Summers welcomes Negele to Maternal Health Caucus

INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Vanessa Summers (D-Indianapolis) named Rep. Sharon Negele (R-Attica) as the co-chair of the Maternal Health Caucus during Organization Day on November 22. Created in 2020 by Summers, with assistance from the Indiana Minority Health Coalition Vice President of Public Policy and Engagement Tony Gillespie, the caucus studies and provides recommendations to curb Indiana's high rates of maternal mortality.  Summers is currently the ranking minority member of the Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee and professionally serves as the Public Policy Associate for the Indiana Minority Health Coalition.

“I'm very excited to be working alongside Rep. Negele on the Maternal Health Caucus,” Summers said. “It's important that we recognize that maternal health is not – and cannot be treated as – a partisan issue. Hoosier women are dying and dealing with preventable health issues because of a lack of access to care, a lack of implicit bias training among health professionals and struggles with substance abuse, among many other factors. We've spent a lot of time studying issues relating to maternal health, and now it's time to finally act. Indiana ranks third in the nation for the highest rate of maternal mortality, and I know we can do better than that. We owe it to the women of Indiana to work to keep them and their families safe and healthy.”