Featuring
American Delivery is a response to the urgent maternal mortality crisis gripping the United States, particularly affecting women of color. Amidst this turmoil, nurses emerge as pivotal figures, striving to mend the fragmented maternal health safety net and offer hope to expectant mothers. American Delivery highlights nurses’ transformative impact and community efforts through stories of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum challenges. Here are some of the people you will meet in the film, who generously allowed us in to share their stories with the world:
Jess and Dionna
Cleveland, OH
As a first-time mom-to-be, Jess is part of the Nurse Family Partnership, which paired her up with nurse Dionna for bi-weekly home visits to address her physical, emotional and mental health needs– especially her anxiety and depression– throughout her pregnancy and until her baby’s 2nd birthday.
Dominique
Brooklyn, NY
Dominique and Malcolm were looking for a more holistic approach to childbirth, hoping for a natural birth without pitocin to induce labor. They found the Brooklyn Birthing Center, one of the only freestanding birthing centers in NYC, which is run by certified nurse-midwives and was founded by a physician who wanted more natural options for healthy women in labor.
Lindsey
Los Angeles, CA
In the state of California, where maternal mortality rates are far lower than any other state, Lindsey never felt scared of childbirth. However, after losing her first son at 5 months due to a chromosomal abnormality, she made choices to ensure a level of control during and after the c-section delivery of her second child, including immediate skin-to-skin contact after birth.
Chrissie and JoAnne
Lexington, KY
JoAnne Burris and Chrissie Adams are both Certified Nurse-Midwives from the University of Kentucky Midwife Clinic, a collaborative practice between Nurse-Midwives who specialize in low-risk pregnancies, and OBGYNS who support the care only when needed: if a patient becomes high-risk or has a complication. In the film, we witness JoAnne caring for Chrissie as not only her friend but also as a patient, choosing an unmedicated birth within the hospital setting.
Toni Tipton
Dayton, OH
Toni Tipton is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner at Five Rivers Health Center in Dayton, Ohio, a safety-net community health center where she cares for pregnant and postpartum women. Toni started a Black breastfeeding group to address systemic racism and infant mortality through community support, humor and breastfeeding education.
Airica Steed
Cleveland, OH
Dr. Airica Steed made history when she was appointed as President and CEO of the MetroHealth System in Cleveland. She was the first woman, first person of color and first nurse to take the helm of the organization in its 200 year history. Her goal is to reduce racial disparities to eliminate the death gap in healthcare.
Nina Martin
Journalist
Nina Martin was ProPublica’s sex and gender reporter, with a special interest in women’s health and racial equity. Her “Lost Mothers” project with NPR, examining maternal mortality in the U.S., led to sweeping change to maternal health policy at the state and federal levels.
Debra Bingham
Boston, MA
Debra Bingham, DrPH, RN, FAAN, is the Chief Executive Officer for the Institute for Perinatal Quality Improvement (PQI), and is a foremost expert on what can be done to solve the complex maternal health crisis in the United States. As the director of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, she and her colleagues were able to quickly and dramatically reduce maternal mortality rates in the state of California, which remains a national leader and model.