First Lady Sees Plight Of Addicted Infants Firsthand

HUNTINGTON - Melania Trump arrived in Huntington about as quietly as a first lady can - the flipside to the spirited splash her husband made in town two months earlier.

Unlike the last time a presidential motorcade rolled through Huntington, carrying President Donald Trump to a rally downtown in August, there were no speeches to be made. The first lady had come to listen. There were no roaring crowds to ignite - only the sterile, controlled silence enveloping about a dozen infants recovering from addiction withdrawal.

The black SUVs rolled up and over 7th Avenue's cracked sidewalk to the front door of Lily's Place, where the first lady heard firsthand about neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and the center's mission in treating it.

"She wanted to hear, she wanted to learn, and she wanted to be educated on what we are doing and why we are doing it," said Rebecca Crowder, executive director of Lily's Place. "I think she's really shown that she may not know everything, but she wants to know everything."

The visit was sparked by Crowder's visit to Washington, D.C., two weeks ago, where she met with the first lady during a White House discussion on drug addiction. Since then, Crowder said, the first lady has continued to show interest in the plight of babies born with NAS.

"It's one thing to hear about it. It's another thing to see it," Crowder said. "She may not have a plan right now, but this type of thing is helping her develop that plan for what she can do."

Trump was accompanied by Dr. Elinor McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, who joined in a roundtable discussion with Crowder and staff at Lily's Place.

She later spoke in private with two families currently enrolled at the facility.

The first lady was curious about what prompted the creation of Lily's Place, Crowder said, and the scope of the need for such a facility. She asked what centers such as Lily's Place can provide for children born with NAS, as well as their families, in support against the opioid epidemic.

Trump shared her impression in a White House statement after arriving back in Washington from the roughly 50-minute meeting in Huntington on Tuesday afternoon.

"By placing a priority on the whole family, infants born dependent on drugs are given the best opportunity to thrive because their parents are also given the support and tools they need to recover and succeed as parents and members of their community," Trump said.

"It is my hope that we can find ways to create more of the opportunities afforded by places like Lily's Place so that we can continue to help infants and children grow into happy, healthy adults."

While Huntington may be labeled ground zero for the opioid epidemic, facilities such as Lily's Place, along with the city's other innovative methods, have the potential to mold Huntington into a model city as other cities begin to face their own problems sparked by opioid misuse, said Dr. Sean Loudin, medical director at Lily's Place.

"I think we're sort of that litmus test, or the canary in the coal mine, and what we'll see is that other communities will see the same exact things we are, though it may be not for a little while," Loudin said. "So they can look back at what we've done and what we've been through and how we've tackled those issues, and it may be easier for those communities in the future."

Founded in 2014, Lily's Place was the first treatment center opened specifically to treat NAS in infants born with addiction. The center can house up to 12 infants at a time.

Trump cradled 9-month-old Kyrie King-Hickey, of Milton, a Lily's Place graduate who had been admitted with NAS six days after birth. His mother, Rachel Kinder, told Trump that Kyrie is now developing like any other child thanks to the care he received at Lily's Place.

"Now you would never know he was here," said Kinder, who used methadone during pregnancy before Kyrie was born in February. "He's just like any other baby."

Like Crowder, Kinder said she was impressed by Trump's genuine interest in not only the babies born with NAS, but also in the city's overarching struggle against the opioid epidemic.

"She seemed like she really did care about our city and the epidemic," Kinder said. "For her to care about how I was doing, it made me feel really happy and excited."

Tuesday was Melania Trump's first visit to West Virginia since becoming first lady.

Follow reporter Bishop Nash on Twitter @BishopNash.