Trained sexual assault team to Hays
Hospital staff listened to community concerns at a forum in December
January 27, 2010 • Anne Bannister, Online Editor
Filed under News, Top Stories
Following a community-wide forum, organized by a team of leadership students from FHSU, the Hays Medical Center has decided to change course and provide certified nurses to care for sexual assault victims.
According to a press release, Jodi Schmidt, Vice President and Chief Development Officer of the hospital, said, “The Hays Medical Center hopes to have specially trained nurses in place within the next two or three months.”
“It’s wonderful to see Hays Med respond to a need that the community has identified,” Pam Pohly, a concerned community member, said.
Because of the difficulty for these specially trained nurses to maintain proficiency the local hospital hasn’t previously offered this service.
Thanks to the initiative of the leadership students the community has pushed for this change.
“We feel honored and proud to have had a hand in the success of this project,” one of the students, Erin Frownfelter, said. “It could not have been done without everyone’s help and we owe everyone a huge thank you. This situation really taught our team that simply organizing meetings and raising awareness can bring about a change in a community, and that anybody can make a difference.”
Present at the meeting were representatives of Hays Medical Center, local government, sexual assault victim advocates, concerned citizens, and several survivors of rape who described their experience.
The students’ main goal was to raise awareness and create a group to develop the best possible services for local rape victims
“The consequences for rape victims are very troubling,” Frownfelter said. “Victims in this area deserve every convenience any other patient would receive.”
Prior to Hays Med’s decision to supply a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), all they were able to provide a victim was a concoction of drugs to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
But to prosecute the attacker, previously the victim had to be driven to Salina to be examined by the SANE on call. Such a nurse is specially trained and equipped to collect the evidence that is crucial to convict a rapist.
At the meeting, one survivor of rape described being put in a police vehicle with a total stranger for the 90-minute drive to Salina. All she wanted was a shower and to curl up and cry, she said, but instead she had to sit in his fluids, still feeling his touch on her skin, for another hour and a half.
“I was then violated again,” she said, describing the necessary 6 ½ hour head to toe examination to collect evidence of the crime.
Her clothing was kept for further inspection so she was given a robe. On the ride home, she was struck with vomiting and diarrhea from the medication.
With SANE staffed here in Hays, this extended trauma will no longer be necessary for a victim to have hope of prosecuting.
“This is an important issue for teens to know about,” Samantha Butler, who works with the Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, said.
In the 18 counties of Northwestern Kansas there were a total of 66 sexual assault calls made to the Domestic and Sexual Violence Services in 2009. Of those, 21 were from victims under the age of 18. Twenty-two of total calls were from Ellis County alone.
The phone number for the Rape Crisis Center in Hays is 625-4202 or 1-800-794-4624. A response team can offer further support and direct assistance.
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