DATE: Monday, March 17, 1997                TAG: 9703170039

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   70 lines

POLICE, NURSES COMBINE EFFORTS TO HELP SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS

Detective Joyce L. Williams slipped behind the wheel, grateful that this would be different from every other time she had taken a rape victim to the hospital.

No more long waits in a crowded emergency room. No longer would the victim be separated by a thin curtain from the moaning and groaning of the sick and injured. No more interruptions by one emergency after another.

And victims have the assurance that another woman can conduct their examinations. Often, women are uncomfortable being examined by a man in this situation.

Thanks to a new program at Chesapeake General Hospital, victims now are treated quickly, privately, with special equipment - and best of all, by a woman if they prefer.

``The most frequent question I hear is, `Is a man going to examine me?' '' said Williams, a police officer for a dozen years and a detective for nearly nine.

Suffolk Police joined the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program in February, two months after the hospital started the innovative approach to treating sexual assault victims. Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach police also are participating.

Norfolk Police will join a program being developed by Sentara. Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News started SANE in December.

Recently, when Williams escorted a 9-year-old girl to be examined, she knew the drive to Chesapeake would be worthwhile. SANE guarantees that a nurse will see victims within 30 minutes, about the time the drive would take. The exam usually takes no more than two hours.

The detective has sometimes waited with a victim for as long as eight hours in an emergency room.

``The victim is already physically and emotionally exhausted,'' she said. ``And that's time we've lost to investigation.''

Chesapeake's SANE nurses trained for six months. Their examinations are more comprehensive than emergency room teams can perform. They use special equipment that detects minute vaginal cuts, tears and scratches, and they photograph the injuries as forensics evidence. They also detect any tissue that's been rubbed raw by using a special dye.

The nurses provide crisis intervention and follow-up contact after the victim's release, and they will testify at trial.

Nine nurses rotate shifts to provide 24-hour coverage seven days a week. And while one of the nurses is a man, victims may opt for an exam by another nurse, said Helen B. Fulp, the program's coordinator.

And a male nurse is often helpful in examining suspects and male assault victims, she said.

The exam cost - $500 for an adult and $550 for a child - is paid by the state through the local commonwealth's attorney's office. But if a complaint is unfounded, the hospital will bill the ``victim.''

SANE started in Amarillo, Texas, and Minneapolis in the late 1970s. In 1991, Fairfax Hospital was the first to adopt the program in Virginia. Since then, the sexual assault conviction rate has greatly increased in the Northern Virginia localities served by the program, said Sue Brown, SANE director in Fairfax.

Lt. Wylie R. Bunker, who heads Suffolk's detective bureau, is optimistic about SANE.

``The level of evidence we're getting and the victim care is incredible,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

Detective Joyce L. Williams of the Suffolk Police Department says

the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program at Chesapeake General

Hospital treats victims quickly and helps investigators gather

evidence. KEYWORDS: SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS SUFFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu