By Arianna MacNeill | Gloucester Times, September 29, 2016
BEVERLY — The opioid crisis not only affects addicts, it also can harm their children.
For expecting women who are suffering from addiction, Beverly Hospital is working on a new program to get them help.
The program recently received a $1 million grant from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.
The program was born out of an idea from Nicole Sczekan, a midwife at the hospital. Her daughter struggled with addiction and then became pregnant.
"I was seeing that this was the opportune time to intervene because she was going to her medical appointments and she wanted to do the right thing," Sczekan said in a news release. "I was so frustrated for her that treatment for addiction wasn't incorporated into prenatal care."
BEVERLY — The opioid crisis not only affects addicts, it also can harm their children.
For expecting women who are suffering from addiction, Beverly Hospital is working on a new program to get them help.
The program recently received a $1 million grant from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.
The program was born out of an idea from Nicole Sczekan, a midwife at the hospital. Her daughter struggled with addiction and then became pregnant.
"I was seeing that this was the opportune time to intervene because she was going to her medical appointments and she wanted to do the right thing," Sczekan said in a news release. "I was so frustrated for her that treatment for addiction wasn't incorporated into prenatal care."
The program is still getting off the ground — some patients are planned to be brought in by the end of the year; 35 patients are planned to be cared for during the two-year, grant-funded period.
Opioid addiction and pregnancy has risen dramatically over the last 15 years — the number of children born addicted to opioids has tripled, according to a news release from the hospital.
At Beverly Hospital from 2014 to 2015, 67 mothers and 68 babies were admitted for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
The effects of neonatal abstinence syndrome can lead to a variety of problems, the hospital says — delays in emotional and physical development, withdrawal seizures and low IQ.
Expecting mothers receiving treatment during pregnancy is also an issue — only 61 percent had first-trimester prenatal care while 15 percent didn't have any prenatal care.
With the program, expecting women will receive not only prenatal care, but also treatment for their addiction as well as "maintenance medication," according to Sczekan. The program is planned to start with prenatal care and continue to work with patients a year after their child is born.
"Right now, a lot of the moms don't follow up after they have their babies," said Jennifer Lee, a neonatologist who helped create the program. "If we can keep moms in treatment for the first year, we can improve their use of other important services like early intervention, which can help to keep the infants' development on track."
Opioid addiction and pregnancy has risen dramatically over the last 15 years — the number of children born addicted to opioids has tripled, according to a news release from the hospital.
At Beverly Hospital from 2014 to 2015, 67 mothers and 68 babies were admitted for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
The effects of neonatal abstinence syndrome can lead to a variety of problems, the hospital says — delays in emotional and physical development, withdrawal seizures and low IQ.
Expecting mothers receiving treatment during pregnancy is also an issue — only 61 percent had first-trimester prenatal care while 15 percent didn't have any prenatal care.
With the program, expecting women will receive not only prenatal care, but also treatment for their addiction as well as "maintenance medication," according to Sczekan. The program is planned to start with prenatal care and continue to work with patients a year after their child is born.
"Right now, a lot of the moms don't follow up after they have their babies," said Jennifer Lee, a neonatologist who helped create the program. "If we can keep moms in treatment for the first year, we can improve their use of other important services like early intervention, which can help to keep the infants' development on track."
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