Can Access consume a WebService asynchronously???

[jay]

I am writing an Access 2003 application that consumes a web service (VB
..NET). I communicate with it through the class modules that Access creates
for you when you establish a web reference (Tools\Web reference ...). The
problem is that when I invoke these methods, Access hangs until the web
service responds (or worse, doesn't repsond).
I would like to be able to put in a call to the web service and regain
control in Access until the results are returned.
Can I do this? I'd really appreciate any help!
Jay