Wilderness Health aims to make sure quality healthcare is accessible to rural areas of the Northland. Recently, the organization was awarded a grant to focus on birthing mothers, especially as it relates to substance use.
"These hospitals were noticing that individuals who use substances were coming into the emergency room to deliver with very little prenatal care," says Laura Rosier, program coordinator with Wilderness Health. "There was concern with stigma related to their substance use." The consensus is that patients avoided certain care out of fear that protective services would be alerted due to suspicions of substance use.
However, there are services available to aid in a healthy pregnancy, particularly for those using substances. Wilderness Health hosted listening sessions over the past year to talk to expecting mothers who spoke of their negative experiences - many who cited feeling like criminals. Advocacy efforts from Wilderness Health are now messaging to providers and patients alike about rights and biases.
Rosier and others from Wilderness Health will be at many outreach events in the coming months to talk to the public about what substance use looks like. "We hope, through our relationships with other community organizations, to start providing more awareness on Drugs 101," says Rosier regarding addictions born out of medical treatment and not through illegal decisions. "Over prescription of opioids, that is what leads people to using."
More information about Wilderness Health can be found on their website. For those interested in learning more about prenatal care and substance use, visit National Harm Reduction Coalition website. On August 2nd Wilderness Health will be at Tall Timber Days in Grand Rapids and Spirit Valley Days in Duluth. On August 9th, they'll be at Iron Pride in Viginia, and on August 30th they'll be at Duluth Pride.
You can hear Community Connection every Tuesday and Thursday at 8am on Northland Morning.
