Ascend Health opens Mother-Infant Outpatient Program to treat post-partum depression

Ascend Health Corporation, through Cedar Hills Hospital, announced the opening of the Mother-Infant Outpatient Program, the first in the Pacific Northwest region where new mothers can receive treatment with their children in a safe, caring and convenient setting.  Cedar Hills Hospital is a facility of Ascend Health Corporation.

Post-partum depression is a serious illness that affects one in ten new mothers in the United States.  Currently, no post-partum depression treatment program exists in the Pacific Northwest that brings the mother and infant together during the mother's treatment, a method shown to improve outcomes.  To meet the need for this specialized treatment, Cedar Hills Hospital developed the Mother-Infant Program in partnership with the Wildwood Psychiatric Resource Center, a premier treatment program.

"Removing the baby from the mother only deepens the depression for the mother and worsens the disease," says Nicole Harrington Cirino, M.D., Medical Director for the Mother-Infant Program at Cedar Hills Hospital. "The new Mother-Infant program alleviates that problem with a very new approach that builds upon the natural bond between the mother and child."

Dr. Cirino, also a staff member at the Wildwood Psychiatric Resource Center, was recently named by her peers as one of Portland's top psychiatric doctors in the January 2011 issue of Portland Monthly magazine.

Post-partum depression risk factors for new mothers include prior history of post-partum depression, bipolar disorder, a difficult labor or delivery, and/or a previous depression episode.