Sharilyn Kelly, DNP, RN, NE-BC, C-ONQS, RNC-OB, executive director, perinatal services, MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. “Our partnership with Narrative Nation to promote the Irth App to our birthing patients will give our perinatal care teams vital information to understand how to provide unbiased care to better serve all our patients.”
In California, Black women make up 5% of those pregnant but account for 21% of the total pregnancy related deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“We are excited to get to work in Long Beach centering the lived experience of Black mothers and birthing people in developing hospital practices that improve the safety, quality, and outcomes for persons giving birth,” says Kimberly Seals Allers, creator of the Irth App and Executive Director of Narrative Nation. “Every Black and brown birthing person in Long Beach deserves to birth with respect and dignity, and to birth without bias. We invite all Long Beach hospitals to join our pilot partnership and center the lived experience of Black mothers to achieve birth justice and equity,” says Sheridan Blackwell, Irth App’s Head of Systems Change, Hospitals & Partnerships.
Parents who have given birth at Miller Children’s & Women’s in the past two years are encouraged to download the Irth app and leave a review to help be part of a new data set that will drive transparency, accountability and ultimately change birthing experiences at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital. The free app, which is available in the Google Play and Apple app stores, also accepts reviews from doulas and hospital-based nurses and midwives.
Narrative Nation is a New York City-based tech and media non-profit that creates multi-media and digital platforms to address racial disparities in maternal and infant health. Irth is grant funded by the Tara Heath Foundation, Grove Foundation and California Health Care Foundation. Learn more at IrthApp.com. Follow @theIrthApp on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
