WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has acquired a suicide-prevention phone from Dutchess County, N.Y. The phone is one of two installed on the Mid-Hudson Bridge in Poughkeepsie in 1984. Together they were the first to be placed at a known suicide-attempt spot and connected to a 24-hour help hotline. The Dutchess County suicide-prevention initiative was conceived by Kenneth Glatt, county commissioner of mental hygiene, in response to a high number of suicide attempts at the Mid-Hudson Bridge. The original phones, placed at police-identified locations on the north and south sides of the bridge, were low-power AC radio transmitters, ensuring maximum reliability. The opening of the case door activated a direct connection with mental health professionals at the county’s psychiatric emergency service. “This acquisition not only enhances our electricity holdings but also off