PRINCETON — A local mental health center is among the entities receiving grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support programs dealing with opioid addiction and babies facing withdrawal from opioids and other substances they were exposed to before birth.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), announced funding Monday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support five Rural Communities Opioid Response programs focused on addressing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) across West Virginia.
One of organizations, Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center, Inc. in Princeton, will receive $500,000.
The purpose of this program is to reduce the incidence and impact of NAS in rural communities by improving systems of care, family support and social determinants of health. NAS is a group of conditions that can occur when newborns withdraw from certain substances, including opioids, that they were exposed to before birth.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the pain and suffering of infants who have been exposed to drugs before they’re even born. Funding like this is so important when it comes to helping West Virginia’s most vulnerable children receive the health care they need and continue our efforts to fight the opioid epidemic. As the Ranking Member of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue fighting for resources that will help curb the deadly impact of opioids in our state,” Capito said.