HUNTINGTON - They can be heard through the pastel yellow walls, crying inconsolably. Sometimes, their small bodies tremor; often, they hold themselves stiffly, wracked by severe abdominal pains.
The babies at Lily's Place in downtown Huntington are some of the youngest affected by West Virginia's opioid surge - addicted to one, and sometimes multiple, substances before they take their first breaths.
"Lily's Place is so much greater than I ever imagined, because it's about more than trying to take care of a baby," said executive director Rebecca Crowder. "It's about trying to heal a community."
Lily's Place was opened more than a year ago as an answer to the stark increase in the number of babies born addicted in nearby Cabell-Huntington Hospital. In 2009 at the hospital, 80 out of every 1,000 pregnant women were addicted to drugs. In 2013, that number was 139 out of every 1,000 pregnant women.
The center, which can treat a dozen infants at a time, works to wean infants off the drugs in their system while lessening the worst symptoms of withdrawal that, in rare cases, can lead to the death of a newborn. Crowder said Lily's Place goes beyond caring for infants affected by substance abuse, and has a social worker who works with mothers and families to set up treatment plans and ensure a stable, healthy environment for an infant's return home. Almost every infant spends their last day in the center in "Kevin's Room," a transitional room where mothers learn how to care for their babies before returning home.
"We have found that in helping the babies, we have to help the families. We want the end result to be a healthy family," Crowder said. "We want to help these babies through the withdrawal process, and while they're here, we want to get the moms and dads connected with the resources they need to be healthy."
Rhonda Edmunds, the director of nursing at Lily's Place, said most babies undergoing withdrawal require a low-stimulus environment while they recover, usually for about three to four weeks after they're born, and Lily's Place is able to provide them with more hands-on care than is often possible in a large hospital.
"The hospital setting is not conducive to caring for these babies, and there are so many babies that need this help that we had to create a place that could cater to their needs and help them to avoid being sent home prematurely because there isn't room for them," Edmunds said. "We wanted to be sure that we could provide the healthy, low-stimulus environment that you just can't get in the hospital. The care here, with medication and therapeutic handling, is the same as what they would receive at the hospital, but the environment is different, and we're able to work more closely with the moms."
Dr. Tarek Anderson, a neonatologist at Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston, said the problem has grown to become an epidemic in the region. According to Anderson, the number of babies born addicted to at least one substance has risen drastically since he began practicing there 18 years ago, from fewer than 10 a year to more than 100 of the 1,200 babies born at Thomas last year.
"I was trained in Los Angeles, and in the late '80s, the epidemic at that time was cocaine ... we used to see occasionally, among very hardcore drug addicts, heroin," Anderson said. "Since I left LA, in the '90s and until a couple of years ago, I hadn't seen heroin in forever, and now, in the last two years, I'm seeing heroin use in probably one-third of the population we deal with, where the mother had used it at some point, even during pregnancy."
Most infants born addicted to drugs undergo withdrawal symptoms similar to those experienced by adults, including tremors, abdominal pain, irritability, rapid breathing and even seizures, Anderson said, though infants born addicted to multiple drugs may experience more severe withdrawal symptoms.
Anderson said while there is no clear research consensus on how infant addiction affects later life, all of the factors that influence a child's well-being, including their early addiction and their parents', should be the focus of greater public policy measures.
"I want to speak from the babies' point of view, because the rest of the situation surrounding them is so complex," Anderson said. "My advocacy is for the baby to go home to a good environment, and often, we inform [Child Protective Services] and they evaluate the mother and the family. Sometimes, though, we send the baby home to that environment, because there's no real alternative, and there isn't enough foster care."
According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 112 infants in West Virginia have been identified by CPS as having been born drug addicted in 2015. Because hospitals are not required to call CPS in the case of a drug-addicted infant, that number is likely much higher, according to DHHR.
At Lily's Place, both Edmunds and Crowder said U.S. policy that defines centers like theirs needs to change fast. As of 2015, Lily's Place is considered by state law as a Neonatal Abstinence Center, but the distinction is so new that the agency often isn't considered for funding that falls to more traditional treatment centers.
"These babies need a voice," Edmunds said. "It's not fair for them to go unnoticed by physicians, whether it be OB-GYNs or by pediatricians, who think it's okay for these babies just to go home with their moms and withdraw cold turkey. These babies need somebody to speak up for them and say, 'it's not fair for them to have to go through that.' We don't expect adults to go through that, and we shouldn't expect newborns to, either."
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.