Shuswap North Okanagan

The Families in Recovery (FIR) Program provides care for women who use substances and their newborns exposed to substances in a single unit.

FIR Square is a Combined Care Unit that provides care to women using substances and infants exposed to these substances. They assist substance-using pregnant and early-postpartum women achieve an optimum health to minimize the effects of alcohol, drugs, malnutrition, and neglect on themselves and their infants. They have five antepartum and six postpartum beds for women wishing to stabilize or withdraw from drug use during pregnancy. There is also a centralized nursery for babies in need of specialized treatment. They help women and their newborns stabilize and withdraw from substances, keeping mothers and babies together whenever possible and continuing to provide care from antepartum to postpartum and between hospital and community.

Women at Fir Square have access to counselling and instruction to enhance critical life skills, parenting techniques, and coping mechanisms. Babies receive specialized care that meets their needs if withdrawing from prenatal substance exposure to ensure the healthiest possible start. Babies room with their mothers on the ward.