Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., recently visited Lehigh Valley Hospital to discuss newborn opioid dependency and a recent law seeking to find solutions to the problem.

Casey urged people to come together on the issue regardless of political positions.

“We all must be summoned by our conscience to do something, not just about the larger challenge of addiction and opioid abuse, but in particular what happens to newborns.”

Casey focused on the rising epidemic of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.

The number of infants affected by the disease has increased 300 percent over the last 15 years.

Researchers estimate one baby is born dependent on drugs and suffering from withdrawal every 25 minutes.

According to Migdalia Resto, MD, LVHN neonatologist, newborns with NAS suffer seizures, excessive crying, diarrhea, vomiting and issues associated with sleeping.

The time for newborns to withdraw safely from opioids can be up to six months, leading to long and expensive stays in hospitals.

Casey highlighted a bipartisan agreement with Republican Majority Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in which they banded together to get legislation passed to help alleviate the problem.

“Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015”, was signed into law by President Barack Obama last November.

The law directs Sylvia Matthews Burrell, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to review departmental planning related to NAS and to develop a strategy to address gaps and overlaps in existing federal programs.

The secretary is also directed to develop recommendations for preventing and treating mothers and newborns dealing with opioid dependencies, as well as how to prevent women of reproductive age from using opioids.

Casey also focused on the general challenge of opioid abuse itself, citing the recent Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act as a step in the right direction toward this issue, even though it has yet to receive funding due to bipartisan deadlock.

“We need to get people in both parties to agree to allocate and appropriate at least the $600 million I and others voted for,” Casey said.

“It’s what the treatment professionals are asking us for. It’s what the law enforcement professionals are asking us for.”