For twenty-one years of my professional life, I worked as a forensic nurse,
providing sexual assault services to both child and adult victims of sexual assault.
providing sexual assault services to both child and adult victims of sexual assault.
In April of 1990, the city and county of San Francisco sent a group of nurses
to Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, California where two pioneers in the field,Sherry Arndt and Sandra Goldstein provided a forty hour course teaching us
the specifics of adult evidence collection and the myriad components of sexual
assault care. We heard from advocacy, the crime lab, law enforcement, attorneys,
judges, and victims themselves. It was all a bit overwhelming, to say the least.
What was even more overwhelming were the statistics. On the RAINN
( Rape and Incest National Network ) website today, I read the following:
every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. 60% of
sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Approximately 2/3 of
assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.
When I began doing the work, nurses were relatively new in the business
of providing sexual assault care. In 1992, I was one of a group of 72 nurses
that met in Minnesota to form the International Association of Forensic
Nurses. Today that organization has over 3000 members in 24 countries!
Partly because of the work of that organization, the American Nurses
Association officially recognized forensics as an official nursing speciality
in 1995.
In spite of setting standards and ongoing education, providing care to
victims of sexual assault is still very difficult. Why is that? In no other area
are victims of crime treated so horribly. A rape victim's credibility is met
with doubt when she reports. She is often made to feel at fault for what
happened to her. "Why were you wearing that short skirt?" "How come
you were out till 2AM?" "You had HOW MANY drinks?"
There is a wonderful organization which has always been a tremendous
help to me: EVAW ( End Violence Against Women International )
http://www.evawintl.org/. According to their website, their purpose it to
change our response to sexual violence. EVAW International focuses on
connecting professionals and strengthening the community’s response system.
They bring together the many diverse professionals who respond to victims of
violence against women — to communicate, share, learn — and ultimately to
strengthen the whole system by better understanding each component. All of this
collaborative work is focused on creating a more compassionate response for the
victim, a more aggressive prosecution of the perpetrator, and a more secure
environment for communities everywhere.
EVAW has mounted a new campaign called "Start By Believing"! You may
not be aware of it but we all probably have a friend or relative, female or male
( yes, men can be raped ) who is a victim of sexual assault. Be aware and be
enlightened. Your support and understanding can make a world of difference
to a victim. Check out the "Start By Believing" website at:
http://www.startbybelieving.org/ or check out their site on Facebook and do
what you can to support their efforts to stop this most violent of crimes.
I am participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday - check out the site and
add your post to join in!
