Melania Trump arrived in Nashville on Tuesday to visit Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt to be briefed on babies born dependent on drugs.
Trump blew bubbles with pediatric patients and got down on kid-level to play trains after attending a roundtable on treatment options for infants of opioid-addicted mothers born in conditions of withdrawal.
Crouching down to play with 4-year-old patient Essence Overton, Trump complimented the child's painted nails. “Yours are all different colors. I like that,” she said.
The first lady's two-hour visit was part of her "Be Best" initiative to keep children healthy and happy.
Trump landed in Nashville at about 2 p.m. and was greeted by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who shook her hand and had a brief conversation. Trump also shook hands with an Air Force officer before her motorcade headed to the hospital.
Trump participated in a roundtable discussion about neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) with the hospital's Chief of Staff Dr. Margaret Rush and Center for Child Health Policy Director Dr. Stephen Patrick, among others.
"(Trump) is impressed by their goal here of keeping mothers and children together. She asked them to let her know how she can best use her role to help," Trump's spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said.
According to Grisham, Trump asked what kind of support the mothers are offered once they leave the hospital. She wanted to know how long the support system remains in place and if it is extended to fathers as well.
After the nearly 20 minute discussion, Trump visited privately with families who have infants in the NICU diagnosed with NAS. She gifted pink, blue and white fleece blankets with the White House seal embroidered in the corner.
Essense, the girl with colorful nails, got a pink blanket — her favorite color — to match her pink dress.
Trump talked in length with a couple, while holding their 8-day-old baby. The mother told Trump that she plans to stay healthy now that she has a child, according to Grisham
The baby is doing well and will be in the hospital for four or five more days.
First lady visit: Melania Trump to visit Vanderbilt children's hospital
“It’s (great) any time a First Lady comes to Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital is such an amazing, important asset to our community,” said John Ingram, a prominent Vanderbilt University donor who serves on the school’s board of trust. “To have somebody high-profile like that come and put it in the spotlight, it’s only good.
“We live in such a partisan world, but it’s nice to have a First Lady come to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and highlight something that’s really a wonderful asset," said Ingram, who did not attend the event.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University are separate entities. A spokesman for Vanderbilt University said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, who serves on the medical center board, was out of town Tuesday and could not attend the first lady's visit.
Scope of Tennessee's problem
Tuesday's visit isn't the hospital's first visit from the White House.
In 2014, Michael Botticelli, the White House's drug policy director at the time, visited the hospital to learn about the faculty's urgent investigation into how best to treat drug-dependent babies.
Tennessee is dealing with a rising number of overdose deaths amid a struggle with opioid abuse and misuse that health officials dub an epidemic. Alongside the rising overdose death rate is an increase in the number of babies being treated for drug abuse.
Babies born to addicted mothers are filling neonatal intensive care units in Tennessee faster than the health care system can figure out how to treat them. The number of babies in withdrawal has increased tenfold from 1999 to 2010, for instance.
Special report: Tennessee faces epidemic of drug-dependent babies
Last year, the state recorded 1,090 cases of infants born suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome.
The cases result of maternal substance abuse, namely of opioids, during pregnancy that causes infants born in withdrawal, according to the state.
Seventy-five percent of those infants were exposed to at least one prescription medication, with or without concomitant exposure to an illicit drug. Seventy percent were exposed to medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
The average cost to deliver a drug-dependent baby is $62,000, compared with $4,700 for a healthy child. Taxpayers bear the brunt of this cost — most of these babies and their mothers are on TennCare, the state's health insurance program for the poor.
Understanding addiction
Tennessee has made its mark in trying to understand what triggers the symptoms in babies going through opioid and nicotine withdrawal. Researchers at the hospital are looking for ways to reach out to and treat pregnant women with addictions.
The standard treatment is for a doctor to transfer the mother to a less harmful opioid, such as methadone or buprenorphine, and monitor its use.
While those medications can still cause a baby to withdraw, the odds improve. Mothers put on this therapy have 60 percent of delivering a healthy baby compared with a 30 percent to 40 percent of women who don't receive treatment, health officials say.
Middle Tennessee is a crucible for a roiling controversy about how to cope with the epidemic of babies undergoing drug withdrawal, with elected officials offering solutions of their own.
Lawmakers passed the Safe Harbor Act in 2013 to give pregnant women priority access to treatment programs and to protect their custody rights as they try to get clean.
Includes reporting from USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee reporters Yihyun Jeong, Joey Garrison and Michael Collins.
