The Trump Administration’s top doctor overseeing the opioid crisis says Tennessee has led the nation in tracking and responding to drug dependent babies. He’s in Nashville along with First Lady Melania Trump for an event on neonatal abstinence syndrome at Vanderbilt.
Neonatal abstinence syndrome is the condition when newborns endure withdrawals from the opioids their mother was taking. Symptoms include tremors, irritability and weight loss. The First Lady has focused on the condition as part of her “Be Best” initiative.
“In my role as first lady, much of my focus has been towards understanding the negative effects the opioid crisis is having on our children and young mothers,” Melania Trump said at an event in March. “Many young mothers are not even aware of this disease, so we must continue educating them about the real dangers of opioids on unborn babies.”
Vanderbilt hosted a
roundtable discussion moderated by Michael Warren of the Tennessee Department of Health and including expertise from Stephen Patrick, a leading researcher in the field, as well Admiral Brett Giroir.
Goroir, who is the assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, notes that Tennessee has better data than perhaps any other state. And the
weekly statistics include some unexpected insights. For instance, in two-thirds of the babies suffering from withdrawal, the cause is the medicine used to treat the mother’s addiction. But Giroir says that’s not a bad thing.
“You might have a mom who is taking prescription opioids not the way they’re supposed to be taken, or on heroin, or on fentanyl or any street drug…When you get the baby, it’s very hard to understand what’s going on in that child,” Giroir says. “If the mom is either off the opioids altogether or on a regimen of medication assisted treatment like buprenorphine, it makes the child outcome infinitely better.”
However, a r
ecent study out of Vanderbilt finds that it’s still difficult for pregnant women in Tennessee and other Appalachian states to get a prescription for those opioids that help them step down off of stronger narcotics because doctors are leery of complications.
Giroir and the First Lady’s visit coincide with the
first substantial decrease in drug-dependent babies since Tennessee started keeping close track. State health officials give some credit to a focus on long-acting contraceptives being offered in areas with high drug abuse.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM