NEW ORLEANS — When it comes to losing mothers during pregnancy, and within the first year after the baby is born, Louisiana ranks in the top five.
Doctors say one cause is high blood pressure rates are rising faster in pregnant women, than in everyone else.
So, a local hospital has a program that helps doctors take action sooner and save lives. And that is what it did for on new mom.
In October 202, Varsha Castro-Gusman's family was excited that baby number three was coming. All three pregnancies had, so far, been perfect, but with just a week and a half to go, something potentially dangerous happened.
“I was definitely nervous, and anxious at what the outcome could have been had I not been monitored,” said Varsha Castro-Gusman, 39, who is a physician’s assistant and teaches the PA program she founded at Xavier University.
Varsha was part of the Connected MOM (Maternity Online Monitoring) program at Ochsner. From the beginning, her OB/GYN, Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, had her use the technology at home, to regularly take her blood pressure, so the Ochsner medical team could monitor it.
“One of the biggest things we see when blood pressures are elevated in pregnancy is actually stroke, and so it's really important that we know blood pressures are elevated so that we can manage them to prevent stroke. But the other thing that can happen, especially in preeclampsia, is seizures,” said Ochsner obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, who is Medical Director of Quality for the Women's Service Line, Senior Site Lead and Section Head of Women’s Services at Ochsner Kenner, and Medical Director of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee for Louisiana.
One night Connected MOM program, showed Varsha's blood pressure, without warning, or risk factors, suddenly shot up to 198/100.
When she sent those numbers in that night, almost immediately she got a call from the doctor saying to go to the ER right away.
Along with giving her medication to lower it, Varsha was induced to deliver her new baby boy, safely.
Pregnancy with cardiovascular health problems can be fatal. One group is at greater risk.
“In Louisiana, looking at pregnancy-related death, about two and a half black women die at a rate of every one white woman. The majority of deaths happen after delivery, up to one year postpartum, with the majority of those happening within the first six weeks,” explained Dr. Gillispie-Bell.
But there's more to Varsha's story.
She continued being monitored at home after delivery. Again her blood pressure went up, and she was treated in the hospital. As a physician's assistant, Varsha has taken care of young, new mothers who are in the Neuro-ICU after a stroke. It's difficult to see. She is grateful for her health.
“Doing that program, I think, saved my life,” said Castro-Gusman.
The Connected MOM monitoring device is free and is given to all pregnant women being treated at Ochsner.
For more visit Connected MOM at Ochsner.
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