Community drug task force fights prescription abuse

The number of infants entering intensive care at Kalispell Regional Medical Center for drug withdrawals due to exposure in the womb climbed from four patients in 2013 to an unprecedented 22 so far this year.

The trend became the starting point creating the Flathead Valley Community Drug Task Force. The independent coalition formed earlier this year to fight the valley’s growing drug abuse problem.

Mindy Fuzesy, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) specialist at Kalispell Regional, said she’s always seen infants enter her ward recovering from their parent’s addiction.

“It’s always hard to watch, but the number of babies affected by this has gradually increased over the last four years,” Fuzesy said. “We decided we shouldn’t just say somebody should do something about this, we needed to do something about it.”

In 2013, Fuzesy oversaw four infants in intensive care due to neonatal abstinence syndrome, which occurs when a pregnant woman uses an addictive drug, exposing her baby to that same addiction.

For a baby, drug withdrawals means inconsolable crying, muscle pain, gastric pain and fevers, she said. They’re hungry but they can’t figure out how to breastfeed because they struggle with coordination. When they do eat, they struggle to keep anything in their system due to vomiting or diarrhea.

In 2014, the number of babies at KRMC with the syndrome grew to seven. In 2015, that number reached 13.

“We should be close to 30 by the end of the year,” Fuzesy estimated.

She said of the infants that enter the neonatal intensive care unit, 30 percent are treated for neonatal abstinence syndrome.

According to the state’s Office of Epidemiology and Scientific Support, there were 432 newborn infants in Montana with the syndrome from 2000 to 2013. The statewide rate of the syndrome in newborns is nine out of every 1,000. In comparison, nationally about six out of every 1,000 infants are born exposed to drugs.

Amber Norbeck, a pediatric pharmacist with Kalispell Regional, said when she joined the team several years ago she lost track of the number of infants she met with the syndrome.

“We made rounds several times a week, and each time there would be a new baby admitted for drug withdrawal,” Norbeck said. “I kept thinking, this can’t be right, this has to just be temporary. So I kept my mouth closed and didn’t ask any questions because no one seemed shocked.”

But then she watched the number of babies on heroin, meth and prescription drugs continue to increase.

“I finally said this can’t be normal,” she said. “As a community we are better than this, we have to be, and others felt the same.”

The community drug task force began with a neonatologist, social worker and pharmacist. Six months into its existence, the organization includes health care providers, doctors, law enforcement officials, judges and officials from agencies like Child and Protective Services.

Norbeck said while the organization began with several health care workers tired of seeing addicted infants, it’s focus to prevent drug addiction crosses gender and ages.

She said as the new coalition researched why mothers were taking drugs that hurt their babies, gaps in care were revealed throughout the community. Examples include a lack of drug-prevention education in schools, in-patient treatment options and patient follow up, and an awareness of how to access support services, she said.

“We opened our eyes and learned that this starts really young, and it starts at home. People don’t go straight to heroin, they start messing around with their parents' prescriptions they found at home,” Norbeck said.

As an effort to reduce the risk of prescription drugs falling into the wrong hands, this Saturday, the community drug task force will host its first Drug Take Back Day. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., people can go to the Rocky Mountain Heart and Lung building on Heritage Way and drop off their unused or expired medication for safe disposal.

Fuzesy said the goal is for people to clean out their cupboards to ensure their unused medication doesn’t slip into the wrong hands.

“We’ve found it’s very difficult to find a place to get rid of your medications. When we all got together, every one of us had prescription medication we didn’t know what to do with it,” Fuzesy said. “Aside from the danger of kids finding it, we’ve also seen an increase in prescription thefts.”

The Saturday drop-off event is free and anonymous. Police officers will be present to guard the drop-off bins, but they will not be checking what people are dropping off, Fuzesy said.

She said while the day is a small part of the new task force’s goals, it’s an important first step in preventing drug abuse.

“We can take care of the baby, and the moms ready for treatment,” Fuzesy said. “But we want to never have that young woman in that situation. We want to prevent that in early adulthood, in order to keep families together and break the cycle.”

For more information, go to http://www.borndrugfreemt.com/about.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.