Saving the youngest victims of the opioid epidemic

As heroin use spikes throughout the nation, OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital associates are working to help some of the most vulnerable victims of this growing crisis: pregnant mothers and their babies.

In this region of the state where poverty rates are twice those of the rest of the Ohio, opioid addiction disproportionately affects women of childbearing age.

Noticing a steady increase in the number of pregnant women addicted to opioids, associates of O’Bleness’ Athens Medical Associates Obstetrics and Gynecology practice (AMA OB/GYN) joined forces with others in Athens to provide a unique response.

Public health officials believe this work, dubbed the MOMS Project, holds promise as a statewide model for addiction treatment and as a defense against neonatal abstinence syndrome.

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