Demetria McKinney & Marquise Allison are ‘Born to Thrive’
- Iesha M.
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
The actress and First Ladies Health Initiative leader discuss the Black maternal health crisis and their Born to Thrive event
Demetria McKinney is known for her role as Janine on Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne,” but her advocacy work extends far beyond the screen. Marquise Allison-Alston serves as co-executive director of the First Ladies Health Initiative, an organization her mother founded in 2008. Together, they are bringing attention to the Black maternal health crisis through the Born to Thrive panel and resource fair at Morehouse School of Medicine. The event tackles a stark reality that Black women are 3.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than any other race in the United States.
What was the inspiration for the First Ladies Health Initiative?
Marquise Allison-Alston: The First Ladies Health Initiative was started in 2008 by my mom and a small dinner table full of First Ladies who wanted to help with the AIDS and HIV crisis that was happening during that time. On one Sunday, these First Ladies and their pastors got on the pulpit and did AIDS and HIV screening right on the pulpit. That birthed our organization. Since then we’ve expanded to many initiatives including our maternal health Born to Thrive panel and resource fair.
The maternal health crisis is an issue across the nation, but when it comes to Black women it’s a disparity. Black women are 3.5 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than any other race in the country and that’s a problem. We’re talking about that today across industries. We have our celebrity guests, faith-based influencers and clinicians who are all going to have a really powerful conversation. After that conversation we have a resource fair that offers free maternal health resources as well as glucose, AIDS and HIV testing, flu immunizations at no cost to the community.
Demetria, why was it so important that you be a part of this?
Demetria McKinney: Some of you may know I have a son. He is 26, about to be 27 now, but when I had him I was 19. I was not exposed to information. I was not exposed to community rallying to help in that way. Even as a people I feel like we shirk away from some of the conversations that help us to come together a little bit more readily and a bit more preparedly in life. So having the opportunity to use whatever bit of platform I have now to bring awareness to this initiative, I’m all in.
Can you share some personal stories that highlight why this is important to our community?
Demetria McKinney: I knew at 19 that I could be on WIC. I did know about EBT but that’s kind of the tip of the iceberg of some of the information that we should have. I was on those things but when I got pregnant and I got toxemia I had no idea what that was. When fibroids developed later on in my life I had no idea what that was. I didn’t understand that Black women are given two to three times more C-sections than is necessary.
There are a lot of other things that we’re going to discuss throughout the life of this fair that are going to awaken us to a lot more of the complications that are possible and even more so some of the preventative things that we can do. As well as the advocacy and also removing some of the stigmas. We’ve been told that doulas are bad, midwives are witch doctors, all of that type of stuff. We’re getting back to the nuts and bolts of things with this.
What kind of conversations and resources will be available at the panel?
Marquise Allison-Alston: We’ll have an OB-GYN, Dr. Charis Chambers, known as the period doctor. She specializes in reproductive health. We’ll have Dr. Bugg who’s a neonatal specialist. He’s also going to be talking about fatherhood and the importance of fathers in their presence during a birthing woman in her process. As we know, postpartum doesn’t end at six weeks. Some women don’t feel like themselves until four years after giving birth.
We’ll also have LCSW Lucretia Cunningham who’s going to be talking about perinatal and prenatal maternal mental health as well as a couple of other clinicians. They’re going to tell you the system is broken but here’s how you can navigate it. We call that panel healing in action, where we turn pain into power and turn them into solutions. We’ll have Q&A’s right after each of the panels.
We’re also going to have a motherhood in motion panel where Demetria will be featured and we’re talking about the Black working mom because she works hard and the grind doesn’t stop after she gives labor. We’re honoring Dr. Karri Bryant and Dr. Debra Morton who touch women week to week, day to day in their ministries. These are women who believe in women empowerment and when you talk about Black maternal health, we need women like that supporting the cause.
With healthcare changes coming, what resources are available at the fair?
Marquise Allison-Alston: We’re currently working on an initiative in California to talk about what’s going to change with healthcare in 2026 because across the nation it’s going to change and Medicaid/Medicare will be hit the hardest. What we’ll do at our health fair is offer free things. We have free glucose testing that will be offered by the Morehouse School of Medicine. They’ll do free immunizations, so flu vaccines at no cost. You don’t need insurance, you don’t need anything like that. You’ll also have glucose screening, AIDS and HIV testing. We’ll be doing blood drawing and we’ll have a host of resource fair vendors.
While we don’t know what’s going to happen with the state of Medicaid/Medicare, what we do as an organization is try to kind of circumvent the insurance process and bring resources straight to the community. First Ladies Health Initiative is based in the church. We have yearly initiatives where we turn churches and houses of worship into mini health clinics. We bypass the healthcare system completely because we know how convoluted it is. If you want to know more information about what could be happening and the changes of healthcare, you can log on and go to firstladieshealth.com.
What preventive measures do you recommend?
Demetria McKinney: I take very deep care of my peace, my tranquility and my mentality. I’m very big on that. I have no problem with the word no. If there is something I’m dealing with, like fibroids. If there is a drug that someone is trying to give me, I look to nature. I go back to that book and I say where did they get this idea from, how can I get back to the basics of it?
I’m still having conversations with my healthcare provider. I am not a healthcare provider. None of the information that I’m giving here is medical advice. But I do make it a point to try to do as much natural things as I can for myself. I am a big believer in outdoors, getting back into nature. I’m a tree hugger. I love all of those things. So I believe in getting back into the basics, having the conversations and making sure that I protect my peace.
Marquise Allison-Alston: I personally work with a nutritionist. I do blood work every couple of months to make sure that my levels are stable. Every Saturday if I’m not on the road I’m tending to a community garden in California and working with some really awesome surgeons and doctors who believe in holistic care and medicine and combining that. I’m also taking my D vitamins. Most women need to supplement vitamin D. So I’m always taking my vitamin D and B12 because energy can dip and you want the energy to stay up.
The Born to Thrive event is free and open to the public, offering life-changing information, wellness support and essential community resources. For more information about the First Ladies Health Initiative and upcoming events, visit firstladieshealth.com.
Article by: Rolling Out
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