04/23/07 (MI):
Nurses & Advocates Needed To Help Sex Victims
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Along with advocates to help sexual assault victims in crisis, nurses are needed to collect forensic evidence in such cases when the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner/Sexual Assault Response Team program begins in Lapeer County, MI. A final date has not yet been set. The program is designed to have a collaborative reaction to a sexual assault with the responding team comprised of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE's are Registered Nurses specially trained to care for victims, take forensic evidence and testify in a court case), hospital directors and administrators, sexual assault victim advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors and judicial members.
Joyce Baron, public health nurse administrator at the Lapeer County Health Department and vice-president of the newly formed SANE/SART Services of Lapeer County, said it takes a special kind of nurse to be a SANE.
"What I'm looking for are those special nurses out there, the ones who can remember why they went into nursing in the first place," said Baron.
The not yet operational program has formed a "skeleton crew." The steering committee working on its formation dissolved in March and formed the now 501C3 nonprofit. A board of directors was elected, and the group includes Baron, president Mike Hodges, chief assistant prosecutor; secretary Tracy Howard, former sexual assault services advocate for LACADA who now works as a social worker for the Maternal Infant Health Program at Lapeer County Health Department; and treasurer Peg Bush, a nurse who is also an instructor in Mott Community College's nursing program.
The group has been getting what nurses they do have signed on through the education process. Registration is in May for a June online training program. Forty hours of coursework including orientation is needed.
Required for the job are "special clinical skills, people skills and a special heart. And a lot of times throughout the course of their careers, that gets lost and this is a fantastic opportunity to get in touch with that," said Baron.
She and the other board members want six more nurses and eight to 10 advocates. Nurses will perform exams on victims, serve as expert witnesses and provide compassionate service throughout the harrowing ordeal.
Nurses will take turns on call and can split shifts as the service will operate 24 hours a day, seven days per week. The most needed shift to fill is between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., which would be ideal for a semi-retired or part time RN, said Baron.
Nurses should have three to five years experience in an acute care setting and a willingness to learn. "It is more the character of the nurse as a person than their professional credentials," said Baron. "We can build on their education."
Baron said SANE's will use high tech DNA testing so they can evaluate seminal fluid, also known as pre-ejaculatory fluid. That way, even in crimes where no sperm is left or a condom is used, a criminal's identity can be learned.
"Many never climax during or after the act," aid Baron. "It's not about the sex, it's dominance, power or control."
Nurses are paid for time on call and examination time. If called to court to testify, they will receive the expert witness fee. Part of the comprehensive program are victim advocates, who will work on a volunteer basis. They will be called to the scene by police or the hospital to support victims during the difficult process.
"They have to be empathetic and committed ... these positions aren't paid," said Cathy Strong, director of victim services for Lapeer County and chair of fundraising for SANE/SART Services of Lapeer County.
"The victim advocate is that person who is not a family member because they might have a hard time dealing with it themselves," said Strong.
"They're people who can be there for somebody else and be empathetic but far enough removed so they don't get personally involved and not help them as effectively," added Baron. In its totality, the program allows victims to get timely and continued support without judgment.
"They'll be able to have their needs met at the time the need is the greatest. The need is the greatest at the time when the victim is willing to talk about it," said Strong.
Baron and Strong understand advocacy can be emotionally draining, but "there is as much potential for it to be draining as there is for it to be so completely rewarding," said Baron.
Strong said the program's place in the county will result in more successful prosecution of crimes of sexual violence. Less victims will have to go through the experience of retelling the story of the incident in a trial, and will not be sent out of town for DNA testing previously unavailable in the county.
A growing problem in the county, 25 cases of sexual assault were prosecuted in 2006. Survivors contacted the Lapeer Area Citizens against Domestic Assault crisis line 83 times in 2003 but 220 times in 2004. Over the three year period of 2001-2003, an average of 100 sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement, increasing 67% between 2002 and 2003. According to Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, just 39% of sexual assaults are reported to police, and going with that statistic, there were 306 sexual assaults in 2003, for example.
Understanding the significance of the problem is part of getting the community to buy in, agreed Strong and Baron.
"I think it's very difficult for people to come to grips with that ... 'Not in my town,'" Strong said.
"You need to take these statistics and multiply by about three in your head," Baron added. It remains an underreported crime, she said.
"When you start a program like this you start bringing it out and it's right in everybody's face," she said. "You live in Lapeer County and want to think it's safe and it doesn't happen out here but it does. A few years ago we didn't think we'd have murders either. The program will empower survivors at the beginning of a long healing process, stated Baron.
"It's the beginning of a process where they might be confused and wonder 'where do I go from here?,'" You think you can push that into he back of you mind with until you deal with it, it will always be there.
"Having as program like this will make the community a safer place to live. It will send a message to the community that we're going to make this safer for you."
Interested parties can call Joyce Baron at (810) 245-5592.
Advocates can call Cathy Strong at (810) 667-0326.
Donations may also be sent to SANE/SART Services of Lapeer County, c/o Byron Konschuh, 255 Clay St., Lapeer, MI, 48446.
© X-Pro 2007
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