I am a contract employee at a community hospital. I wrote a proposal to the hospital board and submitted it through the Head Nurse Manager on Maternity, who was very supportive of the program. Originally, I worked there 10 hours a week doing inservice training for nurses and seeing anyone who was breastfeeding on the floor. Now that we have gone to 24 hour discharge in NY, I do mostly follow ups. I call everyone who has delivered at the facility who is breastfeeding and check on how things are going. If things don't sound right, they can come in and see me. There is no charge for one visit. At this point in time we have no mechanism for charging a woman for a follow up visit so I usually don't tell anyone and see her anyway. (Don't tell anyone-this is our little secret. You, me and the hundreds of others who read this). I also see anyone in the hospital who is having problems that the nurses can't help with-or if the nurses are just overwhelmed and don't have the time. Another service I provide is a breastfeeding support group which, as of yet, has not taken off. The original proposal explained to the "powers that be" that it is far less expensive to pay me than to deal with a lawsuit. This came on the heels of the you-know-what newspaper scandal and following TV program using the same scare tactics. So they aggreed and I work there as a consultant 12 hours a week. I work for WIC the other 18 hours a week. This has it's drawbacks (few supplies, follow-up difficulties, no taxes taken out of my pay, and no benefit-to name a few) and it's benefits (I have a change of scenery every day, I work enough regular hours for my liking and I do eventually get paid), but it's ok for now. If you'd like to discuss this more, email me privately. I'd be happy to help you in any way I can. Lacnettingly- Barbara Leshin-Zucker, IBCLC Highland Mills, NY (WHERE???)