SHIVELY, Ky. — A nonprofit in Jefferson County working to combat a Black maternal death crisis has cut the ribbon on a health hub for new moms. 

Meka Kpoh is a Louisville mother of four and she remembers the rough patches that followed each of her pregnancies. 

"It was just really beneficial for me to get counseling," she said. "Unfortunately, I didn’t have a postpartum doula, but I know that that would have been really beneficial for me."

On Saturday, Kpoh, a doula who is studying to become a midwife, cut the ribbon on a new postpartum health hub for Black Birth Justice, an organization she founded in February. 

Supporters of the nonprofit Black Birth Justice cut a ribbon on a new postpartum health hub Saturday in Shively. (Black Birth Justice)

"This resource is extremely important because typically, Black families do not have the option to have postpartum support," she said. "Sixty percent of all deaths, maternal deaths, are in the postpartum phase, so postpartum care is extremely important." 

The organization's four postpartum doulas bring supplies as they visit new moms in the West Louisville, Shively, Newburg and Iroquois areas to help them heal. 

So far, they have helped at least 40 families, Kpoh said. 

"We meet them at one week postpartum, three weeks postpartum and six weeks postpartum, and so while we’re there, we are able to just do a general assessment to make sure that they are healthy and strong, doing OK mentally, physically, making sure that baby is safe," she said. 

Rep. Attica Scott, D, Louisville, who has advocated for maternal healthcare, said the organization is the first she has heard of in Kentucky and she thinks it could be a model for the commonwealth. 

"The reality in Kentucky is Black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women," Scott told Spectrum News 1. "This is a reality where I live in the West End of Louisville and across our commonwealth, and so we have to do what we can to address this crisis from a local, state and federal level with policies that complement the programmatic initiatives that are going on in communities."

Scott has already filed several bills related to maternal care for the next legislative session.