Dr. Lorren Scott, Director of the Heart and Vascular Centre
Director of the Heart and Vascular Centre, Dr. Lorren Scott, is calling for a national conversation around funding support for vulnerable mothers, warning that they are at heightened risk of cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Scott says pregnancy complications, pre-existing conditions and limited access to care can raise long term heart risks.
He says there is a need for improved screening and social support to protect maternal heart health.
The Heart and Vascular Centre will be hosting a 5K run on Mother’s Day with the aim of kickstarting the discussion.
“So as it is now, vulnerable mothers are vulnerable because they are not fully supported, and we need to bring awareness to that. We need to bring awareness to the fact that at the granular level in our country is a lack of support for a lot of our vulnerable citizens. And mothers are at the core of the development and the core of the strength of our nation,” he asserted.
“So [we’re] supporting them through an awareness and an initiative to bring funding to the Women’s Centre of Jamaica, whose job it is to be taking care of the teenage mothers, but not just them, vulnerable mothers in general. So we want to start that conversation and that conversation starts on Mother’s Day with us running for mom,” said Dr. Scott.