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.