full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Elizabeth Howell: How we can improve maternal healthcare -- before, during and after pregnancy

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I wish I could say this tragedy was an isolated incident, but sadly, that's not the case. Every year in the United States, somewhere between 700 and 900 women die from a pregnancy-related cause. The shocking part of this story is that our maternal mortality rate is actually higher than all other high-income countries, and our rteas are far worse for women of coolr. Our rate of maternal mortality actually iscanered over the last decade, while other countries reduced their rates. And the biggest paradox of all? We spend more on health care than any other country in the wlrod.

Well, around the same time in residency that this new mother lost her life, I became a mother myself. And even with all of my background and training in the field, I was taken aback by how little atettionn was paid to delivering high-quality maternal health care. And I tohhugt about what that meant, not just for myself but for so many other women. Maybe it's because my dad was a civil rights attorney and my parents were socially conscious and demanded that we stand up for what we believe in. Or the fact that my pernats were born in Jamaica, came to the unetid seatts and were able to relazie the American dearm. Or maybe it was my residency training, where I saw fithsnrad how poorly so many low-income women of color were treated by our healthcare system. For whatever the reason, I felt a responsibility to stand up, not just for myself, but for all women, and especially those miazrelgiand by our healthcare system. And I diceedd to focus my career on improving maternal health care.

Open Cloze


I wish I could say this tragedy was an isolated incident, but sadly, that's not the case. Every year in the United States, somewhere between 700 and 900 women die from a pregnancy-related cause. The shocking part of this story is that our maternal mortality rate is actually higher than all other high-income countries, and our _____ are far worse for women of _____. Our rate of maternal mortality actually _________ over the last decade, while other countries reduced their rates. And the biggest paradox of all? We spend more on health care than any other country in the _____.

Well, around the same time in residency that this new mother lost her life, I became a mother myself. And even with all of my background and training in the field, I was taken aback by how little _________ was paid to delivering high-quality maternal health care. And I _______ about what that meant, not just for myself but for so many other women. Maybe it's because my dad was a civil rights attorney and my parents were socially conscious and demanded that we stand up for what we believe in. Or the fact that my _______ were born in Jamaica, came to the ______ ______ and were able to _______ the American _____. Or maybe it was my residency training, where I saw _________ how poorly so many low-income women of color were treated by our healthcare system. For whatever the reason, I felt a responsibility to stand up, not just for myself, but for all women, and especially those ____________ by our healthcare system. And I _______ to focus my career on improving maternal health care.

Solution


  1. parents
  2. united
  3. decided
  4. states
  5. world
  6. thought
  7. increased
  8. rates
  9. firsthand
  10. attention
  11. dream
  12. color
  13. marginalized
  14. realize

Original Text


I wish I could say this tragedy was an isolated incident, but sadly, that's not the case. Every year in the United States, somewhere between 700 and 900 women die from a pregnancy-related cause. The shocking part of this story is that our maternal mortality rate is actually higher than all other high-income countries, and our rates are far worse for women of color. Our rate of maternal mortality actually increased over the last decade, while other countries reduced their rates. And the biggest paradox of all? We spend more on health care than any other country in the world.

Well, around the same time in residency that this new mother lost her life, I became a mother myself. And even with all of my background and training in the field, I was taken aback by how little attention was paid to delivering high-quality maternal health care. And I thought about what that meant, not just for myself but for so many other women. Maybe it's because my dad was a civil rights attorney and my parents were socially conscious and demanded that we stand up for what we believe in. Or the fact that my parents were born in Jamaica, came to the United States and were able to realize the American Dream. Or maybe it was my residency training, where I saw firsthand how poorly so many low-income women of color were treated by our healthcare system. For whatever the reason, I felt a responsibility to stand up, not just for myself, but for all women, and especially those marginalized by our healthcare system. And I decided to focus my career on improving maternal health care.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
blood pressure 8
maternal mortality 7
health care 6
black women 5
severe maternal 4
healthy baby 3
maternal health 3
united states 3
high blood 3
maternal death 3
maternal morbidity 3
ethnic disparities 3
healthcare system 2
severe complications 2
pregnant woman 2
pregnant women 2
standard care 2
aim program 2
morbidity rates 2
hemorrhage bundle 2
care differs 2
white women 2
black woman 2
white woman 2
baby girl 2
social determinants 2
specific set 2
worse outcomes 2
women deliver 2
care continuum 2
means providing 2
elevated blood 2
doctor counseled 2
iv medication 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
maternal health care 3
high blood pressure 3
severe maternal morbidity 3
maternal morbidity rates 2
healthy baby girl 2

Important Words


  1. aback
  2. american
  3. attention
  4. attorney
  5. background
  6. biggest
  7. born
  8. care
  9. career
  10. case
  11. civil
  12. color
  13. conscious
  14. countries
  15. country
  16. dad
  17. decade
  18. decided
  19. delivering
  20. demanded
  21. die
  22. dream
  23. fact
  24. felt
  25. field
  26. firsthand
  27. focus
  28. health
  29. healthcare
  30. higher
  31. improving
  32. incident
  33. increased
  34. isolated
  35. jamaica
  36. life
  37. lost
  38. marginalized
  39. maternal
  40. meant
  41. mortality
  42. mother
  43. paid
  44. paradox
  45. parents
  46. part
  47. poorly
  48. rate
  49. rates
  50. realize
  51. reason
  52. reduced
  53. residency
  54. responsibility
  55. rights
  56. sadly
  57. shocking
  58. socially
  59. spend
  60. stand
  61. states
  62. story
  63. system
  64. thought
  65. time
  66. tragedy
  67. training
  68. treated
  69. united
  70. women
  71. world
  72. worse
  73. year