MA Gov’t and Tufts: No concern for rape victims
While I was on BARCC’s twitter account I saw a series of tweets that made my heart sink. For those of you who are Twitter-phobic, I will put what was written here.
MA advocacy needed: yesterday SANE line item suffered a devastating and disproportionate cut of 1/3 of their budget.
Please contact @massgovernor, Lt. Gov. Murray, and Secrerary of Exec. Office of Health & Human Svcs TODAY.
Tlking pts: This is line item 4510-0810. Affects SANE & rape crisis ctrs ability to provide 24-hour med advocacy to survivors
-30% in addition 2 $500k reduction already made this yr. @MassGovernor made commitment 2 “protecting & supporting the most vulnerable” in MA
Sexual assault survivors ARE the most vulnerable citizens and need and deserve expert, coordinated, effective, cost-efficient services
Last yr, MA Child Advocacy Ctrs served 6000+ kids w med/cnsling svcs & investigations of SA & severe phys abuse www.machildrensalliance.org
MA is only state w statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner prog. Last year, SANES provided svcs to 660 kids and nearly 1000 teens & adults
BARCC has 50+ volunteer medical advocates serving 7 SANE hospitals and dozens of non-SANE sites in Greater Boston
The 30% cut to the SANE line item puts all of these services in danger.
Looks like Tufts isn’t the only institution that doesn’t care about sexual violence survivors.
What is SANE?
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SANEs are RNs who have embraced the challenge to be technically skilled evidence collectors and who display sensitivity and acknowledge the patient’s dignity during every step of the examination.
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The SANE response may include a head-to-toe physical assessment (referrals will be made for serious injuries), a urine test for pregnancy, medications for emergency contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (limited exam), documentation of injuries including photographs and collection of forensic evidence (full exam).
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The SANE needs informed consent from the sexual assault patient. The patient must be able to understand, agree to, and sign for each part of the exam. The only exceptions to this are in the case of child abuse, mentally challenged patients, or elder abuse.
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A n immediate sexual assault exam should be done within 5 days of the assault for a 13 year old and older, or within 3 days of the assault for a 12 year old or younger. Generally, the sooner the exam is done, the better.
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An adult sexual assault patient does not need to file a police report to receive SANE services.
For contact info of the Governor you can go to his page here and fill out a form or write:
Boston, MA Massachusetts State House
Office of the Governor
Office of the Lt. Governor
Room 280
Boston, MA 02133Phone: 617.725.4005
888.870.7770 (in state)
Fax: 617.727.9725
TTY: 617.727.3666
And for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services:
Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, Secretary
One Ashburton Place
11th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Thanks to Tufts University’s really shitty sexual assault policy, there is nothing on campus for rape victims after an assault. Anyone raped on or near campus have to go to another hospital and specifically request to go to a SANE hospital because the one closest to Tufts does not have the SANE program. So this affects us, too. Yet another example why having resources ON CAMPUS is ridiculously important.
