the giving effect  2025      11 
What makes Cone Health the right place to invest — and 
what about the MedCenter for Women inspired you?
Haygood: I have been 
impressed by how Cone 
Health is evolving to carry 
out its initial mission of 
caring for all people, 
regardless of their ability 
to pay. The health system’s 
trajectory, especially under 
former CEO Dr. Mary Jo 
Cagle, has been strongly 
directed toward serving the 
people of our region with 
quality health care. 
I was so excited when 
MedCenter for Women 
opened. I passed it just 
about every day for years, 
driving down Wendover 
Avenue, and each time I 
said, “My mom’s name needs 
to be on that MedCenter.” 
It needs to be there as a 
symbol for how she cared 
about opportunity and education and as a source of hope. 
The work that has been done to make that a welcoming 
space that feeds the body and the soul — with the 
artwork and beautiful design inside — is something I think 
represents the essence of my mom. The warmth inside 
and the care available there are exactly how I see her.
What do people in our community most misunderstand 
about maternal health outcomes — and what does the 
data actually show?
Haygood: The data show us there is a profound difference 
in the price that a Black mother may pay to build a family 
versus what a white mother pays. The risk is much higher 
by multiples. It’s not just financial risk, though the more 
complications you have, the bigger your bill. It is also a 
risk to her immediate life, her future well-being and her 
child’s future well-being because of the higher risk of 
prematurity and infant mortality associated with it.
Many people would like to believe it is only an educational 
issue — that Black women don’t know any better, so 
we don’t do any better. There is a belief that we don’t 
comply with providers’ instructions, that we lack financial 
readiness for having a family. That’s not what the research 
shows when you look at maternal morbidity, and, heaven 
forbid, mortality.
Why do those disparities persist, even for women with 
resources?
Haygood: What we understand if we ask mothers is 
that they don’t feel that the day-to-day lives that Black 
women live in America are supportive of our well-being. 
It encompasses the perception that our pain is not real. It 
encompasses minimalization of observations about our 
own bodies that are deemed unimportant, irrelevant or 
not necessary to address. It encompasses the difficulty in 
trusting some providers, even though they’re supposed to 
be your advocate.
Historically, we have been taught that the face of color 
seen from a block away — the very thing I wear on my face 
— equals unworthiness until I can prove otherwise. Living 
in that situation keeps us hypervigilant. Hypervigilance 
produces hormones that are harmful to blood pressure 
and mental health, both of which you need to be at their 
best when you’re trying to nurture a pregnancy.
There is implicit bias in everyone. How do we keep 
that implicit bias from entering into a relationship that 
is supposed to be a give and take of information and 
remedies — of care?
Philanthropy means something different to all of us. 
What does it mean to you? 
Above: “There is no picture anyone will look  
at and say, ‘This is a woman who has a building 
named after her.’ And that’s the point,”  
Dr. Haygood says. “The point is that one does 
not know from whence one’s blessings come. 
So you have to enter into every situation 
expecting a blessing. I hope the people who 
come through the doors of the MedCenter do 
so expecting something special. Left: Four 
generations pictured. Vanessa, standing. Pearl, 
holding grandchild Daniel. Martha, Pearl’s 
mother, pictured in the portrait on the wall.
Your beginnings are your 
beginnings, not your legacy.” 
— PEARL WALKER HAYGOOD

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