Peninnah Kako sits in her office at the School of Nursing at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Kako helped design UWM’s new program for sexual assault nurse examiners. (Photo by Devin Blake)
By Devin Blake
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Victims of sexual violence are being connected to culturally competent care through a program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that trains and certifies sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANEs.
The program, which began in April, seeks to increase the number of SANEs – for the sake all victims of sexual violence but particularly people of color who have historically had issues with accessing appropriate health care.
Students of the program are at least already registered nurses upon entering and will receive certification to care for victims of sexual violence.
All about the patient
The needs of victims are varied, but one thing SANEs often stress is that care should be patient-centered and patient-led.
“Often, the loss of power and control can be the most difficult for the patients we see,” said Alison Lopez, a SANE working in the Milwaukee area. “For this reason, the foundation of SANE care is to assist in giving control back to the patients we care for.”
Within this framework, a SANE offers screening and prophylaxis, or preventative treatment, for sexually transmitted infections, HIV prophylaxis and emergency contraception.
Some initial physical needs, including pain management and acute traumatic injuries, are often treated in the emergency room before patients work with a SANE, Lopez said.
SANEs also are trained to address a patient’s emotional needs and to provide referrals to organizations and resources for ongoing support.
Graduates of the UWM program can work throughout Wisconsin as a SANE, but the program is focused on the most marginalized populations – Black, Brown and Indigenous people – said Peninnah Kako, associate professor at the UWM School of Nursing and program director of the SANE program.
These are the groups that “suffer the most sexual assault, and they tend to not access services,” said Kako.
For example, according to data analyzed by The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community, only about 6% of Black women who are raped report the incident. This rate is far lower than the rate for the country as a whole, where roughly 36% of rapes were reported from 1992 to 2000, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
“Routinely, if people experience sexual assault and they are from a community that is disadvantaged,” said Kako, “they may not have had access or been treated well within the realm of the health care system. … They might just decide not to go.”
An emphasis on cultural competence
This historical and structural reticence is why UWM went out of its way to create a curriculum designed with cultural competence in mind. In fact, the program requires a greater number of course hours than the minimum certification requirements, in part, in order to give its students this training.
Although there are “fabulous SANE programs” in Milwaukee, “the problem is allowing survivors to feel safe in environments where they want to come,” said Jacqueline Callari Robinson, a research assistant at UWM and a SANE.
For instance, she added, someone in a majority-Black community may want to access services at The Asha Project because that’s the community-based service with which they are comfortable. If rape victims are near the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, those patients might want to use the services there.
“So, we need trained forensic nurses at every one of these areas,” Callari Robinson said.
And the nurses need to gain the trust of the victims they serve. “You can be the best forensic provider in the world. If survivors don’t trust you, they’re not coming to you,” Callari Robinson said.
For more information
Check out of the program’s website
Those in Milwaukee who would like to get care from a SANE can contact the Aurora Healing and Advocacy Services hotline by calling 414-219-5555 or texting 414-219-1551.
People also can contact: Aurora Sinai Medical Center; Froedtert Hospital Emergency Department in Milwaukee; and one of Ascension Wisconsin’s emergency departments in the metro Milwaukee area.