January 8, 2017: Of the 684 women who gave birth at Reid Health last year, 211 (30.85 percent) tested positive for at least one of seven types of drugs in the screening process. Approximately 1 in 12 births at the Richmond, Indiana hospital had tested positive for opiates, compared to in the beginning of the year when 1 in 9 births at the hospital had posted positive for opiates.
Reid Health began conducting drug screens in 2015 among delivering mothers due to the increased trend of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, which involves newborns experiencing withdrawal symptoms from drugs or other illicit substances. Reid Health has made several efforts to help mothers and babies. Reid works with Richmond Comprehensive Treatment Center to manage the addiction during pregnancy so the baby does not experience significant trauma. The efforts continue after the child is born, and both the baby and mother undergo treatment to alleviate withdrawal. As long as the mother continues with treatment, she can keep her baby. There are also other efforts to educate individuals with addiction to prevent them from unwanted pregnancy. Those efforts also include administering the depo provera shot which is effective as birth control for 3 months.
