Cincinnati—The University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and The University Hospital have received a $96,400 grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati to expand the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program to Northern Kentucky. The grant will enable 40 nurses to be trained to care for women who are victims of sexual assault.

Sexual assault is the most rapidly growing violent crime and has been labeled the "silent violent epidemic" because of significant under reporting by the US Department of Justice. Sexual assault nurse examiners are specially trained forensic nurses who perform physical examinations, counseling, crisis intervention, and evidence collection for survivors of sexual assault. The SANE program establishes direct links with the local police departments and prosecutors for the purpose of successful prosecutions of this crime. Implementation of SANE programs across the country has improved the quality of care, evidence collection, court testimony, and prosecution rates. Since the implementation in Hamilton County by The University Hospital and the UC College of Nursing, reporting of sexual assaults has increased 22 percent.

Marilyn Sommers, PhD, RN, professor of nursing at the College of Nursing, and Linda Hutson, RN, director of SANE at The University Hospital, will direct this grant. The College of Nursing and The University Hospital maintain a joint Institute for Nursing Research.

The new SANE program will support care of sexual assault survivors, regardless of their insurance status, from examination to prosecution. The examinations will occur at the St. Luke Hospitals and St. Elizabeth Hospitals with follow-up care and advocacy through the Women's Crisis Center in Covington or Florence, Kentucky.

The Health Alliance is an integrated health care delivery system which includes The Christ Hospital, The University Hospital, The St. Luke Hospitals, The Jewish Hospital, The Fort Hamilton Hospital, and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care.