West Virginia is facing a hidden epidemic of opiate addiction during pregnancy. Based on a study in 2009, approximately 20% of women delivering in the state have been exposed to either illicit drugs or alcohol and the rate today is even higher. Taking care of these women is challenging and optimizing the outcomes for them and their neonates is the goal of the MARC. While methadone maintenance remains the gold standard of therapy, recent data published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that maintenance therapy with buprenorphine (Subutex) results in neonates that spend less time in the intensive care nursery and milder withdrawal symptoms. Access to buprenorphine therapy during pregnancy has been limited at best. In an attempt to improve access, the Department of OB/GYN at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, with the help of  a generous grant from Carelink Health Plans, Inc. instituted the Maternal Addiction and Recovery Center under the direction of Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists Dr. David Chaffin and Dr. Ryan Stone and assisted by Glennis Peters, Certified Clinical Addiction Counselor (CCAC). Opiate addicted pregnant patients will receive the highest quality pregnancy care, regular addiction counseling in both group and individual settings as well as buprenorphine maintenance therapy in one clinical location.

More information is available via

Herald-Dispatch January 11, 2012..... Program to address newborn addiction
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x721328659/Program-to-address-newborn-addiction

West Virginia Public Broadcasting January 18, 2012....New program to help pregnant women with addiction
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=23553

To contact the Maternal Addiction and Recovery Center (MARC), call 304-691-8730.