Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Aug 11/00) - The battle to educate people about the damage caused by drinking during pregnancy is getting results.

Kathleen Smith, an occupational therapist with the Inuvik Health and Social Services Board, said she sees new levels of understanding about the problem.

Wide-ranging effects Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is not easy to define and its effects vary. Kathleen Smith, occupational therapist with the Inuvik Health and Social Services Board, explained that FAS results from a child being exposed to alcohol while in the womb. "The mother has had alcohol consumption while they're pregnant. That will affect the physical features of the child and it will also affect the brain function of the child," Smith said. "The physical features may or may not be obvious. The brain function comes out in their behaviour and their ability to do certain tasks. "It's not an easy definition, and there's no way of knowing to what extent a child is affected until they start to not grow and develop and do things as a normal child (would)." Smith said children affected by the syndrome tend to lag behind their peers, and that this lag grows larger over the years. She said they have difficulty learning. She said they are unable "to filter out all the extra noise and light and everything else that's going on in the classroom." On top of all that, FAS kids often have trouble sleeping.

She is also a member of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Working Group set up about 18 months ago, which consists of health and social services professionals employed by the board.

The working group's aims are to educate people to help prevent FAS, as well as helping to diagnose and support those who have to live with physical and mental impairment related to the syndrome. Exposing a fetus to alcohol can result in both mental and physical impairment.

"We have had several workshops in the past 18 months," Smith said.

The first workshop was in May 1999 and another was held last December. Smith said both were well attended and got people talking.

"For a long time, it's something that a lot of shame and a lot of blame (was attached to)," she said.

"The workshops have served to be a good reminder for everyone working in their own little organization that we are all in this community, and we have to have that communication between the different areas. And I think that's happening."

Last November, two FAS Working Group members attended a conference in Winnipeg. This led to a new connection between the Prairie provinces and the territories.

Smith pointed out FAS is not just a Northern problem, nor does it just affect poor people. She said no safe level of alcohol consumption is safe while pregnant.

"There's no level that's appropriate. If I have four glasses of wine and I'm pregnant, then my baby's drinking four glasses of wine, but it's a lot smaller than I am, (and) it handles the alcohol differently," she said.

"The supports have to be in place for the women, the education for their partners," she said. "I'm involved in a parenting workshop that's going to be set up through the Inuvialuit Settlement Region."

Smith said the working group is attempting to make it easier to evaluate children who may have FAS. She said the earlier a child is diagnosed, the better.

"If you've had damage to the brain during pregnancy, you can't change that. But what you can work at are these secondary disabilities," she said. "That would be self-esteem issues, troubles with stability in a family, (and) behavioral problems."

Other members of the group are Sharon Spinks, Amy Riske, Barb Lennie and Deborah Tynes.