My Three Year Blogaversary - September 23, 2012

Little did I know I would still be blogging three years after my first effort -

now would I ever have imagined I would be writing from India!  My 21 year
nursing position with the city and county of San Francisco had ended in
February of that year because of massive budget cuts to the Department
of Public Health.  I was 64-years-old and not happy to be plunged into
forced retirement.  Having specialized in forensic nursing for so long, 
there really weren't nursing options open to me.  To say I was pretty
depressed is a vast understatement.  I had always enjoyed writing,,
especially poetry, so I concentrated my efforts in that direction.  With
the help of a dear friend, Joanne Olivieri, aka Poetic Shutterbug, "Carmen's
Chronicles" was born.  Subsequently, Joanne helped me launch my 
first book of poetry, "Life's Journey" which is still available on Amazon.

The world of blogging opened up an amazing number of new friends for
me and I was surprised at the people who began following my blog - total
strangers from around the world, in addition, of course, to loyal friends,
colleagues and family.  I found I enjoyed reading other blogs, as well.  My
skills as a photographer improved vastly and I found it was fun shooting
other than genital injury and physical trauma!  When I decided to use my
last frequent flyer miles to visit Royal Caribbean crew friends in India this
past year, I also took the opportunity to meet  blogging friends from this 
incredible country.

So how long will I continue blogging?  Well, who knows?  Probably as long
as people are interested in reading what I have to say.  What was the content
of my first blog?  Well, it was about travel, of course.  See the link below if
you'd like to check it out!


http://rnsane.blogspot.in/2009/09/birthday-scenes-from-last-years-trip-to.html#links

Alphabe Thursday - "S" Is For Sexual Assault: Start By Believing - August 25, 2011

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.

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!



A Forensic Jaunt to Contra Costa County

Yesterday, I took the whole day off to play forensic nurse escort to a lovely journalist from Norway who is in San Francisco, with colleagues.  She writes for two nursing magazines in her country where they do not yet have forensic nursing and she wanted to know more about this speciality.  Her goal was  to see programs in our area and to possibly "shadow" a forensic nurse at work.  When she had no response to posted pleas for assistance, she contacted our International Association of Forensic Nurses and one of our Canadian board members contacted me.  I was able to enlist the help of a wonderful physician, pediatrician, Dr. James Carpenter, in Contra Costa County, where I was the SART Coordinator a number of years ago.  I picked Kari Anne up at 10AM and we made the fifty mile drive to Martinez.  It was an absolutely spectacular day and Highway 4 was green and glistening.  Kari Anne said she had spoken to her husband in Norway earlier and snow was knee deep at home so I'm sure she appreciated our marvelous weather.

We met Pat Tinker, the coordinator of the Children's Advocacy Center for Contra Costa County ( Pat formerly held the same position in San Francisco ) for lunch so she was able to acquaint Kari Anne with the role that agency plays in the forensic world.  From lunch, we went to Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and spent two hours with Dr. Carpenter who, as always, did a wonderful job of talking about issues relating to both child sex abuse and physical abuse.  He is a staunch supporter of forensic nurses and is the medical director of the adult SART program as well.  During my fifteen months as the SART coordinator, he was invaluable to me, both as a professional colleague and friend.

Kari Anne had many questions which we were happy to answer, then Dr. Carpenter took us on a tour of the SART room.  On the drive back to San Francisco, which was amazingly quick and minus any traffic, we continued to talk about forensic nursing.  The day made me all the more aware of how much I miss working in my speciality.  Even though I have much yet to do with the wedding on Friday evening, I wouldn't have missed this wonderful day for anything.  I always enjoy foreign visitors and sharing information about forensic nursing.  It was also wonderful to see two special friends, Pat Tinker and Dr. Carpenter.  They always come through for me whenever I ask and I cannot thank them enough.

Hopefully, it won't be long until there are forensic nurses in Norway and, if I ever have a chance to head that way, I can visit those programs!