In the five years since a study spotlighted 76104 as having the lowest life expectancy rate in Texas, Tarrant County experts have zeroed in on lowering the high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality as a key way to address the issue.
Tarrant County’s maternal mortality rate is significantly higher than the national average. Black women in Tarrant County report the second-highest maternal mortality rate of any county across the state.
“We often talk about the problem, and we’ve talked about the data, but the root issues have been there for many years,” Regina Williams, interim CEO of United Way of Tarrant County, told the Report.
Through joint ventures and community initiatives, local leaders are converging to discuss how to improve the health of all Tarrant County mothers.
Tarrant County Public Health director Dr. William Brian Byrd will join Amy Hailey, vice president of professional services at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth; Dr. Stephanie Carson-Henderson, chair of Women & Infants at JPS Health Network; and Dr. Shanna Combs, gynecologist with Cook Children’s Health Care System for a free Oct. 24 Candid Conversation event hosted by the Fort Worth Report to discuss solutions to improve maternal health in North Texas.
Experts emphasize the difference between maternal morbidity and maternal mortality. Maternal morbidity explores the unexpected short- or long-term health problems that result from being pregnant or giving birth.
Maternal mortality is the death of a woman from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. More than 50,000 women in the U.S. suffer from pregnancy complications annually, but Black women are at least three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tarrant County had the second-highest maternal mortality rate among Black women in Texas with 48.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the 2018 Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force and the Department of State Health Services Joint Biennial Report.
Many factors have been tied to higher rates of maternal mortality, including complications during pregnancy, preexisting conditions and mental health conditions.
Other factors such as lack of health care access, transportation, financial support and failure to establish trust between medical providers and mothers have fueled high rates, Williams said.
In September 2022, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker convened the Tarrant County Maternal & Infant Health Coalition, which brought together 16 local health, education and community organizations to create a cohesive approach to improving maternal health outcomes.
“Once we had heard that Tarrant County had the second-highest rate of mortality in the state, it was unacceptable. We had to do something to address these issues,” Rose Bradshaw, who was part of the coalition as CEO and president of North Texas Community Foundation, said.
Amid widespread support from nonprofit organizations and medical institutions, the coalition was met with some criticism. In October 2022, some maternal and child health advocates asked why they weren’t invited to join the group and why there weren’t more Black-led organizations included in the coalition.
Parker previously told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the working group invited anyone interested in addressing maternal and child health to reach out.
One result of the coalition’s work was the North Texas Community Foundation’s investment of $250,000 to support a pilot program of the Parent Pass app.
Parent Pass virtually connects families to maternal health services and providers to alleviate the stress of searching for resources individually. During the pilot phase, 90% of participating mothers have been connected to the services, Bradshaw said.
“We are coordinating at an unprecedented level. After this one year project, we will be operating on behalf of mothers on a whole different scale,” she said.
Most recently, United Way of Tarrant County secured over $2 million to implement the TeamBirth initiative at seven local hospitals within Baylor Scott & White, JPS and Texas Health Resources starting in January 2025.
The TeamBirth initiative is a communicative, collaborative process aimed at closing communication gaps and encouraging teamwork between new mothers and health providers. Tarrant County will be the first region in Texas to implement the initiative.
“As we move into TeamBirth, the hospitals will have continuous data where we will be able to show what has been the impact of training staff through the implementation,” Williams said.
United Way of Tarrant County also has worked to train over 120 community doulas and 30 hospital labor and delivery health workers by the end of the year to provide assistance to women and families in the 76104 ZIP code.
A 2019 UT Southwestern study reported Fort Worth’s 76104 ZIP code as having the lowest life expectancy in Texas, with the average person not living to see their 67th birthday. The findings galvanized community organizations and health advocates to take action.
United Way is hoping to expand the doula program to all of Tarrant County in the future. A doula is trained to provide guidance and support to women before, during and after pregnancy.
“When you have a doula that you know comes from your community, maybe went to high school with you, goes to your church, there’s an opportunity to break down that barrier and gain trust,” Williams said.
In March 2023, Tarrant County Public Health published a report showing the 76104 ZIP code life expectancy had increased from 66.7 to 70 years from 2016 to 2020, but it still remains the lowest in the county.
While progress has been made to improve maternal health locally, there is always more work to be done, Williams and Bradshaw said.
“In five years, I hope that we are at a point where we’re no longer talking about solutions, but that we have implemented solutions and we have seen the needle move,” Williams said.
