New program for drug-addicted newborns starting at local hospital

Mothers with newborns experiencing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) on the Flathead Reservation now have a new resource at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson.

According to a press release from the hospital, the Montana Healthcare Foundation has awarded a grant for $42,600 to help fund “A Bridge for Hope,” providing a program assisting babies experiencing withdrawal.

Bridge to Hope will be conducted in partnership with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Tribal Government and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.

NAS occurs when babies are exposed to and become dependent on drugs before birth.

The project is designed to reduce the time that a mother and baby are separated from each other while the baby is in the hospital for NAS treatment.

Mothers will care for their newborns in a series of 10 maternal support group sessions while the babies are hospitalized.

Sessions will be conducted by a licensed addiction counselor along with a pediatrician and nursing staff.

Bridge to Hope is intended to increase an addicted mother’s voluntary participation in area drug treatment programs by the time her infant is discharged from Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.

The project builds on a previous foundation grant that helped create the Wrapped in Hope Project, which addressed perinatal drug use in the region and now will extend care to families after delivery.

Data collected at the hospital regarding drug use in pregnancy in the first half of 2016 showed that 27 percent of deliveries were positive for drug use.

Of those deliveries, 29 percent tested positive for multiple substances.

Leading the program is Emily Hall, M.D., a pediatrician at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.

“Mothers sometimes experience the hospital environment as stressful,” she said.

“The concerns of a mother who is using substances are sometimes intensified, fearing exposure as a ‘bad’ parent and fearing losing her baby to the child welfare system.”

Those fears sometimes result in mothers distancing themselves from their babies, Hall said.

More time with parents have eased withdrawal symptoms, resulting in shorter hospital stays for babies born with prenatal opioid exposure, Hall noted.

The Foundation is a Montana-focused healthcare foundation that supports the Mission of Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson, and more than 40 clinics and programs throughout Western Montana.