Arizona’s first center for newborns who are prenatally exposed to substances. This is Jacob’s Hope, created by Jo Jones and Leslie Blowers, where infants are treated in a medically nurturing environment during their withdrawals. Parents learn therapeutic nurturing techniques for their baby.
They are provided with information for long-term care and support with additional community agencies and organizations.
Jacob's Hope Center for Substance Exposed Newborns
THE NEWS IS FILLED WITH INFORMATION ABOUT BABIES EXPOSED TO PRENATAL DRUGS
There is great hope for these little ones with the proper care and nurturing.
“Babies exposed to narcotics while their mothers are pregnant experience vomiting, diarrhea, shaking and even seizures after birth, and they cry inconsolably as a result. These are the side effects of neonatal abstinence syndrome or NAS — the clinical term for an infant withdrawing from narcotic substances — which has increased by 235% from 2008 to 2014, and 27% since 2013, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.”
By Claire Cleveland | Cronkite News
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015
As more pregnant women experience opioid use disorder, more babies suffer the consequences.
“In Arizona, the rate of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome has increased more than 218 percent between 2008 and 2014, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. (Photo by Johanna Huckeba/Cronkite News)”
• Hospital NICU’s are equipped to deal with severe medical issues and not drug exposed babies.
• Cost for a NAS baby is an average of $3,000 per day with an average stay of 17 days.
Babies Suffering with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
“Neonatal abstinence syndrome (also called NAS) is a group of conditions caused when a baby withdraws from certain drugs he’s exposed to in the womb before birth. NAS is most often caused when a woman takes drugs called opioids during pregnancy.” https://www.marchofdimes.org/complications/neonatal-abstinence-syndrome-(nas).aspx March of Dimes
Babies Suffering from Drug Exposure on the Rise
“Opioid deaths in Arizona nearly doubled over the past ten years. The number of babies born exposed to opioids grew more than twice as fast. In Arizona, the number of infants born with opioid withdrawal symptoms has increased almost five-fold during roughly the same period, going from 15 cases per 10,000 births in 2008, to 73 per 10,000 births in 2016.” Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
