This story was reported and written by Radio IQ.
In some rural areas in Virginia, sexual assault victims have to travel long distances for care because there is a shortage of forensic nurse examiners.
These nurses are trained to treat victims of violence, including sexual assault and domestic abuse. Some treat children, as well as adults.
“It’s sad that our services are needed,” said Toni Helms, who’s worked as a forensic nurse examiner in the New River Valley for twelve years.
“You know, you just concentrate on the purpose of being here, which is just doing the very best we can for these victims. And trying to be a voice and an advocate for them, when they can’t be. And just trying to help give them their power back,” Helms said.
Forensic nurses are also trained to collect evidence that can help convict an abuser in court, though those services are optional, for adults. Helms said this time of year, they tend to see more patients.
“Fall is busy for us because of the two colleges in our area. We do see an uptick in our sexual assault cases,” Helms said. They also see more reported cases of child abuse, as students return to public school.
Helms works at Carilion Clinic, one of the few hospital systems in Virginia that has grown their forensic nurse examiner program in recent years. According Gleibys Gonzalez, Sexual Assault Forensic Services Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, there aren’t enough hospitals that have forensic nursing programs, and there’s a shortage of these workers. She added this may be in part because there isn’t much awareness or visibility about this nursing specialty. Training requirements vary, but most programs include 40 hours of classroom training, as well as clinical training.
Resources:
- Virginia directory of forensic nurse examiners
- Overview of training to become a forensic nurse examiner
- National Domestic Violence hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
- Virginia Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-552-7096.
- Love is Respect.org
- Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance
