Substance Abuse Programs in Lexington Helps New Moms

LEXINGTON, Ky. - May 10, 2018 - PRLog -- Substance abuse programs in Lexington, Kentucky are going to be boosted thanks to a grant that will assist them in treating pregnant women and new mothers in Fayette County.

There was about $5 million given to the University of Kentucky to expand upon programs that cater to pregnant women struggling with substance use disorder.

One of the drug abuse programs that are succeeding from this is the Perinatal Assistance and Treatment Home (PATHways) program. PATHways gives women medicine or support in order to stop their kids from being born with an opioid addiction. Therapy continues after the child is born.

It was reported that 162 people died from drug-related overdoses in Fayette County in 2016, which rose from 141 deaths in 2015, according to the 2016 ODCP Overdose Fatality Report Final.

PATHways has assisted more than 150 women between 2014 and early 2017. There was an estimate that 77 percent of the women helped were taken to the hospital to deliver their children and were free of substance in their bodies.

A mom is 50 percent less likely to relapse after birth when they show up to group meetings in addiction treatment facilities or enter substance abuse programs.

Mothers go through medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in order to attempt to fight their addiction. Because of that, many babies who are both to women who are on MAT often are reported to have withdrawals.

Kentucky saw 1,115 babies by diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in 2016, according to a report from the Annual Report Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in Kentucky.

https://www.drugaddictionnow.com/2018/05/10/substance-abu...