INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — April is National Minority Health Month, dedicated to spreading awareness about health disparities that persists among racial and ethnic minorities.

The “Nourishing our Roots: Nutruring Conversations on Black Maternal Health event presented by MelaMama Maternal Wellness took place on April 13 and centered around spreading awareness and advocating for Black maternal and fetal health.

Sierra Woods, the founder and executive director of MelaMama Maternal Wellness, CEO of Pace Healing Helpers Aliscia Pace, and volunteer Ashley Porter joined Daybreak on Monday to recap the event.

“We actually had a lot of different people that came out, whether they were a mom, a grandma, community health workers, everybody, like everyone in the space that helps out with MelaMama,” Woods said.

Pace told News 8 anchor Hanna Mordoh that she hopes the event made people more aware of this ongoing issue so they can advocate for mothers who may find themselves in this situation.

“I think overall, just for the community to be more aware and so they can advocate for moms that may find themselves in that situation because we also know some other stats that a lot of these maternal deaths they’re preventable,” she said. So why aren’t we taking steps to make sure that these moms are getting home who care for their babies This should be a celebratory, you know, moment in their life.”

To learn more watch the full interview above.