EMPOWERED Moms

EMPOWERED

helps new mothers achieve resilience

It’s no secret. The use and misuse of opioids has had a devastating impact on American society. Each year millions of Americans use opioids to manage pain. Doctor-prescribed opioids are appropriate in some cases to relieve pain, but the reliance on opioids has led to the worst drug crisis in our nation’s history, affecting people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic statuses. Pregnant women and new mothers are no exception.

According to the CDC, opioid exposure in pregnancy increases the risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as maternal cardiac arrest, intrauterine growth restriction, placental abruption, preterm labor, stillbirth, premature rupture of membranes, need for transfusion, oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid), and longer length of hospital stay. For the infant, neonatal abstinence syndrome – withdrawal from certain substances, including opioids – and birth defects (including neural tube defects and congenital heart defects) can occur. Pregnant women and new mothers who find themselves using opioids or stimulants need support. EMPOWERED, a program at Roseman University’s College of Medicine’s Roseman Medical Group, develops and unleashes the power of expectant and recent mothers with opioid and stimulant use disorders to be active in managing their health and partnering in their care, from recovery through stabilization to resilience.

EMPOWERED was created in 2018 by Roseman College of Pharmacy Class of 2008 alum Andria Peterson, PharmD, a clinical pharmacist who serves as its Executive Director, and Deepa Nagar, MD, a neonatal medicine specialist, in response to an exponential increase in infants admitted for withdrawal to the newborn intensive care units (NICU) in Southern Nevada hospitals.

EMPOWERED

helps new mothers achieve resilience By Jason Roth

“These infants were truly suffering as they withdrew from various substances abused by their mothers during pregnancy. I consider them to be the most innocent victims of the opioid epidemic,” said Peterson. “As I helped develop treatment plans for these very fragile infants, I realized how difficult it was for their mothers to navigate treatment for their substance use disorder during pregnancy and the postpartum period.”

Initially, EMPOWERED operated under the umbrella of the Dignity Health hospital system and provided care coordination services where enrolled women would meet with a licensed clinical social worker for a formal assessment to develop a care plan. They would then work with the social worker and a peer in recovery to access various resources in the community to obtain the services they needed. These services typically included prenatal care, treatment, housing, employment and classes such as baby basics, and CPR training.

Now part of Roseman’s College of Medicine and supported by the Overdose Data to Action Grant through the Southern Nevada Health District and the State Opioid Response Grant through the State of Nevada, EMPOWERED has expanded to also provide care coordination, individual therapy, group therapy and household centered home visitation during pregnancy and one year postpartum.

“Dignity Health was a wonderful partner in supporting the EMPOWERED program and in helping the program find a new home where it could expand and develop a plan for long term sustainability,” said Peterson. “EMPOWERED aligns perfectly with the mission, vision and values of Roseman’s College of Medicine, which focus on the social determinants of health for individual, household and population health.”

Peterson adds that relocating to Roseman represents an expansion of services to address the needs of the entire household of the pregnant mother. “The opportunity to partner with the College of Medicine’s new and growing GENESIS program provides household-centered care to participating women, their infants, and their entire household. Blending these two programs creates a natural and comprehensive approach for supporting the entire family unit,” she said.

The growth of EMPOWERED comes during a time when substance use disorder is increasingly impacting pregnant and postpartum women, with drug-induced deaths identified as the leading cause of death in women of reproductive-age. This has been exacerbated by the opioid epidemic, with the CDC recently reporting 93,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2020. This represents a 29 percent increase from 2019 to 2020, the largest year-to-year jump since 2016.

“This is an enormous problem in our society. Roseman University of Health Sciences sees the enormity of this issue and has embraced the concept of focusing on pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder and infants at risk of withdrawal,” said Peterson. “EMPOWERED will continue to serve this vulnerable population in Southern Nevada and will eventually expand the service region to encompass Roseman’s Northern Utah campus and its surrounding communities.”