Springfield Police Department (SPD) officers arrived at the Quality Inn on 3350 Gateway Street to assist on a welfare check of a 28-year-old woman and her 6-month-old baby boy at about 7 p.m. on Monday.

When officers entered the room they found the mother was dead and the baby boy in a stroller. Heroin was also found.

An SPD Facebook post shared on Wednesday read: “Upon entry into the motel room, a 6-month-old boy was found strapped into a stroller car seat. He was virtually unresponsive.”

Police said the baby was rushed to Riverbend Hospital and was then quickly transferred to Doernbecher Hospital at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland for life-saving treatment.

The police statement continued: “During the course of their investigation, officers found the mother deceased from an apparent overdose. They recovered what is now considered a non-criminal user amount of heroin in the room. The investigation revealed the overdose had happened days prior and the 6-month-old boy had been in the stroller for four days.”

According to the SPD, the baby was suffering from severe dehydration, malnourishment and severe diaper rash when he was found.

An update shared on Wednesday afternoon said the baby’s condition had “improved dramatically” and the hospital was in the process of working to discharge him.

The SPD recommended people who suffer from addiction or know someone struggling with addiction to check CAHOOTS and call 541-726-3714 for services.

Newsweek has contacted the SPD for comment.

According to Oregon Health Authority (OHA), hundreds of people in the state die of overdoses each year.

The public health division said while its mortality data for 2021 was not complete, between January and August that year 473 people died of an opioid overdose.

It also said in 2020 the number of unintentional opioid overdose deaths stood at 472 and there were 280 fatalities in 2019.

OHA said: “The number of opioid overdose visits to emergency departments and urgent care centers in 2021 was higher than 2020 and 2019.”

Newsweek has previously reported on cases where police and other authorities have found babies alone.

For example, a newborn baby was found alive on New Year’s Eve inside a cardboard box by the side of a road in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Police found a note with the child that indicated the parent who left the infant could not afford to feed him.