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Press Releases
| Kent and national organization announce new program for methadone moms |
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07/21/05
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Kent Hospital will soon introduce a unique program for expectant mothers in recovery from opiate addiction. The concept is one which is endorsed by the National Association of Methadone Advocates (NAMA), an organization composed of methadone patients and health care professionals that are supporters of quality opiate agonist treatment. NAMA has thousands of members worldwide with a network of international affiliated organizations and chapters in many places in the United States.
“The mission of NAMA is to advocate for the patient in treatment by de-stigmatizing and empowering methadone patients,” said organization president Joycelyn Woods. “First and foremost, NAMA confronts the negative stereotypes that impact on the self esteem and worth of many methadone patients with a powerful affirmation of pride and unity. We are delighted that Kent Hospital, as a regional acute health care provider, will join us in our efforts.”
As the state’s second largest provider of obstetrical services, Kent also operates a neonatal special care nursery in collaboration with its Care New England partner, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. The Kent program is designed to provide educational and psychosocial support for expectant mothers who are receiving methadone for treatment of opioid dependence, according to Sharon Dembinski, MS, PNP, CMA, a pediatric nurse practitioner in the neonatal special care nursery, who worked with her colleagues at the hospital to develop the model.
“We will work with opiate treatment programs in the Kent County area as well as primary care and obstetrical providers and state/community services agencies to share our goals and reach out to those in need of our services,” she said. “The Kent Hospital initiative was developed to meet the needs of this very vulnerable population”. Expectant mothers who qualify for participation will receive one-on-one counseling on the specific medical concerns connected with pregnancy during methadone treatment. Patients will also receive no-cost childbirth education and infant care classes as well as support from the hospital’s department of social services to link into additional community-based resources. A special focus will be placed on mother and newborn needs during and after childbirth.
“Pregnancy can be viewed as an opportunity for recovery for these patients and, with the appropriate education and support, recovery can be successful and result in far reaching positive consequences for the families affected as well as the community at large”, she noted. Hospital President & CEO Robert E. Baute, MD, in approving the program, added, “Outreach to populations with special health needs is an important component of our mission to the community. Under our overall goal of improving patient care outcomes, we look forward to addressing the health care needs of this special patient population and in working with other interested community organizations.”
Opiate (heroin and prescription drugs derived from opiates) addiction continues to ravage communities throughout the United States. New England states are not immune to this epidemic and are in fact more affected than many other parts of the country. Opiate abuse has become more prevalent amongst younger age groups and included in this age group are childbearing aged women.
“Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) is considered the gold standard for the treatment of opiate addiction,” noted Dembinski. “Newborns born to mothers receiving MMT often require longer hospitalization at birth and medication to allow them to comfortably and safely adjust to withdrawal from the methadone that their mothers utilized for medication assisted recovery”. Dembinski knows the subject well. She is a NAMA Certified Methadone Advocate and is also director of the New England NAMA Mothers on Methadone Chapter. Ms. Dembinski has been invited by the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Association of Rhode Island to present on the topic of methadone, pregnancy and the newborn in the fall of 2005. She also hopes to present her program to addiction professionals from across the country and the globe at the 2006American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence national conference in Atlanta.
Implementation of the hospital initiative will begin immediately and is expected to be fully in place within the next three to six months. With 359 beds, Kent is the state’s second largest hospital and serves a population area of some 300-thousand across three Rhode Island counties. Kent is a Care New England Hospital. |
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