When Porshea Gaddy became pregnant in 2022, her joy and excitement were tinged with fear. The 34-year-old New York City bus driver knew that as a Black woman with obesity and high blood pressure, she faced greater odds of having complications like preeclampsia — dangerously high blood pressure in pregnancy.
“I did my research and I knew the numbers, the greater mortality among African Americans,” says Porshea who had learned that Black women are about three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and in New York City, nine times more likely. “And I knew someone personally who died from childbirth because of preeclampsia. It was devastating. I was more nervous and fearful than anything.”
In her sixth month of pregnancy, with her blood pressure rising, her obstetrician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center referred Porshea to its Mothers Center. The team at the center cares for the most complex pregnancies, providing high-risk obstetric and specialist care all in the same location. Read more.
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