Most deaths related to substance use disorder among pregnant people in New Mexico happen between 6 weeks and a year after delivery. Still, much of the care for pregnant people at risk takes place while they’re at the hospital.
Several University of New Mexico health care providers told the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee Monday that extending care through a longer window and to more family members will likely help prevent these deaths.
Dr. Larry Leeman is the medical director for the UNMH Milagro Program, which supports pregnant people dealing with substance abuse. He said that while his program works with others at UNMH to provide wrap-around services, there are still gaps in what they can do.
“I maybe sound a little bit like a broken recording here. What a lot of these families need is more than we can provide in the time that they’re in the hospital,” he said.
Leeman told lawmakers that many of the pregnant people his program sees don’t have housing, let alone get prenatal care. That often leads to the person leaving the baby, who then goes to foster care.
He also said that New Mexico lacks residential treatment for pregnant and postpartum people and their partners.
“Our program focuses on the pregnant people, but we see that it's very hard for a pregnant person to go into recovery without the partner being helped,” he said.
The residential treatment programs that exist in the state also usually allow a patient to bring their baby, but prohibit them from bringing their other children.
Leeman spoke along with representatives from other departments at UNM that collaborate on family substance abuse support, including the FOCUS Program, which provides early intervention for at-risk children and ADOBE, which provides support for young people that have been incarcerated in Bernalillo County. When asked, the members of the panel requested more support from the state to expand their programs.
This coverage is made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners.
