Zoom Cares: Amplifying social impact with the power of Zoom

[Bri]

“There would be no Ready Set Push without Zoom,” Kiana Ayers said. 

Through her nonprofit, Ready Set Push, she runs virtual prenatal classes and support groups while still working as a registered nurse on the side. “The ease of the Zoom platform and the way that I can access it, no matter where I am, has made it possible to continue to keep this sustainable.”

To Kiana, continuing her work is literally a matter of life and death.   

As an obstetrics nurse at a large Medicaid Company, she saw firsthand the challenges low-income Black families faced with prenatal care: If they couldn’t afford a class, or had no access to one in their neighborhood, their risk of preterm labor increased – and with it, infant and maternal mortality. 

Without preparation and support, these families faced an uncertain, even terrifying, experience in the healthcare system. “[Mothers] were afraid to go to the hospital, because they were afraid they were gonna die,” Kiana said. 

Kiana’s not the only one who has noticed this problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States — 69.9 per 100,000 live births for 2021, almost three times the rate for white women. Georgia, the state in which Kiana lives, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. Several factors may explain why, including poverty, a large rural population, and the disparities Black Americans face in the healthcare system. 

Kiana has seen both the fear that mothers feel and the hunger they have for information. They want to learn how to navigate pregnancy and childbirth, but childbirth education is either non-existent or cost-prohibitive. 

With Ready Set Push, Kiana aims to change that.

Read the full article by Nicole Gray (Product Program Manager at Zoom) 👉 https://blog.zoom.us/zoom-cares-amplifying-social-impact-with-the-power-of-zoom/