I would like to suggest to those of you in private practice to keep a list of emergency phone numbers (hospitals, mental health facilities, social workers and so on) within easy reach. It could save someone's life. A woman (whom I didn't know) called me 7:00 a.m .on a weekend requesting a housecall "right away." Within a few minutes I realized that this woman was in serious trouble. Two weeks pp, she told me "she couldn't take it anymore" and has left the house (baby left alone) a number of times in fear. The mother was quite hysterical and spoke so rapidly it was difficult to understand. What I could pick up was that I was speaking to a young, first time mother who is sleeping very little, obessively cleaning all night. The baby is having feeding difficulties and "cries all the time." There is a lack of support and/or fear of her husband. Her family lives far away. There are severe mood swings, she can't can't keep down food and it sounded to me like she was suffering anxiety attacks. While I was trying to calm the mother to obtain info where she lives so I could send help, she began to scream that she is going to hurt herself and the baby. I told the mother that I am going to help her and not to hang up. On the other line, I called the municipality emergency line. After explaining the situation, they transferred me right away to the social worker on duty. To make a long story short, we were able to locate the mother and social services got there in time. The woman is hospitalized suffering from severe pp depression. The social worker told me she was losing reality and we could have had a real tragedy on our hands. Although I've gotten calls in the past from distressed mothers, I never thought something of this magnitude could ever happen to me. Someone's life is in danger and you need to act, FAST. There's not a lot of time to think about where your resources are. I know in the States, there is a general emergency line (911.) I hope one day there will be one here as well, but until then, its worth being prepared. Susan Nachman-Srebrnik, IBCLC Ranana, Israel *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html