4Kira4Moms, Community Partners to Stand Together at Cedars-Sinai on Wednesday, February 5, 2025

4Kira4Moms and Community Partners to Take A Stand at Cedars-Sinai on Wednesday, February 5, 2025

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, January 31, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- 4Kira4Moms is partnering with community organizations throughout the Los Angeles area to hold Cedars-Sinai Medical Center accountable to the patients it serves—specifically Black moms who trust the medical center to provide them equitable, competent, and respectable healthcare during childbirth.

The protest will be held at Cedars-Sinai at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. Joining 4Kira4Moms will be representatives from the Consumer Watchdogs, Elephant Circle, Mind Body Birth LA, Irth App, and more. This call to action follows last week’s response from Cedars-Sinai to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation into systemic abuses and discrimination at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. A Voluntary Resolution Agreement between Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and OCR was released last week. However, there are still several key areas that 4Kira4Moms and partnering organizations called for earlier this month that were not addressed.

Those included:

1. Public Accountability: Advocates, led by Charles Johnson, founder of 4Kira4Moms, called for Cedars-Sinai to issue a public apology for systemic failures and to commit to an actionable plan addressing disparities in care impacting Black and Hispanic mothers.

2. Independent and Community Oversight: Participants emphasized the need for an independent oversight board to investigate racial disparities, review patient outcomes, and enforce equity protocols. This board will require patient and family representation, particularly from Black and minority communities, in the development of policies, protocols, and patient care strategies.

3. Immediate Reforms: The conference highlighted demands for discrimination training, a zero-tolerance policy for bias- Immediate suspension of at-fault providers, and reforms to cesarean delivery guidelines.

4. Funding for Equity: Calls were made for Cedars-Sinai to allocate 20% of the federal funding Cedars has been given, which Requires non-discriminatory practices. This amount of $18 million to community-based organizations (CBOs) supporting maternal health equity for women of color shows Cedar’s acknowledgment and commitment to changing these systematic and discriminatory practices.

5. Federal Agency Accountability: A request was issued for the OCR to suspend federal funding to Cedars-Sinai until full compliance with non-discrimination laws is achieved. We are also calling on the Trump administration to continue funding the OCR.

6. February Protest: A protest is scheduled for 10 a.m., Wednesday, February 5, 2025, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Individuals can register to learn more about the protest here.

In November 2024, the OCR issued a letter to Cedar-Sinai outlining the very, very concerning findings of their investigation, not only their treatment of Black women, their treatment of Latina mothers, as well as their treatment of intersex couples. They outlined their concerns in this letter and offered Cedars-Sinai the opportunity to voluntarily comply with the expectations of hospitals that receive federal funding. Cedars-Sinai receives close to $1.1 billion in federal funding. Title Six, Section 1557 of the Civil Rights Act of 1946 prohibits recipients of federal funds or other federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

“It is good to see that they have finally provided a response. However, the timing and the content provided leave much to be desired,” said Charles Johnson, Founder of 4Kira4Moms, named after his late wife, Kira. “To us, what is greatly missing is collaboration and accountability with and to the community. What we want to see, which the agreement does not address, is enacting a policy that includes the immediate suspension of at-fault providers and instituting equity metrics in leadership evaluations. Also missing from this agreement is the need to establish transparent collaborations with the community, such as establishing an independent community board and providing funding specifically to BIPOC community-based maternal health equity organizations.”

“Cedars-Sinai must address the needs of the community that it has pledged to serve and whose trust they need to work to restore. What has been proposed is not nearly enough, and 4Kira4Moms will continue to work with the community until Cedars hears us and provides the resources that make all maternal health experiences equitable. We must continue to fight to ensure that all moms safely make it home with their babies,” said Johnson.

To learn more about the protest on February 5, 2025, please visit https://shameoncedars.com/.

To read the original letter from OCR, please click here.

LaTricia H. Woods
Mahogany Xan Communications
+1 480-374-1908
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