SALEM — North Shore Medical Center envisions a future with better care for victims of sexual assault.
The hospital, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, launched its new sexual assault treatment program Wednesday. Called TeleSANE, the system will couple with the hospital’s state-of-the-art facility to virtually connect medical staff with offsite, trauma-informed experts using live video technology as they treat patients in real time.
“I think it’ll be huge,” said Lynn YWCA Rape Crisis Center director Nina Goodwin, who helped bring the program to NSMC. “They haven’t had a SANE nurse here at North Shore for a while, so having (professionals with experience) in these cases to help with examinations here is huge.”
SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) nurses are often considered crucial when it comes to providing care to sexual assault victims. Nurses with the certification are required to complete 48 hours of specialized training and are familiarized with aspects of assault care, including information gathering and evidence collection, that might be uncharted territory for other medical workers.
NSMC currently has 16 nurses trained to participate in the program.
“(SANE experts) will work closely with community organizations in the region to ensure that all of the touchpoints our patients encounter, from the hospital to the rape crisis center and so on, are working together to provide a system of care that supports patients of sexual assault and trauma,” said the hospital’s emergency department director Sabrina Federico.
The new center is equipped with two private session rooms with auxiliary lighting and sound dampening panels to provide patients with utmost privacy. Both rooms are also outfitted with all the tools SANE nurses need when working on an in-person case.
Elisabeth Nash Wrenn says bringing the program to the North Shore is a project 10 years in the making. When she worked at a rape crisis center in the late 2000s, the HAWC Social worker often heard from survivors who said they didn’t have access to adequate post-assault care.
“Working with the Department of Public Health, we knew this was the only area that didn’t have a SANE site in the entire state,” she said. “For the last decade-plus, the onus has been on the survivor to get themselves to Boston for care, and we just know that’s not trauma-informed.”
By opening a new treatment center in an area lacking in this kind of specialized care, Goodwin and Wrenn both said they hope the program will reduce the number of obstacles victims face when it comes to seeking medical attention after an assault.
“It’s a huge reduction in access barriers,” Wrenn said.
Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll was vocal about her support of the hospital’s introduction of the TeleSANE program, and said she wanted victims to know they had the community’s support.
“As a city that has a young population and is home to a university and is an active, vibrant place, despite our best efforts to keep people safe, we know sexual assaults still occur,” she said.
“This is a vital service that’s been missing in Salem and the North Shore region that we’re now going to be able to address.”
