A variety of services for women with pregnancy-related depression is now available in a new facility at West Penn Hospital, the dream of a McCandless man who lost his wife to the condition and those he inspired who want individualized care available to every woman.
West Penn patient Tishla Jones of Lincoln Place said she found herself feeling overwhelmed and distancing herself from others, including her older children, after the birth of her fourth child, now 10 months. She was referred by her obstetrician to be screened for depression and said she has benefited from the expanded services at The Alexis Joy D’Achille Center for Perinatal Mental Health at the Bloomfield hospital. It held its grand opening Tuesday.
“It was good knowing I’m not going through this alone,” Ms. Jones said, praising the program of intensive outpatient care — a program of three hours a day, three times a week. It includes group therapy, mother-child bonding and stress relief techniques. Child care is offered for older children.
“They’re amazing,” she said, adding that women in her family never talked about problems that might arise with a new baby. “I chose group therapy and could bring my baby with me,” she said. She learned ways to bond with her baby, including infant massage, and said she’s shared some helpful techniques, such as mindfulness, with her other kids.
The 7,300-square-foot, $2.5 million facility has rooms for individual therapy and space for the intensive outpatient care. The ribbon cutting was aided by the center’s chief advocate, Steven D’Achille, who embraced the cause of better care after he lost his wife, Alexis. She took her own life six weeks after the birth of her daughter, Adriana, in 2013.
“Services at this center will be first class; it’s a center the rest of the country can follow,” Mr. D’Achille said. “Alexis wasn’t the exception to the rule. This happens every day in every city in America.”
Adriana, dressed in a golden party dress, started the event off with a “thank you” to the people who gathered in a sunlight-filled room in the new center. The D’Achille family’s experience illustrates the need to destigmatize depression, Mr. D’Achille said, and to raise awareness among health care providers. Seeking help, his wife went to seven facilities in 13 days and was turned away. She was not taken seriously.
“You lose hope,” Mr. D’Achille said, “Now it’s OK to not be scared, to describe how you’re struggling.” As a widowed dad, he discovered what many men may not know about raising a child:
“It’s not like the 1950s here. There’s so much stress, so much pressure. There are 150 things you do in the morning. There are 150 things you do before they go to bed at night.”
Alexis D’Achille’s mom, Nancy Micale, said she, like most mothers, didn’t share her own early parenting problems with her daughter. Now she believes women need to tell their stories.
“I realize this is my mission in life,” she said.
Mr. D’Achille had started a foundation in his wife’s memory and that led to efforts to raise awareness of postpartum depression and ultimately partnerships with Allegheny Health Network and Highmark Health. In addition to the Alexis Joy D’Achille Foundation, the new center was financially supported by the West Penn Hospital Foundation, Highmark Foundation, Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Staunton Farm Foundation and Pittsburgh Pirates Alumni Association. The child care is supported by The Pittsburgh Foundation and its donors, Jewish Women’s Foundation and Flexable, LLC.
Perinatal depression is underrecognized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates that 60 percent of women with symptoms are not diagnosed and half of those diagnosed are not treated. Since January 2017, AHN has seen 2,500 women for pregnancy-related depression; it expects to treat more than 2,000 women in 2019.
Another West Penn patient, Ashleigh Griffin, said she had to drive two hours from her home in Bridgeport, Ohio, to get the help she needed after the birth of her first child, a son now 5 months old. She had looked for places close to home, but was turned away. She had some symptoms during the pregnancy, but the anxiety and depression didn’t go away.
“I wanted to kill myself, but they told me they didn’t accept my insurance,” Ms. Griffin said. She recalled hearing about the West Penn program from her sister-in-law and headed there. She went to the three hours a day/three weeks outpatient program. It wasn’t easy; the baby cried in the car, but finally got accustomed to the drive, she said.
“That in itself was huge. It was bonding for the two of us,” she said. The intensive program taught her to read her baby’s cues, even as she discovered that no, he didn’t like the baby yoga.
“I knew, in coming, it was my choice,” she said, that she was a good mother, doing the best for her son.
“The patients come first,” Ms. Griffin said. “It’s holistic. ...I learned to deal with being a mother; I learned to deal with my OCD, and not let them rule our relationship. We were truly able to bond.”
She praised the individual attention from Sarah Homitsky, an AHN psychiatrist and medical director of the D’Achille Center. The center is also staffed by clinical psychologist Rebecca Weinberg, a pediatrician, a nurse practitioner, a nurse, a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed social worker and several licensed professional counselors. Another psychiatrist will join the group in 2019.
Each woman is treated individually, but the goal is the same, according to Dr. Homitsky.
“A healthy mom is a healthy baby,” she said. “There’s never a simple solution. We weigh risks and benefits. … Not everybody in intensive outpatient is on medication.”
In the five years since his wife’s death, much has changed, Mr. D’Achille said.
“In 2013, Pittsburgh was the same as any other city. I think now it’s the safest city for moms.”
Jill Daly: jdaly@post-gazette.com
First Published: December 18, 2018, 10:32 p.m.
