Hushabye Nursery aids newborns exposed to opioids

In 2017, the opioid crisis was declared a public health emergency by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In Arizona, roughly two babies a day are born addicted to opioids.

Hushabye Nursery provides a therapeutic environment of short-term medical care to infants suffering from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), which affects newborns exposed to opioids in the womb. The first-of-its-kind NAS nursery in the U.S. provides state-of-the-art care for babies and their families. The 12-bed facility has treated over 1,150 babies and their families since opening in November 2020.

Tara Sundem, Co-founder and Executive Director of Hushabye Nursery, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the impact of the facility.

“When the opioid crisis took off in 2010, it took us about five years to start seeing all of those babies coming into our NICUs,” Sundem said, “…found out when it was slow and quiet…babies did better, we didn’t need to give them medication.”

When Sundem was a bedside nurse caring for babies in the NICU, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, she explained how devastating it was to watch. At first, she didn’t understand opioids and this disorder, until she began reading more into it.

“…if you go cold turkey,” Sundem said, “…your baby goes through the withdrawal process inside mom, and will either deliver prematurely, or mom will miscarry.”

Soothing Secrets is the term Sundem used to describe the best non-medicated remedies that can help these babies. This includes a quiet, dark environment with one-to-one caregivers, as the facility offers each baby their own private room.

“Babies, when they don’t feel good, they want their moms and dads,” Sundem said, “…and that’s a difference of Husabye, because we understand substance use, we know how to deal with it…but babies can sense if their mom and dad are in the room.”