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The 2023 Health Equity Symposium

COMMUNITY VOICES SURVEY

Do you access any type of reproductive healthcare services on Cape Cod? We want to hear from you. Take the Community Voices Survey today!

Access the 2023 Health Equity Symposium Schedule!

The 2023 Health Equity Symposium

A LOOK INTO THE LANDSCAPE OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE ACCESSIBILITY ON CAPE COD

MARCH 10TH, 2023
9AM - 3PM

Virtual and In-person @ DoubleTree By Hilton, 287 Iyannough Road

Hyannis, MA

Join us as we take an in-depth look at reproductive healthcare accessibility here on Cape Cod!

Cape Cod Voices has partnered with Belonging Books and Massachusetts Mom Advocates to bring you The 2023 Health Equity Symposium! Together, we will take an in-depth look into the landscape of reproductive healthcare accessibility on Cape Cod and center the experiences of the Cape's community of color.

The symposium will feature a keynote speaker, Dr. Jallicia Jolly PhD, a panel discussion from local healthcare professionals, and a listening series from local Cape Codders of Color. For in-person participants, lunch is provided and we will have a resource hub adjacent to the event space with tables set up by local care providers! We will examine topics of family planning, abortion access, access to birthing care, especially culturally relevant birthing care for Cape Codders of Color, and how these aspects have stood up to or changed in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

If you're a birthing person of color, we want to talk to you! This symposium will be crafted by and for the Cape’s community of color with the goals to stress the importance of patient-centered and culturally-relevant care in reproductive healthcare. Click on the button below or take the Community Voices Survey to share your opinions and experiences on reproductive healthcare on Cape Cod!

Meet the Keynote Speaker

Dr. Jallicia Jolly, Amherst College

Kingston-born and Brooklyn-bred, Dr. Jallicia Jolly is an Assistant Professor in American Studies and Black Studies at Amherst College. Dr. Jolly is invested in merging community-based research on Black women's health, grassroots activism, and political leadership with reproductive justice organizing and practice in the United States and the Caribbean.

As a 2022 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University, she is completing her first book manuscript, Ill Erotics: Black Caribbean Women and Self-Making in the Time of HIV/AIDS, under contract with the University of California Press. Ill Erotics tells the story of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the reproductive justice movement in Jamaica through the experiences of HIV-positive Jamaican women who live, love, and organize to save their own lives as they confront illness, reproductive violence, and inequality.

Dr. Jolly connects her research to tailored community interventions that advance racial equity, systemic change and community-building within and beyond U.S. borders. She works within racial justice and reproductive health equity organizations such as Women of Color Health Equity Coalition and MA Birth Equity & Justice Massachusetts (BEJMA), which is a reproductive justice coalition that aims to advance maternal health equity in policy and to improve the health outcomes of birthing people, particularly Black and Brown women. Dr. Jolly dedicates her work to improving the well-being of marginalized communities while elevating the organizing and interests of Black communities using human rights and reproductive justice frameworks.

A public scholar committed to research-informed action, Dr. Jolly has written for various media outlets such as The Washington Post/The Lily, USA Today, Ms. Magazine, Rewire News, and Huffington Post. Her work has been recognized and funded by the U.S. Student Fulbright Program, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Brown University's Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, the American Association of University Women, MIT, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.
She leads with legacies of love and liberation while honoring her core intention:

"I am determined, with all my heart, to keep generating and supporting teaching, research, movements, and community-based work that will enhance our collective well-being and create new legacies beyond inequality and violence." - Jallicia Jolly

Meet the Panelists

Mariah Sabir, Massachusetts Mom Advocates

I had baby Amirah in July 2020. She was not necessarily a planned pregnancy, but my partner and I knew we wanted to have a baby in the near future. Speaking with my psychiatrist (who I had been seeing 2 plus years before pregnancy) about my wants to conceive, she provided me with referrals to an obstetrician, and pediatric doctor. Additionally, she provided me with a referral to a new psychotherapist seeing as my previous therapist was not covered under my change of insurance. With her guidance and some research of my own, I was able to build a team of clinicians around me to support me through what could have been one of the most challenging times of my life. I say this because I was diagnosed with PTSD and major depressive disorder in 2012. This diagnosis made me 50 times more likely to develop postpartum depression. Furthermore, I know, being a black woman, that my chances of having maternal health complications is higher than any other race. Due to divine intervention, I did not develop postpartum depression or any trauma related to my delivery. My daughter did have to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit for a week due to breathing issues. My team was there to help me process it and hold my hand through it. I know that I was fortunate to have this support. Many women do not have this kind of help. Seeing as I had a great postpartum experience for the most part, I wanted to co-found MA Mom Advocates to create a resource for mothers so they could develop a supportive team postpartum as well.

Rachael Lovely, Lovely Perinatal

Rachael Lovely is a Cape Cod native and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. She received her B.S. in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University and worked in residential therapeutic counseling for some time before moving into birth work. Rachael has been working independently as a birth doula and Certified Lactation Counselor off and on for the past 6 years. In between working with contracted birth and lactation clients through her company, Lovely Perinatal, Rachael also serves tribal members as an indigenous birthkeeper. As a lifelong learner who can’t seem to stay out of the classroom, Rachael is also currently completing the Diagnostic Technician program at Cape Cod Community College and has aspirations of eventually becoming a Nurse Midwife. Having experienced discrimination and inadequate care within the healthcare system, specifically during her pregnancies, she is especially passionate about confronting and addressing the racial disparities in maternal and infant outcomes and lessening the inaccessibility to diverse care. As a mother of a toddler and an infant, each born of very different experiences (one cesarean birth and one home birth), and through her birth work, Rachael has experienced and witnessed the wide range in quality and type of perinatal care available and is therefore a strong advocate for making the full spectrum of choices accessible.

Dr. Lindsay LaCorte, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. LaCorte is a practicing obstetrician gynecologist and women's health advocate. She is an osteopathic physician, obtaining her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) and Master of Public Health at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in FL. She then completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in NY. Since, she has been practicing obstetrics and gynecology for the past 7 years. She is focused on community outreach and reaching underserved and underrepresented women in the Cape Cod community through her clinical work.

Daniel Rodrigues, Director of Substance Use Disorder Services at Duffy Health Center

Daniel Rodrigues is the Director of Substance Use Disorder Services at Duffy Health Center located in Hyannis. Duffy is a Federally Qualified Health Center which serves Barnstable County’s most marginalized communities, including individuals experiencing homelessness as well as housing instability. Daniel’s background is as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, graduating from Smith School for Social Work in 2013. Daniel has worked in the field of substance use disorders and mental health since graduation, having worked in inpatient co-occurring treatment, outpatient residential, hospital based Social Work on Maternity and Pediatrics, before transitioning to his current role at Duffy.

In his role at Duffy, Daniel provides clinical oversight for all of the health center’s substance use disorder services, including a program designed to support pregnant and parenting women with histories of substance use disorder. The Moms Do Care program is a Bureau of Substance Addiction Services grant funded program rooted in supporting equitable care, community based services, as well as ensuring access to reproductive healthcare.

Daniel Rodrigues

Daniel Rodrigues is the Director of Substance Use Disorder Services at Duffy Health Center located in Hyannis. Duffy is a Federally Qualified Health Center which serves Barnstable County’s most marginalized communities, including individuals experiencing homelessness as well as housing instability. Daniel’s background is as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, graduating from Smith School for Social Work in 2013. Daniel has worked in the field of substance use disorders and mental health since graduation, having worked in inpatient co-occurring treatment, outpatient residential, hospital based Social Work on Maternity and Pediatrics, before transitioning to his current role at Duffy.

Are you a person of color interested in sharing your experiences with reproductive healthcare accessibility?

Use the form below to contact us, email us at capecodvoices@gmail.com, or take the Community Voices Survey!

Thank you so much for your feedback and interest in the 2023 Health Equity Symposium! It is important to us that this event is created by and for the Cape's community of color. It is our hope that by incorporating your voice, we can find a way to create a more equitable Cape Cod!

Have you taken the survey yet?

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