College of Nursing faculty member receives grant to fight opioid abuse among pregnant women

Kristin Ashford, PhD, APRN, WHNP-BC, FAAN, associate professor and associate dean of Undergraduate Faculty Affairs in the UK College of Nursing, has been awarded the Hillman Innovations in Care Program grant from the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation for her work in addressing the opioid epidemic and its impact on maternal-fetal health.

The $600,000 award will enable Ashford to continue to expand both the Perinatal Assistance and Treatment Home (PATHways) and Beyond Birth programs. The PATHways program integrates evidence-based knowledge through a comprehensive approach to perinatal opioid use disorder, offering buprenorphine maintenance treatment for both opioid use disorder and neonatal abstinence syndrome, peer support and education, legal support, prenatal and postnatal health services for mother and baby, and health system navigation during delivery.

PATHways has been expanded to include the Beyond Birth program, which provides wraparound services and access to resources to aid in maintaining recovery in the two years following delivery. 

“After women give birth, they experience the highest amount of stress in their lifetime, and this is when they need the most support in their recovery,” said Ashford.

The grant will be used to expand access to the program in communities that may not have the resources available to provide this type of multidisciplinary care to mothers with opioid use disorder. The grant will also be used to provide training to clinicians in high-need low-resource communities including Hazard and Morehead.

“The most important part of this program is helping mothers be the parents that they want to be,” Ashford said. “The Hillman Innovations in Care Program grant will enable the team to reach and help more women.”