The state's first treatment center for drug-exposed babies is set to open next month in Kettering. Brigid’s Path aims to provide inpatient medical care for newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome, also known as NAS.
Ohio Department of Health numbers show in 2015, roughly six babies a day were admitted to Ohio hospitals for NAS.
Organizers say Brigid’s Path was created in response to the opioid crisis in Dayton.
Emily Surico, program manager for drug and crime prevention at East End Community Services, says the clinic will provide the kind of specialty care that many hospitals aren’t necessarily equipped for.
“When babies are born, they are withdrawing from opioids, so it’s very painful," Surico says. "This is a great opportunity that those babies will get the highest quality care, and nurtured and loved on top of helping whatever medication is needed to help them withdraw from that.”
Surico says she hopes Brigid’s Path could become a model for treating babies born dependent on opioids across the state.
"This type of program can really be a model for not only the state, but possibly the country, of how we can actually get ahead of this next generation being impacted by opioids," she says.
The center will open September 25.
