“If you are a Black woman, you could start prenatal care early, you could receive adequate prenatal care, you can have insurance, you could have numerous degrees, be financially well-off, you could be Serena Williams, and you can still die or come close to dying from a pregnancy-related cause.”

https://lucindashouse.org/

Lucinda Canty, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, Associate Professor UMass-Amherst, is the founder and director of this community-based initiative to take a lead in changing the disproportionate threats that exist for Black women and other women of Color in the United States. She is also a member of the Nursology.net management team. As a Black nurse midwife and scholar, Lucinda completed her dissertation research focused on the experience of Black women who had experienced life-threatening morbidity during pregnancy. She determined to take action on their behalf. She dreamed of a place where women like those who participated in her research would have the kind of experiences they deserve to have – free from the racism and deficiencies that defined the experiences of her research participants. The vision began to take shape in action with the creation of a website – Lucindashouse.org. Now there is a community office and meeting space that is accessible to women in the community, where many of the activities take place. In addition, there are many in-person and virtual events that Lucinda organizes with community partners throughout the state of Connecticut and western Massachusetts. Her dream is to eventually have a physical house, but not having that yet does not stop her! She has organized many activities and events and provided heaps of resources that are already serving women in her community and beyond. The “Calendar of Events” include community baby showers, virtual kitchen tables, and community conversations, plus the meetings and networking that goes on with people in the local communities to plan and organize, and to do the behind-the-scenes work with her community partners that make Lucinda’s House possible.

Lucinda’s House is a prime exemplar of emancipatory nursing values and guiding principles put into action. Emancipatory nursing is defined as nursing actions based on recognition of the interdependence of humans, health, and the environment, as well as the critical impact of the social determinants on health of individuals, families, communities, and the world. The vision and the emerging reality of Lucinda’s House exemplifies what this means: In the following quote, Lucinda reveals the underlying emancipatory nature of her work:

I don’t do anything in the community without the voices of the community. Even as a Black woman and nurse-midwife, I don’t assume what people need unless I speak with them first. Then I base my programs and presentations on their words.

Email communication, January 19, 2024

Lucinda’s House exists to create environments where women of color feel safe, supported, and can become an active part in eliminating structural barriers to improve their overall health and wellbeing.

1. The voices of Black women and other women of color will guide the initiative to improve maternal health outcomes.
2. Black Women and other women of color identify the issues and develop their own solutions.
3. We will create spaces where Black women and other women of color feel safe and supported.
4. Black women and other women of color will be provided with the knowledge and resources needed to maintain their health and wellness.
5. We will use community resources to address issues on an individual and structural level.

https://lucindashouse.org/

Lucinda’s House also exemplifies the critical caring health promoting processes of Adeline Falk-Rafael’s emancipatory nursing theory of Critical Caring –

• .Using systematic systematic reflexive approach
• Engaging in transpersonal teaching-learning
• Providing, creating and maintaining supportive and sustainable enviroments
• Meeting needs and building capacity
• Being open and attending to spiritual-mysterious and existential dimensions

Lucinda is also an artist! She integrates her art into everything she does to visually inspire new images and possibilities. Her poetry speaks in powerful ways to create mental images of what is possible. You can see examples of Lucinda’s art in the Nursology.net “Aesthetic Knowing” collection. On the recent Martin Luther King holiday, she posted on Facebook a tribute to nursing along with one of her latest drawings – “As you celebrate MLK Day today, one request for nursing. Could you ensure that nursing students of color live their dream of becoming nurses, educators, researchers, midwives, and nurse practitioners? Let’s stop creating unnecessary barriers that have nothing to do with nursing.”

To learn more, visit Lucinda’s House website, and see the January 2024 Newsletter using the QR code to the right!