ORLANDO, Fla. — 9 Investigates uncovered the heroin epidemic plaguing Orange County is having a major impact on the smallest of victims. There was a huge spike in 2015 in the number of babies born under the influence of opioids, and Orange County had some of the highest numbers in the entire state.
“It's a terrible thing. You see these babies that are suffering from nothing that's their fault,” Winnie Palmer Hospital NICU Director Dr. Douglas Hardy said.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Administration, 249 Orange County babies were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) from opioid addiction in 2015. That was a 57 percent increase over 2014; surpassing the statewide increase of around 30 percent.
Channel 9’s Karla Ray also found out that 2015 also brought a record state high of 2,487 babies born with NAS and Hardy said he believes the culprit is heroin.
“I think it reflects what's going on in the general population, as we've seen the rise in heroin,” Hardy said.
Hardy serves on the Orange County Heroin Task Force. He said after the pill mill epidemic was stomped out, users turned to the cheaper, more readily available drug, heroin.
Many of those mothers are referred to Aspire Health for treatment, which usually includes substituting the heroin with medication or methadone.
“Definitely, this is definitely an epidemic,” Aspire Medical Development Vice President Shannon Robinson said.
Both Robinson and Hardy both said quitting cold turkey is not only extremely difficult, but doing so while pregnant can hurt the unborn child.
“We hear it all the time, ‘Why would she do this?’” No one would ever volunteer for this issue or this addiction,” Robinson said.
The Task Force recommended better collaboration between treatment programs and healthcare providers, but with Orange County now ranking third in the state for babies born under the influence of opioids, Robinson said she hopes to see more pre-natal drug screenings for all expecting mothers.
“I hope we see that. With the way babies are suffering, and the way moms are suffering, that we would start to see some of these screenings happening at initial intake,” Robinson said.