By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Dec. 11
Five percent of the women admitted to substance abuse programs in Kansas last year were pregnant.
That”s 261 women and, presumably, 261 high-risk
and high-dollar pregnancies.
Later this week, state officials will announce plans to expand Health In Pregnancy, a program aimed at helping women get off and stay off drugs and alcohol during and after their pregnancies.
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Gary Daniels will unveil the initiative in Wichita on Wednesday and in Lawrence on Thursday.
Essentially, SRS is putting up $328,000 for two programs Substance Abuse Center of Kansas and Smoky Hill Foundation for Chemical Dependency
to hire four case managers who will work with women during and after their pregnancies.
Of the four case managers, two will be based in Sedgwick County; one in Barton County, another in Ellis County.
Each worker”s caseload will be limited to 15 women.
“The goal is for each of these women to deliver a healthy baby and to keep that baby healthy,” said Harold Casey, executive director at the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas in Wichita.
Another goal is to keep the babies safe and out of the state”s foster care system.
“As we all know, (foster care) can be very expensive,” said Abbie Hodgson, director of communications at SRS.
So, too, are low birth weight babies whose hospital bills often exceed $100,000. Drug and alcohol use are key factors in low weight births.
Health In Pregnancy is modeled after a successful demonstration project that”s run out of the SRS office in Douglas County.
“We use any resource in the community that we can think of and that”s appropriate for the women we serve,” said Susan Gile, social service supervisor at the SRS office in Douglas County.
Gile said 12 women had been referred to the program since July 1.
Health In Pregnancy is voluntary and is not restricted to women who are poor.
Case managers are expected to work with each of the women in their caseload for 18 months regardless of their success.
Women who suffer relapses, for example, are not kicked out of the program because that would increase the likelihood of more relapses and additional harm to the baby.
Some of the women will be counseled on an out-patient basis, others may be referred to inpatient programs.
“It will depend on each individual”s needs,” said Jen Brinkerhoff, director of the seven-county Regional Prevention Center based in Lawrence and a member of the group that launched the initial project.
The program also includes incentives designed to increase participation.
“If after, say, a week, someone has a clean UA (urine analysis indicating no drug use), they might get a gift card to buy maternity clothes,” Hodgson said. Other rewards may include baby items, car seats or a month”s rent.
Surveys have shown that most of the pregnant women in the treatment programs are there for alcohol abuse.
“We see everything
alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine
but the majority right now would be alcohol,” said Cindi Geist, executive director at the Smoky Hill Foundation for Chemical Dependency in Hays.
Ellis and Barton counties were selected for Health In Pregnancy funding, Geist said, because their drug treatment program admissions included the highest percentage of pregnant women.
“In Ellis County, it”s 15 percent,” she said. “It”s 10 percent in Barton County.”
Geist welcomed the arrival of Health In Pregnancy funding.
“It”s going to be a great thing because what we”re talking about here are best practices for women,” she said. “This is going to be something that creates a non-authoritarian, healing environment that”s going to give women a sense of power over the problems they”re dealing with.
“When you”re dealing with substance problems, overcoming that sense of powerlessness is huge,” she said.
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.