SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County has approved a $600,000 grant for Maddie’s Place, allowing the non-profit to expand its addiction resources.
Maddie’s Place is a non-profit recovery nursery that treats infants born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition where newborns suffer withdrawal from substances they were exposed to in the womb, like alcohol, nicotine, or opioids.
“We’re only one of five clinics like this across the country,” said Shaun Cross, president and CEO of Maddie’s Place. “We’re the only one on the West Coast.”
Cross has been working to develop Maddie’s Place for the past seven years. He says NAS is the ripple effect of drug addiction, which is amplified by the surging amount of fentanyl in Spokane.
“Fentanyl is 1/20th the cost of heroin and 50 times as strong,” said Cross. “And it’s just everywhere. You can only imagine what it does to an infant that weighs four or five pounds.”
Maddie’s Place offers specialized care for these infants, along with an abundance of resources for families.