‘It’ll be like starting over’: Santa Clara County Black infant program shuffle stirs concerns

THE REASSIGNMENT of a trusted doctor out of Santa Clara County’s Black Infant Health Program has sparked concern for future efforts combating baby mortality. It’s also exposing the tense balancing act of absorbing a massive county budget hole without cutting services.

County officials are moving Dr. Beverley White-Macklin, who has for decades developed a program guiding Black mothers through potentially complicated pregnancies, to another public health role. It’s part of a broader effort to puzzle-piece staff between departments and absorb a systemic budget deficit. But the shakeup has former leaders of the program, and mothers who participated, raising alarms.