KENTUCKY’S
KING
In 2006, CenteringPregnancy’s
first year, 370 women participated, almost all of them young and
on Medicaid. The program’s popularity ensured a significant impact
locally, but like many of McConnell’s other health solutions, it
was all but irrelevant statewide.
The earmark provided for an
examination room as well as a
dentist and a hygienist on site
to offer screenings and cleanings at no charge to the mothers.
Oral infections can complicate a
pregnancy and have an impact on
birth weight. Some of the women, Langston recalls, had never
been taught how to use a toothbrush. “A lot of it was the culture — ‘Everyone in my family has
false teeth,’” Langston explains.
“They would show up in the ER if
they had a toothache. They really
didn’t acknowledge their mouth
unless there was pain.”
The clinic dentist flushed diseased gums, excavated years of
calcified plaque and uprooted necklaces of dead teeth. Full-mouth extractions, Langston says, were not
rare. Neither was evidence of drug
use. After the clinic put in place
random drug testing and ramped up
counseling, Langston says, nearly
90 percent of the women who test-
HUFFINGTON
08.11.13
McCONNELL DIRECTED
MONEY TO EVERYTHING FROM
MOBILE HEALTH SCREENINGS
TO LAB UPGRADES FOR
STEM CELL RESEARCH
INTO HEART FAILURE.
ONE EARMARK FUNNELED
MONEY TO A UNIVERSITY
OF LOUISVILLE SCIENTIST
FOR GROUNDBREAKING
RESEARCH INTO AGING, WITH
TREATMENT IMPLICATIONS
FOR ALZHEIMER’S AND EVEN
SPACE TRAVEL.
ed positive on the initial visit were
drug-free by the time they were
ready to deliver their babies.
The women needed all the help
they could get. For many lowincome mothers in Kentucky,
Medicaid covers at most the first
two months after they give birth.
If they have drug problems, bed
space at rehab facilities is limited
across the state. Just traveling to
these places can be a barrier, says
Dr. Ruth Ann Shepherd, the director of the Division of Maternal
and Child Health in the state’s
Department for Public Health. “I