KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Maternal mortality rates in the United States are much higher than many countries around the globe.
"It's every family's worst nightmare and it does stick in your mind," ObGyn Dr. Craig Myers said.
Myers has dedicated more than two decades to treating moms and said communication with patients is vital.
"Talking to your patients, letting the know you want to know everything," he said.
It's an issue doctors nationwide are turning to a new app to address. It's called Mahmee. It officially launched in 2014 but today it has more than 1,000 health providers and organizations in its network and it is all online.
"We're such a technology driven society today everybody has their phone," Myers said.
Moms can either sign up on their own or through a provider. They then have immediate access to a team of experts and even their doctor. Myers said this could be a game changer when it comes to catching symptoms early.
"Technology is great and anything that's going to enhance that is going to be helpful," he said.
It is a cause health organizations like the CDC track constantly. It reports out of the hundreds of women that die each year women of color are more at risk. The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology also found the main causes are death are relatively preventable.
"You just have to be aware and have a physician that's well versed," he said.
By being up to date on the latest medicine and technology, he's hoping the number of deaths go down and more moms get a fighting chance to survive.