July 7, 2025
Deputy Mayor Deputy Mayor Suzanne Miles-Gustave, Health and Human Services: Welcome, welcome, my name is Suzanne Miles-Gustave, I'm New York City's deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, and we're here at the East Harlem Neighborhood Action Center to lift up the great work happening here to support New Yorkers' health and well-being, and, in particular, to talk about strides we're making to support new and expectant mothers.
But now, you know we can't talk about access to health care without acknowledging the state of health care today, and the recent deeply disappointing passage of federal legislation that will harm our Medicaid and essential plan programs. And harm other social services programs like SNAP, which impact New Yorkers' ability to achieve optimal health.
Access to health care and healthy foods are critical to not just surviving, but thriving, which is our goal here in New York City, especially for pregnant people, new parents, and their children. As we talk about our amazing work to increase access to doula services in New York City, we know doula services are just a piece of the safety net we need to ensure everyone has a safe pregnancy, and the means they need to raise a family. Access to healthy food and all forms of preventive and emergency care are also critical.
The federal legislation will make it harder for some New Yorkers to access health care and get the care they need to become and stay healthy, but we are committed to doing everything we can in partnership with New York State to minimize impacts on New Yorkers so that everyone has access to the care they deserve.
We continue to believe health care is a human right, and as many of you know, maternal health issues have been a high priority for the Adams administration, with the mayor announcing investments, expanding doula services in the early months of the administration in 2022, and a number of initiatives since then, including a Women's Health Summit, a new family home visiting program, and much more.
So, to get us started today, along with our Mayor Adams, we have with us Dr. Michelle Morse, acting commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and we have Theresa Peters, a doula here in the city. So, to start, we're going to have Theresa come up to the mic and tell us about her work and what it's meant for those she's helped.
Theresa Lasbrey Peters: So good afternoon, everyone. I am Theresa Lasbrey Peters, and I'm a proud doula, as well as a certified lactation counselor from the Bronx. I became a doula after having my own children, supported by the same incredible doula at both births. Her holistic, nurturing care, you know, did everything for me, changed me, and I knew what I wanted to provide for people in the future. And that same doula was provided to me by the organization that I now work for, which is Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership.
So, since 2020, I've been by the side of women and birthing people, helping each of them find their own version of a beautiful, empowered birth. And that's especially important for Black and brown mothers. The maternal health crisis in this country is real. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. That isn't just a statistic. It's a call to action.
Doulas make a difference. We listen, advocate, and hold space. We help people find victory, even in moments of fear and uncertainty. I'll never forget one mom who was scared to push, and then her body took over. She's actually here today. My client who worked with CDI for her first birth, and then worked with CDI for her subsequent second birth. So that was a very interesting birth. The baby was born with no doctor in sight, just a nurse and me encouraging and assuring her.
That moment, like so many others, proved how powerful, capable, and resilient birthing people are, and how they can be when they're truly supported. That's why the New York City Citywide Doula Initiative is historic. For the first time, mothers with low income have access to these life-saving services. It means more women, especially Black and brown women, can have the support they deserve. It means more empowered births, safer outcomes, and families starting their journey with dignity and respect.
This is why doulas matter, especially for Black women. We deserve care that is comprehensive, compassionate, and rooted in respect. Every birth should leave everyone feeling accomplished, not traumatized. Every family deserves to start their journey as a victory. With that, it is my honor to turn it over to our Mayor Adams, who spearheaded this initiative from his very first month in office, for which I'm very grateful.
Mayor Eric Adams: I am the president of the Men Who Get It Club. I know when we think of this important conversation around doulas, this journey started for me during my time in Brooklyn as the Brooklyn borough president. A young brother came in, he lost his wife, during what should have been the most joyous moment for him. As being a dad, he was left with two children and a newborn, and he was traumatized by the loss of his wife.
This is so important for the mother who's giving birth, but it's really impactful for the dads. To have someone you love and you're planning to spend the rest of your life with and raising children, to experience a loss of that significance, it really touched me. And we were dedicated in Borough Hall to look at this space, and as I started to do the research, we found that at one hospital in our borough, over 30 percent of the children who were being born were through a cesarean.
And I started to look at the importance of a child being inoculated by going through the birth canal of the mother, and how the long-term impacts of that. And if we would just find a solution to really make a major impact on this issue, and then we did, doulas. Doulas do more than spend time with a parent, they nurture them, they encourage them, they answer so many questions. When Jordan was born, we did not know what it was to be a dad, as his mom carried him for nine months.
What doulas are doing, they're making sure we can make these real long-term investments on how we get it right, and make sure that we can raise healthy children and families. And we cannot ignore the fact that when Black women were dying four times the rates as white women, there was a lack of a sense of emergency or urgency to address this issue. It was one of the top things that I wanted to do as the mayor of the City of New York. And that is why in 2022, my first year, our administration launched our Citywide Doula Initiative as one of our first initiatives when we came into office.
We wanted to provide free access to doulas for parents and families in the underserved neighborhoods and homeless shelters, because a mother's a mother, it does not matter if she's undomiciled or not, she is still a mother. And we wanted to make sure that we will touch this issue on the ground. And a new report by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is stating that the stats show that our doula program is working.
Since its launch, we have given over 3,200 new moms the care they need right from the start and with over 1,100 mothers served in 2024 alone. Most importantly, there have been no pregnancy associated deaths for program participants since we started this program. No deaths. This is huge. Over 3,200 lives have been helped and possibly all those lives have been saved, thanks to the doulas and thanks to the collaboration with this administration. Thousands of Black and brown mothers have been able to have a safe, healthy pregnancy and birth thanks to this program.
We have expanded access to doula care to neighborhoods that have been ignored for far too long. It was unbelievable when you looked at the neighborhoods who were in the greatest need, they were not receiving this service. Resulting in a 25 percent increase in doula coverage for New York City residents. Additionally, the program exceeded its goal of serving 1,000 women per year. And those who receive care from doulas also have lower rates of C-sections and preterm births compared to citywide averages.
This is so important. The role of going through that birth canal and inoculation of a baby with all of the things that a mother needs to inoculate that baby with, that birth canal serves a crucial role. And 30 percent of the births at one hospital in Brooklyn was showing how the long-term impacts had a major outcome. And so, what are we saying here?
We're bringing more trained professionals to the communities who need them most, training an additional 148 community members as doulas. When you think about it, it's shameful that in the 21st century, Black women were at four times the race of white women, and this is an impact that we were committed to change. But with our doula program, we're changing those numbers and moving us into the right direction.
And I owe everything to one woman, Dorothy Mae Adams, my mother. Six children, she loved them all, but darn it, she adored me. And it's through that love and nurturing that I understand what it means to be in charge of a healthy family and the growth that's associated with it.
This initiative is also part of our New Family Home Visits Initiative, which supports new and expectant parents through visits from trained health workers like nurses, doulas, and lactation consultants because driving those sleepless days and nights, you need all the help you can get, and we want to provide that help. This simple help is going to ensure a long-term impact on the children and families of our community.
The New Family Home Visits Initiative has already served over 12,000 families, and it builds on the work we are doing on our healthy NYC campaign, which aims to increase New Yorkers' life expectancy to 83 years by 2030, with the specific goal of reducing Black and Hispanic mortality by 10 percent by 2030. The color of your skin, where you live, should not determine the health of your child, and our doula programs are doing just that. They're delivering bundles of joy, and that is the indicator of having a healthy community where you can raise healthy children and families.
I also want to echo Dr. Miles-Gustave on the recently passed federal legislation and its effects on health care in New York City. We're analyzing the impact and the effect that might have on access to health care and how it impacts us all, food assistance, housing assistance, and out-of-pocket costs. These are important programs that ensure those who are in need receive the services that they deserve.
Our administration is committed to working to give all New Yorkers access to the high-quality health care and support they deserve, such as through successful programs like the one we are here today to discuss and others. And again, I want to thank the entire team in general, but specifically I want to thank the doulas. Young children will grow up to know what their possibilities are and what great opportunities because of these amazing programs and the family members who are involved. Thank you very much.
Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: Thank you, mayor. Powerful words. Thank you so much. And now I want to bring up our city's doctor, Dr. Michelle Morse, acting commissioner for Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Acting Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Good afternoon, everyone. It is so wonderful to be here to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of this program. As was mentioned, my name is Michelle Morse. I'm a practicing internal medicine doctor and practice at Kings County specifically, and I'm really honored to get to be the city's doctor to honor today's really incredible milestones with this program.
Thank you, deputy mayor, and thank you, mayor, for your leadership in this space. We urgently needed this initiative and the Adams administration delivered. Addressing maternal health has been a signature commitment of this administration. And again, I'm so thankful for everyone here that made this possible, especially the staff.
So, I want to mention and just reflect on a story that touches me particularly. It happens to be a person who has the same name as me, Michelle. She's a mother who herself is a Bronx resident and experienced the support that comes from this program. So, I really want to center her experience this morning. Her words are that her first pregnancy was so traumatizing that she thought she would never give birth again. She learned that she was pregnant with her youngest child and she sought the care of a doula, and her family learned about New York City's doula initiative by watching the news in Spanish.
So, Michelle Martinez herself, the mother that I'm speaking of today, had uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, which is very, very common, unfortunately. And she was so consumed by fear that she was really, again, looking for more support with this pregnancy. She identifies as Black and Latinx, and she also knew all too well how much systemic racism could have impacted her experience and her pregnancy. But this time she said that having a doula made all of the difference for her experience. And each time that she reached out to her doula, she was met with a sense of calm and understanding. And I know having supported my sister through her two pregnancies, calm and understanding is the medicine that we need.
Often outside of her scheduled appointments, Michelle received affirmations by text message from her doula, things like, "Stay positive, I'm here for you, and I won't leave you." Michelle's doula also connected her to free resources like diapers and play pens, things that we actually offer right here in the East Harlem Action Center that we're standing in, in our family wellness suites upstairs. Yes, yes we do.
Michelle said that her doula's care felt like she was both a therapist and a friend. And when she knew that she wanted to deliver her child by cesarean section, her doula advocated for her, with her medical doctors, to actually follow her wishes. Unlike her first birthing experience, Michelle felt heard. She and her family were able to focus on what mattered most, which is her health and her child. So I'm going to leave those reflections on Michelle's experience there, because again, we have some incredible people here with us today who are also going to represent the journey and how different it is with a doula as opposed to without.
I want to echo the mayor's sentiments around the impact of the Citywide Doula Initiative that provides free access to doulas for people who are pregnant in neighborhoods that have been historically marginalized, and to residents of homeless shelters and foster homes. At the Health Department, our work is guided by science and data, and the data on doulas is unequivocal. Their support is lifesaving.
We focus, because of that, on care, attention, and resources to New Yorkers, and we owe that to Black women in particular, who have some of the most inequitable outcomes in the whole entire country. I also want to, again, emphasize that we've served more than 3,200 people since the launch of the CDI in 2021. It feels like just yesterday we were actually standing together, launching the program, and here we are three years later.
And I want to, again, emphasize that no one should die bringing life into the world. Every child deserves to celebrate their birthday. Every parent should have a childbirth free of trauma. And in the richest city, in the richest country in the world, the overwhelming majority of maternal deaths are preventable right here where we're standing in New York City. So to help us keep moving forward and change these numbers, and ensure health and safety during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period, as a citywide priority, the CDI, the Citywide Doula Initiative, is a huge step forward.
Finally, I want to, again, acknowledge the team that leads the East Harlem Action Center that we're standing in right today. If you can stand up. Thank you for hosting us. We appreciate all of you. Your work really makes this space an inviting space for anyone in the community to walk in and find what they need. This is our place-based approach in action, and it drives resources, according to need, to make sure that health outcomes in neighborhoods like East Harlem are transformed over time.
Finally, we've also developed a one-stop shop program for pregnancy-related care, wraparound social services, and onsite access to mental health care, and look forward to sharing more about that work with you in the coming months. So again, I'm grateful to be here today to celebrate our progress, our commitment to birth equity, and want to thank you all again for your attention and your part in making the CDI so successful. Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Miles-Gustave: Thank you, Dr. Morse. Now we'll take on-topic questions with the mayor.
Mayor Adams: Before we do, I just want to talk about the recent floods that we witnessed in Texas, the number of lives that were lost, and New York City, as always, stands with our neighboring states and county. The floods in Kerr County, we have witnessed 82 deaths, many of which are children with a dozen more unaccounted for.
It's devastating news and our hearts and prayers go out to the family members. We know that there are many residents in this city from Texas, and so we are communicating with local officials, as always. Zach Iscol, the commissioner of NYCEM, is standing ready. If there's any assistance we can help with, we will do so.
And so again, really devastating, devastating loss. The rapid floods took the lives of innocent people at the camp, and as I indicated, many of them were children. So why don't we open to some on-topics?
Question: Mayor, your deputy mayor was a little more definitive than you were in criticizing the big bill that just passed, saying these cuts will hurt New York City. You just said you're analyzing the Medicaid cuts in particular underpin a lot of this work you do with your various health services. Why not be more critical of the bill? Why not pick up the phone and call the president and say, sir, this is going to hurt. Can you do something here?
Mayor Adams: Yeah, I don't know how your interpretation of being more definitive. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt. Hurt is hurt. Pain is pain. This is a state funded program that we're doing. We're disappointed in the bill, I don't know how many ways we can say that. We're disappointed in it and, I think, what is often— I say it over and over again, there are federal lawmakers, I'm a city lawmaker.
I can verbalize my disappointment, but federal lawmakers can take action. And I think it's imperative that we start asking our federal lawmakers. I have the weight of a city of 8.5 million people on my shoulders and I'm carrying them through the crises as we face them. But, Eric is not the end all be all for the entire country. There are federal lawmakers. I deal with the City Council and federal lawmakers deal with our federal bodies. And so, we are disappointed at this bill and I don't know how to be any clearer on that.
Question: I know this is a day one priority for you, as you've just outlined and I covered it since day one. If you look at the goal there, the 23rd goal. If you flash forward to 26, the money is not there. How important will it be to get it in the budget to continue this good work?
Mayor Adams: We're not going to end this program. This is one of the vital entities for me, I've stated that. I didn't start when I was the mayor, I started in my first term as the borough president. This is something I'm committed to and we'll ensure that this program continues.
The success, I think the doctor said it clearly, the numbers don't lie. We were on a clear mission. It was an embarrassment and an indictment on our city that Black mothers were dying four times the rate of white mothers and no one saw it as an urgency. Well, this little Black boy from South Jamaica, Queens knew it was an urgency and I didn't just talk about it, I did something about it and the numbers are showing that.
Question: I wanted to ask, you know, some people might say why not put some of this investment into the traditional health care system? Why are doula more important? Because we talked to mothers going to [inaudible] they say that doctors are not listening to them. Why do you think it's more important to invest in a program where doulas are there versus, maybe, training or something else in the traditional healthcare system?
Mayor Adams: That's a great question. Many people know my personal story of overcoming blindness and potential hand amputation from my advanced stage of diabetes and I wrote a book about it. And one chapter of the book talks about, or a section of the book we talked about how Black women feel historically when they go to the doctor. How they're dismissive of their pain. How they are less likely to address some of those issues that they are facing.
There's a real issue. There's a historical issue. There's a sexism issue on just women in health care and that's why we did our Women Forward Plan because there's just sexism in the medical institution as a whole. But, it's even more so when it comes to Black and brown women.
This doula program, we're always going to encourage people to go to the hospital, to their primary care doctor and all the things that's needed. But many of these mothers, their own personal journeys and having that compassion and that care and the focus. Hearing the story, texting that mom and saying "You're going to be alright, I'm always going to be here with you." Those are powerful moments and they may seem insignificant in the full scheme of things, but they're not.
To these mothers, these doulas are the world. And they have, with the training they go through, with the care, with the compassion and with their dedication. We have to drop those numbers down and I'm sure they're proud of every child that's born.
So yes, our larger medical institutions, they have a job, but you know, give me the doulas, they do it right. And if I decide to give Jordan a brother or sister, I'm going to make sure that the doula is in the room.
Question: I just have a question on what exactly your office is doing to– in the face of these Medicaid cuts for Black and Hispanic mothers who might be on Medicaid? I think it's something like 40 to 50 percent of Black and Hispanic mothers in New York are Medicaid insured. Is there anything specific you're going to be doing to protect those mothers that may be at risk of losing it with these health care bills?
Mayor Adams: But whenever we fall short on the federal or state level, because we fall short on both levels, whenever we fall short on the federal or the state level in receiving the funding that we deserve, New York is the economic engine for the state and for the federal government. Whenever we fall short, we have to go and find ways to fill the gap. We've done that.
We fell short of having to pay over $7 billion in the migrant and asylum seekers [crisis]. We found ways to ensure that we did not devastate these important programs. So we don't control budgets that are passed on the state level, budgets that are passed on the federal level. We control budgets that are— [Audio cuts].
51 percent of the council persons voted for that budget because we dealt with these real issues. So we're going to do an analysis of the cuts that we are going to be impacted on the federal level, just as we did on the state level, and we're going to make sure these programs continue to thrive and grow, because we know how important they are.
So I'm going to take a few off topics. I'm just going to excuse everyone else. Thank you.
Question: So Governor Paterson called on independent and Republican candidates to join forces around one candidate, against Mamdani. But he also wouldn't say that he wants that one person, that one candidate to be you. So two questions. What do you think of this idea of merging forces to rank one person against Mamdani and the fact that Governor Paterson wouldn't rally around you specifically?
Mayor Adams: I think he wanted to have an independent voice when he did that. I agree with him. I think Andrew and Curtis should rally behind me. I won as mayor. I'm the only one that's in this race right now that has ever won as mayor. I won as mayor.
Think about this for a moment, particularly when it comes down to Andrew. When Andrew ran in the primary, he knew he was setting up this scenario because he knew Mamdani was going to be on the [Working Families Party] line, he already knew that I was going to be on the independent line. So by him creating another independent line, he created this scenario. He knew what the outcome was going to be.
It was the wrong thing to do. He spent $25 or $30 million. He put his message out. Voters heard it. He lost by 12 percentage points. I have an opportunity to go one-on-one with Mamdani. We are diametrically opposed. And so New Yorkers are going to have an opportunity to decide if they believe in defunding police or supporting police? Do they believe in running every affluent New Yorker out that pays taxes, or supporting?
Do they believe in harming small property owners and saying that they should never have an increase in rent although everything is going up around them, or do they support them? Do they believe in government supermarkets, like in Cuba where you have nothing on the shelves, or would you support small bodegas and small supermarkets? That's what this is going to become about and I'm the best candidate to say that.
Question: I wanted to ask you, this morning you mentioned that you spoke to Cuomo and he asked you to drop out of the race. Did you ask him to drop out and what was his response?
Mayor Adams: Well, I'm not going to go into the conversations I had with him. I think that it's important that New York is against Zohran. That's where we are right now. Those working class, sensible New Yorkers that see the future that we've done from record levels decrease in crime, Broadway having the best 12 years, more jobs in New York City's history, these programs. These doula programs. There's just so many wins.
The joy that I'm looking forward to is that my story has never been told. My story has been overshadowed by the lawfare that I had to experience and instead of reading about our success, New Yorkers had to hear about everything that could've gone wrong in the city. I have an amazing story that I'm going to be able to go out to New Yorkers and say, this is what happened in the city in the last three years and six months. And so, I think that everyone should align behind the person who has won as mayor.
And I want to remind everyone, last time I ran in 2021, I was either 12 or 13 points behind Andrew Yang and we don't call Andrew Yang mayor. We call Eric Adams mayor.
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