GRANT AIMS TO GET 180 MOMS OFF DRUGS OVER NEXT 5 YEARS

Armed with a $2.5 million federal grant, a new program will try to
help drug-addicted pregnant women in Bexar County -- and their
babies -- escape addiction and their old lives.

Project Carino, run by the Center for Health Care Services, will
accept 36 women a year into a nine-month outpatient program, or
about 180 over the next five years, officials said Friday at a news
conference.

"Right now I would say we have about 35 pregnant females in
(existing) services," said Moses Esquivel, who heads narcotics
programs at the center. "They're such a high-need clientele. They
really require a lot of attention, a lot of services. They drain us.
That's why we looked for this grant, to give us the extra resources
to be able to bring more people in and physically address these issues."

That number is about twice as high as in previous years. Most of the
women voluntarily come forward for help, Esquivel said, adding that
many more remain in the community.

Wendy Ewing, a nurse who runs a parenting program for female addicts
at the center, said many get little or no prenatal care.

"They don't care to get it either, because it's so hard to get and
be on welfare and food stamps, and ... because they are into drugs
and have (criminal) records and all," Ewing said.

U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, who once worked as a social
worker in the center's narcotics program, said the grant from the
Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration is badly needed.

"Individuals who are addicted to heroin and other illicit drugs can
find the support and the treatment that they need to find the path
back to clean and sober lives," Rodriguez said.

The program will be a collaboration between the center and the Bexar
County Family Drug Treatment Court, Child Protective Services, the
Baptist Health System, and community housing and HIV service
providers. It will bring together substance abuse treatment,
counseling, parenting skills training, transitional housing and
employment services.

"What we want to do is help facilitate anything that they need in
helping them getting their life on track," said Jennifer Hussey, a
program manager at the center.

Dr. Robert Jimenez, a psychiatrist and board chairman of the center,
suggested the program could quickly pay for itself.

"If things go wrong with a child who is born to an addicted mother,
it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $700,000 to care for
that child and the complications that result from this illness,"
Jimenez said.