Hello, my name is Dr. Nishelle Harris-Hines, DNP, MSN, PMHNP. I am a Doctorate prepared nurse with a specialty in surgical care, quality management, and mental health nursing. I am a certified Doula trained through the CAPPA program.
I am a wife of 37 years and a mother. My free time is spent volunteering my time between my Sorority and nursing organizations and conducting community service projects. My projects are geared at helping and educating those living in communities where the greatest disparities reside. This allows me to address health care issues affecting the vulnerable, such as those experiencing racial bias in maternal health. I was introduced to Count the Kicks through Black Nurses Rock Foundation (BNRF) Tyler Texas Chapter and the rest is history.
My mission is to help prevent premature deaths by encouraging moms to be more conscious of changes in their fetal movement as they progress through their pregnancy. When I learned about Count the Kicks and their mission to improve disparities in health care of Black, Brown, and all women who may experience disparity in care during their pregnancy, I knew I had to get involved and join them in their plight to change the current status of maternal health when it comes to disparities.
Being a part of this great mission will allow me to work to decrease the health disparities for women in my state of Delaware and beyond, as the work continues to decrease and eliminate stillbirth, SIDs, and prematurity in women of color and beyond. I was horrified at the statistics of women who have experienced prematurity, stillbirths and SIDs knowing the progression that has been made in healthcare.
As a healthcare provider, I am even more horrified at the disparities that continue to happen to women of color or who reside in vulnerable populations when it comes to maternal health. Gaining this new knowledge has led me to incorporate maternal health teaching into my WHY for educating new and expectant moms in the communities I serve. I focus on matters related to improving maternal health by providing them with resources that can help them gain knowledge that can decrease, eliminate and change the current narrative. By accelerating actions as it relates to educating new moms of color, we can help reduce racial inequities related to maternal health.
I personally know women who have experienced both prematurity (myself included), stillbirth, and a loss to SIDS. Being a nurse and the President/CEO of BNRF Delaware Chapter gives me a platform to address issues such as prematurity, stillbirth, and SIDS to those living in areas that have been identified as having the highest disparities in maternal health and other health care issues that affect people of color and beyond. It also allows one to provide healthcare education learned through Count the Kicks to those living in those vulnerable communities BNRF frequents. I look forward to providing healthcare education to new and expectant mothers and fathers by becoming an Ambassador for Count the Kicks.
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