PICC

Yesterday I had to get a news paper for my office, and right on the first page was this amazing article about a woman who had become a foster mom at age 22, it went on to tell about how she had rarely been with out a baby and she has since retired from being a foster mom but she is the co founder of a place called Kent’s Pediatric Interim Care Center. I was so moved by the article that I called them and ask what I could do. I am attaching the link and the article. I hope it touches your hearts as much as it did mine. I am going to go through my oldest sons baby things and things I know he will never use I am going to donate, and plus other things. You may want to grab a tissue. Sometimes it takes one small step to change the life of many.

http://kentreporter.com/jumpstory.html?story=news1&pubdate=10/10/2007 Thats where I got the article from.

http://www.picc.net/ This is the web site for PICC


Enjoy reading:

She’s a mom to so many by Daniel Mooney Barbara Drennen sounds confident when she calls herself a mother, and she has the history to back it up.
In addition to bearing two of her own children, the 64-year-old has adopted three and cared for countless others over the years, all from the time they were newborns.
“I started fostering at the age of 22, and I just gave up my license two years ago,” Drennen said. “It was pretty emotional for me. All those years, I only went one week without a baby.”
Her fostering days may be over, but as co-founder and executive director of Kent’s Pediatric Interim Care Center, Drennen won’t have to go without a baby anytime soon. She wouldn’t have it any other way, and that longtime passion for the care of newborns who need it most was recognized this year, when she won the 2007 Stand on a Better World Local Award.
The award, sponsored by New Jersey flooring company Mannington, recognizes three women who have made a significant impact locally, nationally or globally. Drennen won the local award for developing her unique center, called PICC for short, which provides unmatched care for drug-exposed infants from across the state.
“I was honored,” Drennen said. “To receive an award like this is very humbling.”
The idea for the center began when Drennen, a longtime Kent resident, was busy fostering babies in the 1980s. She began to notice what was then becoming a widespread epidemic in the U.S. — the use of cocaine, often by pregnant mothers. The result of the drug use was premature, addicted newborns, many of which came to Drennen’s door.
“I had been a foster parent for many years, and the babies began to change,” she said. “They became very much more difficult to manage, so I decided to do something about it.”
Partnering with fellow Kent caregiver Barbara Richards, Drennen consulted with physicians and academics to learn and develop therapeutic techniques for guiding the infants through the painful period of withdrawal. “The Two Barbs,” as they were called, began providing the care in their homes, and before long, hospitals were prompting them to design a center for the valuable service.
Drennen and Richards formed PICC in Kent in October 1990.
“It’s been almost exactly 17 years now,” Drennen said. “We had no idea of the depth of the program. We knew what we wanted to do with the babies, but we didn’t know how far-reaching this was going to be.”
PICC became the first full-time newborn nursery specializing in bringing drug-addicted infants through withdrawal. It has yet to be replicated, Drennen said, though many have used the center as a model.
Richards retired in 2000, but Drennen continues to lead the PICC as executive director. Over the last 17 years, she and her staff have led more than 1,900 drug-exposed newborns through their first weeks. She has trained hundreds of caregivers, medical personnel and others in the techniques of diagnosing and handling drug-exposed infants.
PICC moved to a new facility in 2006, located at 328 Fourth Ave. S. in Kent. The two doctors, two nurses, aides and volunteers at the center now can handle about 13 babies at a time, placing them on a level of morphine that mimics their level of addiction and then slowly decreasing that level until they are no longer dependent.
“I have a staff like no other,” Drennen said. “They share my passion for the babies.”
The Legislature recently increased funding for the center, allowing for 17 infant beds.
Drennen has been a valuable resource to the public, medical community and the government on the importance of educating women about the effects of drugs on newborns, even helping to pass legislation to require reporting of newborns testing positive for illicit drugs to Child Protective Services.
And she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“People always ask me when I’ll retire, and I always say 10 years,” she said. “But I’ve been saying that forever, and I’m still saying it. I don’t think there’s any place I’d rather be than here.”
Drennen was selected for the Stand on a Better World Award by a panel of judges, including world-famous athlete Billie Jean King, Emmy award-winning “20/20” correspondent Deborah Roberts and 2006 Stand on a Better World recipient Olga Murray. Drennen will be honored at an awards ceremony Nov. 15 in Wilmington, Del., where one of the three recipients will be chosen as the grand-prize winner, receiving $25,000 to be donated to her chosen charity. The other two winners will receive $10,000 to be given to their chosen charities.
Contact Daniel Mooney at 253-437-6012 or dmooney@reporternewspapers.com.
In addition to bearing two of her own children, the 64-year-old has adopted three and cared for countless others over the years, all from the time they were newborns.
“I started fostering at the age of 22, and I just gave up my license two years ago,” Drennen said. “It was pretty emotional for me. All those years, I only went one week without a baby.”
Her fostering days may be over, but as co-founder and executive director of Kent’s Pediatric Interim Care Center, Drennen won’t have to go without a baby anytime soon. She wouldn’t have it any other way, and that longtime passion for the care of newborns who need it most was recognized this year, when she won the 2007 Stand on a Better World Local Award.
The award, sponsored by New Jersey flooring company Mannington, recognizes three women who have made a significant impact locally, nationally or globally. Drennen won the local award for developing her unique center, called PICC for short, which provides unmatched care for drug-exposed infants from across the state.
“I was honored,” Drennen said. “To receive an award like this is very humbling.”
The idea for the center began when Drennen, a longtime Kent resident, was busy fostering babies in the 1980s. She began to notice what was then becoming a widespread epidemic in the U.S. — the use of cocaine, often by pregnant mothers. The result of the drug use was premature, addicted newborns, many of which came to Drennen’s door.
“I had been a foster parent for many years, and the babies began to change,” she said. “They became very much more difficult to manage, so I decided to do something about it.”
Partnering with fellow Kent caregiver Barbara Richards, Drennen consulted with physicians and academics to learn and develop therapeutic techniques for guiding the infants through the painful period of withdrawal. “The Two Barbs,” as they were called, began providing the care in their homes, and before long, hospitals were prompting them to design a center for the valuable service.
Drennen and Richards formed PICC in Kent in October 1990.
“It’s been almost exactly 17 years now,” Drennen said. “We had no idea of the depth of the program. We knew what we wanted to do with the babies, but we didn’t know how far-reaching this was going to be.”
PICC became the first full-time newborn nursery specializing in bringing drug-addicted infants through withdrawal. It has yet to be replicated, Drennen said, though many have used the center as a model.
Richards retired in 2000, but Drennen continues to lead the PICC as executive director. Over the last 17 years, she and her staff have led more than 1,900 drug-exposed newborns through their first weeks. She has trained hundreds of caregivers, medical personnel and others in the techniques of diagnosing and handling drug-exposed infants.
PICC moved to a new facility in 2006, located at 328 Fourth Ave. S. in Kent. The two doctors, two nurses, aides and volunteers at the center now can handle about 13 babies at a time, placing them on a level of morphine that mimics their level of addiction and then slowly decreasing that level until they are no longer dependent.
“I have a staff like no other,” Drennen said. “They share my passion for the babies.”
The Legislature recently increased funding for the center, allowing for 17 infant beds.
Drennen has been a valuable resource to the public, medical community and the government on the importance of educating women about the effects of drugs on newborns, even helping to pass legislation to require reporting of newborns testing positive for illicit drugs to Child Protective Services.
And she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“People always ask me when I’ll retire, and I always say 10 years,” she said. “But I’ve been saying that forever, and I’m still saying it. I don’t think there’s any place I’d rather be than here.”
Drennen was selected for the Stand on a Better World Award by a panel of judges, including world-famous athlete Billie Jean King, Emmy award-winning “20/20” correspondent Deborah Roberts and 2006 Stand on a Better World recipient Olga Murray. Drennen will be honored at an awards ceremony Nov. 15 in Wilmington, Del., where one of the three recipients will be chosen as the grand-prize winner, receiving $25,000 to be donated to her chosen charity. The other two winners will receive $10,000 to be given to their chosen charities.
Contact Daniel Mooney at 253-437-6012 or dmooney@reporternewspapers.com. -->

Stem Cell Research

Okay so I have to write a paper for my child development class and I am in need of some help on this. The topic when is a life a life? Where I have to also discuss if I am okay with stem cell research. I am pretty sure I am against it for a few reasons. But I tried to look up on line the first few days of development and there isn't much out there.
What I am asking is if you could just write your views on this and I will see if I can make since of all of this in my head for my paper.

Thanks for your help.