DC hospital offers intensive treatment NBC4 Washington [Video]

For mothers struggling with their mental health, a new program in D.C. offers a lifeline.

The Mother-Baby Intensive Outpatient Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is the first of its kind in the region. Patients can get the help they need and take their babies with them.

Here’s how it works and how it’s already getting support from families who know postpartum depression first-hand.

It’s been almost 10 years since Fairfax County Officer Shelane Gaydos died by suicide. She was just 35. Two weeks before her death, she suffered a miscarriage as she expected her fourth child.

“Shelane was my oldest, my firstborn, and she was the light of my life,” her mother, Joanne Bryant, told News4.

Photos show Gaydos’ happiness with her three little girls. But her family had no idea how badly she was suffering after her miscarriage.

“Because she was a police officer, too, I think she kept a lot of that inside. She, you know, she didn’t want to …