Pubdate: Sun, 30 Sep 2007
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Mary Swift, P-I Columnist

HER REWARD IS SEEING BABIES GET A SECOND CHANCE

Last month, Barb Drennen got a reminder of an  unforgettable moment 17
years ago.

In 1990, Drennen of Kent and a friend, Barb Richards,  both active in
foster care work and concerned about the  growing number of newborns
they saw born to mothers  using drugs, launched an ambitious endeavor.
They  founded the Pediatric Interim Care Center, a facility  designed
to provide specialized, short-term care to  infants whose mothers'
prenatal use of drugs left the  babies at risk of life-threatening
complications.

Drennen recalls one of the center's first patients, and  a moment when
she saw her own staff's love potentially  tested and fully revealed.

"The baby was teensy, maybe four pounds," Drennen, 65,  says. "She
wouldn't eat. She whimpered all the time.  I'd taken her to Children's
Hospital for an  evaluation."

Doctors told Drennen the baby might be HIV positive.  She and Richards
hadn't prepared their staff for the  possibility they might have to
care for an HIV-positive  infant, but as it turns out, "when I brought
that baby  back, they were just wonderful," Drennen says. "They
totally took her under wing."

The test came back negative and, later, a nurse at the  center adopted
the baby and moved with her to  Louisiana. The nurse called Drennen
last month to  report the baby, now 17, is "healthy, beautiful -- and
doing well. They hope to visit next year," Drennen  says.

It's the kind of outcome that heartens Drennen, now in  her 17th year
at the center. (Richards retired in  1996.) She has seen the hold
drugs can have on a  parent, and does not play God. All she does is
hope the  center provides a second chance for a baby born into
difficult circumstances.

Some things have changed since the organization's early  years. Two
years ago, it moved from its first home in  downtown Kent to a new,
larger facility just a block  and a half away. The center has long
enjoyed strong  community support -- both monetary and hands-on. And
that hands-on involvement was never more evident than  on the day of
the move.

Firefighters lined up to carry the infants from their  old home to
their new one. It was a popular event.

"Thirty firefighters carrying 15 babies," Drennen says,  laughing.
Those infants, tightly swaddled and carried  as if they were crystal,
were too young to understand  the significance of that day.

More than 2,200 newborns have passed through since  Drennen and
Richards founded the facility. Though it's  licensed for 27 beds, on
average it is home to 15 to 17  drug-exposed newborns at any given
time. They all come  through the Department of Social and Health Services.

"The tragedy," Drennen says, "is that a number of  babies born
drug-exposed are overlooked" because their  mothers aren't tested and
the babies go unidentified.

"It happens a lot," she says.

In the early days, most of the newborns -- frequently  born
underweight -- were affected by "stand-alone"  drugs, one drug rather
than an assortment, Drennen  says. Heroin, crack cocaine and methadone
were common.

"These days, many have three, four, even five different  drugs in
their system," she says.

Another change, Drennen says, is that they are born  affected by legal
drugs, such as methadone, Vicodin or  OxyContin. Because they're legal
drugs, the state can't  do anything, she says.

"It's frustrating."

But then, Drennen's tackled frustrating issues for  years -- and she
does not give up easily. Her efforts  haven't gone
unrecognized.

Two weeks ago, she was named one of three recipients of  the 2007
Mannington Stand On A Better World awards.

The program, established by Mannington Mills,  recognizes women who
are enriching the lives of others  and having a significant impact in
their communities or  the world at large.

The program honors winners in three categories: local,  national and
global. Drennen is the local award winner  and will attend an awards
ceremony Nov. 15 in  Wilmington, Del.

Drennen, who has spent nearly two decades watching hope  replace
heartache, is thrilled.

"This is," she says of the award, "for the babies."
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MAP posted-by: Derek