>>>“That interconnectedness of services has served us well in putting these pieces together so it is holistically balanced for our patients,” Frum says. “We have constant communication with our providers and we talk about cases all the time,” Bell says. “We tell our clients that the doctor and I are going to do that so we can give you the best possible care.” “Often it is the first time they really tell somebody how severe their use is,” Bell says. “It takes courage to walk through that door.” Smith talks to patients about the stigma. “I tell them that I can’t undo the prejudices some people may have about you, but you can hold your head high and know you are doing the right thing.” Bell notes that more than 90% of her clients “started out with a legitimate medical need to take a prescription,” but at some point lost control. “Recovery is about rebuilding relationships and being a productive member of the community and society,” she says. “They start building recovery-based relationships the moment they walk through our doors.” The program supports pregnant OUD mothers in a net of integrated care that keeps their babies close to home. Despite its modest size, Bridgton Hospital six years ago began delivering babies born to local mothers on Suboxone. The program seeks to remove the stigma associated with the disorder.
Before the hospital adopted the maternity care program, Jennifer Smith observes that “our obstetric nurses were caring for these women their entire pregnancy, then sending them to larger hospitals to deliver their babies. All of our [obstetrics] nurses are now trained in Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome scoring, which is a withdrawal scoring system for newborns exposed to opioids or [Suboxone].” She says “Bridgton Hospital is one of only a few rural hospitals in the state providing this level of care for opioid-dependent mothers and I am proud to be a part of it.” Craig Smith adds: “We are a community hospital and I wasn’t sure how that would go over. But we got tremendous support from the hospital and multiple departments to make sure we could take care of moms who needed to be here and care for their babies.” Smith has watched patients turn their lives around, go back to work, reconnect with their families and dramatically reduce their risk of dying from an overdose. “We can’t do it alone,” he says. “The police can’t do it alone. But we can come together as a team when the community says this is a problem and we need to fix it.” Too few treatment facilities, qualified personnel and limited insurance coverage are barriers to widespread adoption of MAT programs like the model implemented in Bridgton. But hospital CEO Frum said his small rural community’s experience in tackling the OUD epidemic demonstrates that where there is the will there is a way to overcome those barriers. “There are barriers, but that is what led us to create this integrated, creative local solution that has saved people,” he says. “They otherwise would have been lost and that is why we do it.”
“The police can’t do it alone. But we can come together as a team when the community says this is a problem and we need to fix it.” - Craig smith, M.d.
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