HUNTINGTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito had the opportunity Wednesday to see firsthand the effects drugs have on the youngest victims of the opioid epidemic during a tour of the Hoops Family Children's Hospital at Cabell Huntington Hospital and the neonatal intensive care unit.

"When you see the little babies, it really brings it home to you," said Capito, R-W.Va.

Capito supported the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which passed with bipartisan support in Congress earlier this year. Congress also increased funding for addiction and recovery generally in September, but Capito said lawmakers need to look at specific areas that require more funding when the appropriations process begins in January.

"When you have resources that are not growing in the federal government and at the state level, you've got to really pinpoint your resources to where you have success," Capito said. "You've got to be willing to cut certain programs off and initiate new ones. That's why it was useful for me to see this today, to see the innovative approach that they've taken."

In 2015, Cabell Huntington treated 90 per 1,000 live births, or 9 percent of births, for neonatal abstinence syndrome, which is a cluster of symptoms that affect babies in withdrawal from substance exposure in the womb.

The national average is 0.7 percent, said Dr. Sean Loudin, neonatologist and medical director at Lily's Place, which cares for drug-addicted babies.

In total, 420 babies were born at Cabell Huntington in 2015 with exposure to at least one substance, but Loudin said they are confident that number is actually more than 500 due to the false negative rate of umbilical cord testing.