Just when you start to think no one is listening, you hear from an amazing healthcare provider like Alison Palmer in New Hampshire. She sent a fantastic email about the work that she is doing at Elliot Hospital in Manchester.

They will be starting an Inpatient Postpartum Depression Risk Assessment program in May. An 11-item questionnaire will be distributed to every new mother after she delivers on the Maternity Unit. Those found to be in the moderate, high or immediate risk categoriesfor developing PPD will receive follow-up phone calls at home and also be offered visiting nurse visits. Additionally, a PPD support group is held weekly on the hospital's campus. They are hoping that the screening process and interventions they've set up will serve to prevent PPD as they are educating families and connecting them with resources BEFORE things have the chance to get out of control. They also hope that universal screening will help to take the sting out of the stigma of talking about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders because the program will encourage nurses and providers to help patients understand these illnesses are a common complication of childbirth. I wish Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta had done this for me!

Their program was inspired, by the way, by the work being done in Michigan by Spectrum Health. They used their PPD Program Development Toolkit to establish their own comprehensive program.

Alison also started a Perinatal Mood Disorder Taskforce in January comprised of healthcare providers, therapists, visiting nurses, and hospital staff in Southern New Hampshire to work together on addressing maternal mental health issues. May will be PPD Awareness Month in New Hampshire, and Alison has all sorts of plans to do outreach in the area.

Alison and Elliot Hospital, you will be heroes to the women you will undoubtedly help with this caring and comprehensive new program. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I know if I lived in Manchester, Elliot Hospital would be the place where I'd want to deliver my baby.

For more on the topic of universal screening for PPD, click here.