“That is a very big benefit and the reason why I think we enjoy low mortality numbers,” Lemon said.

Expanding these specialized services to smaller towns could help lower Georgia’s maternal mortality rate, Lemon said.

Monday’s visit will focus on ways to lessen the health disparities that women face due to where they live or their race.

Many women experience pregnancy complications, such as bleeding or high-blood pressure, that put their life and the lives of their babies in danger. Pregnancy can be particularly risky for Black women, who are two times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women in Georgia, according to state data.

U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, gave birth to her son, Carter, eight years ago and was leaving the hospital when a nurse checked her blood pressure and realized it was high. Williams was readmitted and put on medication for post-partum pre-eclampsia, which is a life-threatening condition. In an instant, a moment that should have been filled with joy was replaced by stress as her 3-day-old son went home without her, she said.

Williams said she feels fortunate to have received the care she did and that she didn’t become “yet another statistic.”

“I know that everybody’s story doesn’t end that way,” she said. “There are so many moms that go into the hospital and never come home, or they lose their life within the first year after childbirth.”

Williams said now is the time for action, which includes expanding health care access through Medicaid.

“We already know what the problem is, but now we need to address it. We can expand Medicaid to get people the care that they need, but yet we are playing political games with this,” Williams said.

She pointed to recent statements during an AJC live event when Gov. Brian Kemp said that he opposes Medicaid expansion, despite growing support among Republicans.

Lemon, the Atlanta obstetrician, said it remains hard to enroll in Medicaid, but that access to health insurance and health care has improved since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, also called “Obamacare.” What she sees now is some patients foregoing certain procedures, because they cannot afford to pay their plan’s high deductible.

“A lot of patients who get the Obamacare plans are getting care now and not falling between the cracks,” Lemon said.

In Congress, Williams is sponsoring a bill to support the use of telehealth to expand remote patient monitoring and expand access to health care in underserved areas.

The issues of health care access is both a rural and urban issue in Georgia, Williams said. Rural hospitals have closed, and during her three years in Congress two hospitals in her Atlanta district have also closed. Williams said she is grateful that Grady Health System plans to open a standalone emergency room in Union City, but it doesn’t fully meet the need of the community, she said.

“Unfortunately it surpasses urban or rural lines and it is a crisis all over the state,” Williams said. “We need people to step up and be the leaders that we’re elected to be and make these changes.”

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