Podcast episode 13: Sapphire Garcia

Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. Here, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders working to improve health. We bring you guests from our state, from our nation and from your backyard to tell their stories of how they broke new ground and changed the landscape of health care.

In episode 13, we interview Sapphire Garcia. Sapphire is the founder and executive director of the Kansas Birth Justice Society, a non-profit organization based in Wichita.

The Kansas Birth Justice Society focuses on:

Advocacy for families of color at all levels to positively impact health and wellness, fighting against laws and policies that harm these communities

Health empowerment by providing information and resources from pregnancy to birth and beyond

Workforce development by building a network of doulas, lactation peer supporters and other birth workers

Organizing so that voices of parents and families are represented in discussions about health, wellness and survival

The organization was founded in 2020 as the Wichita Birth Justice Society. However, in 2022, the organization expanded its scope to focus efforts statewide and was renamed as the Kansas Birth Justice Society.

Sapphire is a maternal and infant health advocate, certified lactation consultant and educator, and professional doula with more than a decade of experience working in the field of perinatal health equity. Her experience includes community-led activism, community organizing, public health messaging and community midwifery.

In this episode, she discusses the extensive work of the Kansas Birth Justice Society and how the organization looks at systemic and individual factors that have resulted in a history of inequities for people of color, all of which impact women giving birth and their babies.

“We can tell where our systems have failed, and we need to get to work on that now, and so that’s the work of Kansas Birth Justice Society,” she said. “We’re doing the work that’s required for right now and the work that’s going to change systems tomorrow, as well.”

She also discusses how she was first introduced to the role of doulas and how her experience using a doula for her third and fourth pregnancies was life changing.

“Having somebody there with you, it makes such a difference,” she said. “And I came out of those experiences wanting to be that same kind of support for other families.”

She also discusses:

How deep loss led to a passion for social justice

The purpose and history of doulas

Disparities in care for women of color

Kansas Birth Justice Society’s main efforts this year

And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Sapphire is a pioneering leader in health care.