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.