In 2018 she started Great Moms (Grand Rapids Encompassing Addiction Treatment and Maternal Obstetric Management) to give patients coordinated obstetric and addiction care during pregnancy and in the critical year after birth, when they are highly susceptible to relapse and overdose. The clinic, whose staff includes a nurse-midwife and a social worker, also works with social service agencies. Patients are often assigned recovery coaches, who meet with them anywhere, even at the homes of their dealers.
With illicit fentanyl dominating the drug supply and use of meth and other addictive substances soaring, the need for programs like this one has only become more urgent. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in November that overdose deaths in pregnant and postpartum women rose sharply in 2021, compared with 2018, with rates more than tripling for women ages 35 to 44. In 2022, 204,000 pregnant women, or nearly 10 percent of the national total, reported using illicit drugs, including cannabis, in the previous month, according to federal data.
Their children have paid a price. Drug-related deaths in babies under a year old have risen sharply, according to a new study in The Journal of Perinatal Medicine. Newborns and infants are the fastest-growing group in foster care, according to a 2022 report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Parental drug misuse was cited in a third of cases in which a child was removed from the home.
The complex needs of pregnant drug users are gaining acknowledgment in medicine. Some hospitals, including those in Boston, Chapel Hill, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Tampa offer programs with obstetric care and addiction treatment. Skeptical administrators initially viewed these clinics as enabling addiction. But in just the first year of the Great Moms clinic, prenatal care visits rose by 120 percent.
Many patients also need assistance with food and housing. Some live under the thumb of dealers and pimps who accompany the women to appointments, monitoring what they say. At Dr. Poland’s clinic, a sign in the patients’ bathroom reads: “Please place a sticker on the bottom of your urine specimen cup if you are experiencing sexual, physical or emotional abuse at home, or if there is something you would like to talk to the provider about in private.”
Kaynak: briturkish.com
