Pubdate: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2008 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: Stephanie Flegel Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) PROGRAM HELPS ADDICTED MOMS Regina residents will have the opportunity Tuesday to hear about a program which works with substance-using women to decrease the amount of drugs ingested during pregnancy. "We use to think it was the drug -- there were specific drug effects on the baby and the literature now and our experience says that it's more the social-economic factors that impact on the outcome of the pregnancy," said Dr. Ron Abrahams, the medical director for perinatal addictions at the B.C. Women's Hospital. Abrahams and his co-worker will be presenting a public forum at the Travelodge Hotel, entitled Substance Use During Pregnancy: Giving Better Care, which is a part of the second annual mother-baby lecture series presented by SaskEnergy and the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region. Throughout his 20-year career, Abrahams has taken a special interest in substance use among pregnant women. He uses the harm reduction theory, which aims to limit the amount of substance that both mother and baby are exposed to, in a non-judgmental and non-blaming environment. "If you care for the mother and you improve her medical-social status, then you are going to impact the outcome for the baby in a positive way," said Abrahams. Abrahams and his associates have created an integrated hospital community program, which works out of a clinic called Sheway in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The clinic has a multidisciplinary team and works with pregnant women in the community both before and after pregnancy to reduce the risk to the baby and to provide the best possible outcome for both mother and baby. "The intent (of Sheway) is to monitor (the women's) pregnancy, provide prenatal care, improve her social-economic situation in terms of housing and nutrition and then when she is ready for delivery we bring her into the hospital where she will deliver and then we keep her and the baby together -- we allow her and the baby to room in -- so that we can monitor how she is doing with the baby, how the baby is doing and when they are ready for discharge we advocate for them to go home together." This is a new philosophy since babies born to substance users are usually taken instantly to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for monitoring, said Abrahams. Keeping the mother and baby together gives them an opportunity to bond and often reduces the number of babies treated for withdrawal. Abrahams said he will be presenting his theories on care using the Sheway project as a model and will be asking questions of the health community here to see what types of programs would be suitable for Regina. The public forum, which is open to everyone, will be held Tuesday in the Cambridge Room at the Travelodge Hotel at 4177 Albert St. from 7 to 8:30 p.m. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom