Cone Health program helps moms with substance abuse issues

Yahoo

11-04-2025

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — You may never hear a story quite as sad as Breanna's.
When she was just a child, her mother had a series of cancers.
'Breast cancer – had a full hysterectomy done, cervical cancer. It was just back-to-back,' says Breanna. 'My dad got hurt at work, a bunch of discs in his neck were bulging. They got him pain pills and I did too, I guess, being around it. It just turned into a disaster. Both of my brothers, they're still using.'
She was addicted to opioids at, 'About 13-years-old.' Heroin? 'Within a year, about 14-years-old,' she says.
But Breanna's story – unlike most – has a happy ending. She recently delivered her third child, a boy, and did so with both herself and her son, healthy and drug free. Breanna credits a counseling program and Cone Health's REACH Program, which helps women through the stress of both the pregnancy and the first year of motherhood.
'That is the most unique portion of our program is that neonatal medicine is involved from the very beginning, we're not an afterthought, we don't come sweeping in when there's a problem, we're part of the resolution ahead of time,' says Nurse Practitioner Katie Krist who was one of those who work with Breanna.
Dr. Mateo Eckstat runs the clinic which typically has 8 to 12 women in it at any given time.
'That is one of the big reasons why I put this clinic together and do the work I do is that I am terrified that one of my patients will overdose and die,' says Dr. Eckstat. 'I am terrified that one of the babies that I deliver is not going to have a mom or that someone's not going to have their sister or their cousin or their daughter.'
He seconds the idea that it is the connection developed over nearly 2 years that is key to its success.
'So the people who take care of the babies and can tell these moms and guide them through that postpartum period, they develop a relationship before the baby is even born,' Dr. Eckstat says.
Not only is Breanna no longer using drugs but she has a supportive partner in her life in the baby's father. Being able to raise a child with both parents involved is as big an issue as there is when it comes to keeping these women from relapsing.
'It has been my experience that if you have a healthy mom who has a stable life, then the kid will be just fine,' says Dr. Eckstat.
Breanna is in school to become a social worker herself and says she couldn't have done it without the help of the REACH program. If you want to set up a confidential appointment, you can do it on Cone Health's REACH website.
Link: https://www.conehealth.com/locations/center-for-womens-healthcare-triad/reach-clinic/
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