OSU Center for Health Sciences received a $500,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to address the effects of neonatal abstinence syndrome on communities in Green Country.
OSU-CHS says the grant will be used to provide family planning services to women, informing them of the associated dangers of opioid and substance misuse during pregnancy.
The Oklahoma Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome program funded by the grant is aimed toward helping incarcerated women who are mothers or pregnant and at risk for substance use disorder in Tulsa, Creek, Osage, Okmulgee, Pawnee, Wagoner and Rogers counties.
The program will also focus on providing participants with opioid or substance use disorder, the opportunity to explore treatment options, including medication for the disorder, as well as a case manager to assist them following their departure from the carceral system.
“Oklahoma has led the nation in female incarceration for the past two decades,” said Dallas McCance, director of programs at Hardesty Center for Clinical Research and Neuroscience. “Most of our rural jails don’t have the resources to meet the needs of women. As telehealth services were increasing during the pandemic, we created a system that would incorporate the telehealth mode within county jails.”
In partnership with Family & Children’s Services, OSU-CHS will offer telehealth via OSU Medicine clinics in four of the six county jails.
The care offered includes the following:
- Family planning
- Prenatal and postpartum services
- Prescriptions
- Treatment option and resources to learn more about neonatal abstinence syndrome
OSU-CHS says over 100 women have received prenatal and family planning care via the telehealth services they provide, which 33 of them have been referred to treatment and other forms of care following their release, including sober living housing, peer recovery support and employment.
In addition, with the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant funding, Family & Children Services have begun the Parenting Inside Out program to better serve families by providing a parenting skills training program to former or current incarcerated parents in an effort to facilitate parent-child reunification, reduce recidivism and facilitate the reconnection of families.
“Every woman who enters jail in one of our targeted counties is screened, and if she meets our criteria, a case manager is assigned to work with her and set up virtual prenatal, postpartum and family planning care through OSU Medicine,” said Chetana Musapeta, NAS grant project manager. “Our case manager works with each woman to discuss treatment and a recovery plan for once they leave jail.”
OSU-CHS says over 200 women have completed the program, influencing two men's county jails within the aforementioned counties to implement the program.