REVERE, MA – Crystal Jaramillo, of Revere, and her husband Juan Pablo Jaramillo, announced the launch of The Cord Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission is to bring awareness to people who experience severe perinatal health challenges, and to build a network of support and resources for families and improve perinatal outcomes for parents and their children.
In late 2022, Crystal was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis (PPP) following a traumatic birth experience with her son Lucas. Hospitalized and seeking treatment, Crystal faced a severe and complicated diagnosis that is surprisingly common, affecting 1 in every 1,000 births. According to the Cleveland Clinic, PPP is a reversible mental health emergency that affects a person’s sense of reality and can be dangerous to the birth parent and the child.
Dr. Leigh Simmons, a primary care provider at Massachusetts General Hospital and board member of The Cord Foundation, added that “pregnancy and childbirth are complex physical, emotional, and social events in a person's life. The Cord's mission to focus on supporting new parents will benefit families greatly during what can be a time of great stress. The best medicine is preventive medicine, and this model applied to pregnancy and postpartum care has great promise for improving health and social outcomes.”
Inspired by the Jaramillo’s perinatal story, which includes birth trauma, postpartum psychosis and recovery, The Cord Foundation was created with the mission to “bringing awareness to people who experience severe perinatal health challenges, and to build a network of support and resources for families and improve perinatal outcomes for parents and their children” according to its website.
“My perinatal journey is not unique but it often is only spoken about when tragedy strikes. Thousands of birthing parents, like me, feel unheard throughout their maternal and postpartum care and often reflected in their perinatal and postpartum outcomes,” said Crystal Jaramillo. ”There are long-term structural gaps in our maternal care system that create barriers to holistic birthing care and postpartum mental health care resources while stigmatizing, in particular, historically marginalized populations. Lucas and I fell through those gaps and were blessed to have the unwavering support of my husband and our family throughout my recovery. The Cord will address the gaps by creating an infrastructure of care centered on birthing parents that removes the barriers to access that put new families at risk.”
The Massachusetts Legislature passed a maternal health bill in the fall but language to define conditions like postpartum psychosis offered up Rep. O’Day and Senator Lovely failed to pass during the legislative debate.
State Senator Lydia Edwards a board member of The Cord Foundation said “last session the legislature recommitted to investing and improving perinatal health for all Bay Staters, still, maternal health is complex and historically misunderstood. The Cord's advocacy will help policymakers like myself to reframe the maternal health conversation to the full spectrum of care from conception through the postpartum stage and to bring support and visibility to people who have had severe perinatal outcomes.”
The Cord will focus its efforts on three core tenets: Awareness, Resources, and Advocacy.
Awareness – The Cord Foundation amplifies the often-overlooked realities of traumatic perinatal experiences—particularly those shaped by socio-economic and racial disparities—by sharing stories like Crystal’s, fostering visibility, and advocating for improved maternal and child health outcomes.
Resources – The Cord Foundation will support better perinatal outcomes by connecting parents with holistic birthing support, essential healthcare resources, and long-term postpartum care, while also aiming to provide scholarships, educational workshops, and advocacy to strengthen perinatal care accessibility and equity.
Advocacy – The Cord Foundation will advocate for expanded perinatal care and postpartum support, raising awareness of issues like postpartum psychosis and traumatic births while pushing for legislative action to improve early screening and protections for birthing parents.
The founding board members include: Crystal Jaramillo, as well as Dr. Leigh Simmons, State Senator Lydia Edwards, and Niles Welch. Dr. Simmons is a medical student educator and directs the internal medicine clerkship for Harvard Medical School students at Massachusetts General Hospital. Welch is a founding member of Beantown Law Group, LLC and a Revere resident. Senator Edwards has been a policy maker since 2017 when she was elected to the Boston City Council, then joined the Massachusetts State Senate in 2021.
Media Contact:
Kate Norton
Other Inquiries:
Tim DeLouchrey
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