Local News in Brief : U.S. Grant to Aid Ailing Newborns
A new treatment program for newborns exposed to alcohol, drugs and the virus that leads to AIDS was announced Friday at Charles Drew University.
Funded by a $425,000 federal grant, the program will focus on medically fragile infants who often show severe developmental delays and psychological and neurological problems.
The program will be based in part at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in South-Central Los Angeles and at university-run child development centers.
Sydney Olson, assistant secretary of health and human services, announced the grant for the program, which will provide medical treatment to 30 infants at a time and social and job counseling and medical and nutrition care for the parents.
The grant marks the first time the federal Department of Health and Human Services has funded a program aimed at infants suffering from exposure to all three maladies, according to Bill McPherrin, a spokesman for the department.
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