| By Big Radio News Staff |
New mothers who give birth at SSM Health St. Mary’s Wisconsin hospitals will get to flaunt that fact for six weeks afterward.
They’d do that with a orange bracelet that tells the world they’ve just had a baby.
At its hospitals statewide, SSM is issuing orange silicone bracelets for its new mothers printed with the words “Post-Birth Alert.”
SSM launched the program Jan. 1. SSM Janesville Family Birth Leader Samantha Woodworth says the bracelets are a visual reminder to women and doctors if a woman has a critical illness tied to a recent pregnancy.
That can include stroke, high blood pressure, blood sugar disorders, organ damage or blood clots.
Woodworth says because parenting an infant can be a hectic, unfamiliar time for women and their families, a new mother’s health can sometimes take a back seat to the health of their baby.
The Centers for Disease Control reports more than 800 women died in 2022 from maternal health problems. Two-thirds of those deaths were avoidable.
Woodworth says the “Post-Birth Alert” program was launched statewide in Florida last year.
