Article from Reuter News – Written by Jilian Mincer Bay Minette, Alabama (Reuters) – Dr. Nicole Arthur, a family practice physician, was trained to avoid Cesarean deliveries in child-birth, unless medically necessary, because surgery increases risks and recovery time. But she has adjusted her approach since arriving last year at the 70-bed North Baldwin Infirmary in rural, southern Alabama. Low … Read More
West Virginia Court: Drugs in Newborn’s System Shows Abuse
By Rachel Ayers Jun 09, 2017 CHARLESTON– West Virginia’s highest court has ruled that evidence of illicit drugs in a newborn’s umbilical cord is sufficient to bring a child abuse proceeding against the mother and the father who knew about her drug use. West Virginia’s highest court has ruled that evidence of illicit drugs in a newborn’s umbilical cord is … Read More
Welch Community Hospital No Longer Has a Baby Delivery Department
Jun 4, 2017 By CHARLES BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph WELCH — McDowell County mothers-to-be will now have to go out of county to have their babies delivered. After decades of offering the service, Welch Community Hospital no longer has a delivery department. The hospital’s long-time obstetrics physician, Dr. Julito Sultan, retired, prompting the change, said Allison Addler, with the West … Read More
Access to care remains large challenge for expectant mothers in rural areas
by Brooke Thibodaux | Thursday, February 9th, 2017 | Click for Original Story Webster Springs, WV (WCHS/WVAH) — Access to maternity care is shrinking for women in many rural counties. In Webster County, Sabrina Mcie lives off a windy gravel road. Mcie is 35 weeks along and she can’t wait to welcome her little girl, Naveah, into the world next … Read More
Health departments offer incentive for expectant mothers to quit smoking
The Herald-Dispatch | (View the original story) Jan 4, 2017 Updated Jan 4, 2017 CHARLESTON — Pregnant women in Kanawha and Putnam counties who use tobacco products now have an added incentive to quit. Baby & Me Tobacco Free is a smoking cessation program created to reduce the burden of tobacco use on pregnant women and newborn mothers and children. An … Read More
2016 WV Perinatal Summit Presentations & Photos
On November 14 & 15, 2016 the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership held its annual Summit at the Charleston Marriott Town Center. View the 2016 West Virginia Perinatal Summit program and presentations. View the PHOTO GALLERY There is nothing to show here! Slider with alias 2016-Summit-Images not found.
Rate of babies going through opiate withdrawal skyrockets
By Wayne Drash, CNN | Updated 7:24 AM ET, Tue December 13, 2016 | See the original CNN story Huntington, West Virginia (CNN) — The high-pitched, inconsolable screams of babies born dependent on heroin and other opiates echo across the otherwise quiet facility. The babies also shake, vomit and suffer from diarrhea. But it is their shrill screams that caretakers … Read More
Rise in Infant Drug Dependence Is Felt Most in Rural Areas
By CATHERINE SAINT LOUISDEC. 12, 2016 | Read the New York Times Story As the opioid epidemic sweeps through rural America, an ever-greater number of drug-dependent newborns are straining hospital neonatal units and draining precious medical resources. The problem has grown more quickly than realized and shows no signs of abating, researchers reported on Monday. Their study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, concludes … Read More
NAS Questions to be added to West Virginia Birth Score
Beginning October 1, 2016 information on intrauterine substance exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) will be reported on the West Virginia Birth Score. This policy update was announced by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Public Health on August 26, 2016. The Birth Score Program staff have scheduled interactive demonstrations of the questions that will … Read More
We are the Key to Cancer Prevention: WV HPV Vaccination Campaign
About two thirds of West Virginia’s adolescents are not fully vaccinated against HPV and its related cancers. We can change this and protect them from a future of cancer. West Virginia HPV Vaccination Campaign West Virginia has some of the highest rates of HPV-associated cancers in the nation. Nine types of human papillomavirus (HPV) and its associated cancers are preventable … Read More