This past fall, Dr. Christa Lilly, PhD presented at the annual American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting and expo in San Diego, California. Her presentation was titled “Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the Drug Free Moms and Babies Project: A rural, Appalachia pilot project to support healthy baby outcomes.” The Drug-Free Moms and Babies Project (DFMB) pilot program (4 sites; … Read More
Thomas Memorial Hospital Introduces Grace’s Closet
Thomas Memorial Hospital Introduces Grace's Closet for Mothers in Early Recovery Grace's Closet from Recovery Point West Virginia on Vimeo. Within the walls of Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston, West Virginia, there are rooms filled with baby clothes, shoes, diapers, baby wipes, toys, and early childhood essentials. They call this area Grace's Closet. The rooms serve as an area for mothers in recovery to get ... Read More
ABC News report highlights WVU Medicine’s care for drug-exposed babies
View Original Article and Video: https://abcnews.go.com/US/cuddle-volunteers-soothe-west-virginias-drug-exposed-babies/story?id=58535423 Drug exposed babies are an insidious after-effect of the opioid epidemic that has swept West Virginia. A recent ABC news story, "Cuddle volunteers help to soothe West Virginia's drug-exposed babies," spotlighted the care WVU Medicine gives to these newborns. The story shows Pat Holgorsen, one of dozens of cuddle volunteers at WVU Medicine. ... Read More
Suboxone may be safer for women in pregnancy
By Wendy Holdren Register-Herald Reporter See the Original Article In a recent study examining the safety of addiction treatment medications, West Virginia University faculty found that Suboxone may be safer for pregnant women and their babies than methadone or Subutex. Faculty members Laura Lander and Patrick Marshalek examined the medical records of 26 pregnant women who were prescribed Suboxone, a ... Read More
Camden Clark hosts seminar about drug-affected newborns
By Brandon Lewis | Posted: Fri 11:56 PM, Jun 08, 2018 | Updated: Sat 7:20 PM, Jun 09, 2018 Click for Original Article and Video PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Candy Cooley, a recovery coach at West Virginia University's Drug Free Moms and Babies Project, told her story of overcoming addiction at the "Caring for Babies Who are Drug Affected - ... Read More
Marijuana shops recommend products to pregnant women, against doctors’ warnings
By Michael Nedelman, CNN Updated 6:05 AM ET, Thu May 10, 2018 | See original article at CNN (CNN) A majority of cannabis dispensaries in Colorado recommended their products to women posing as pregnant customers with morning sickness, clashing with doctors' warnings about the potential harms, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Of 400 ... Read More
Stumping Out Prenatal Smoking in West Virginia
from NICHQ (National Institute for Children's Health Quality) website | Read original article here Not only does smoking make it harder for a woman to conceive, tobacco use during pregnancy increases the rate of stillbirth, preterm birth, birth defects, low birth weight and infant mortality. Despite this information, some states have consistently high rates of women who smoke while pregnant. ... Read More
The Formaldehyde in Your E-Cigs
April 4, 2018 - By Joseph G. Allen (See the original story with the New York Times) Dr. Allen is an assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A vaping store and lounge in Manhattan.CreditMichael Appleton for The New York Times Recently, there has been a shift away from calling e-cigarettes “e-cigs.” In public health circles, ... Read More
DHHR Receives CMS approval for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Treatment Services
2/13/2018 | (See the original story) The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), Bureau for Medical Services has received approval from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) treatment services. This designation makes West Virginia the first state in the nation to receive such approval. NAS is a generalized ... Read More
14% of babies exposed to drugs
By Wendy Holdren Register-Herald Reporter | (See Original Article) WV Birth Score’s most recent data show 14 babies out of every 100 born in the state are exposed to at least one substance during pregnancy. The data, from October 2016 through August 2017, show 9 percent of those babies were exposed to substances, while the other 5 percent were exposed ... Read More