Sexual assault examinations return to Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) For the last three years, survivors of sexual assault in Santa Cruz County had to travel to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose to receive their rape examinations. Starting in late August, a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) center opened on the campus of Dominican Hospital.
“[Survivors] don’t decide not to report because of that, but it's an extra barrier that gets in the way. To remove that is really great," survivor and Monarch Services advocate Delphine Burns said.
Burns said that she's been with a client for as long as 11 hours while waiting for the examination.
Advocates from Monarch Services said this provide survivors of sexual assault with a safe, confidential and local site to obtain this exam without traveling to another county.
Staffing is the reason there was no center in Santa Cruz, but now eight trained nurses will provide the examinations in Santa Cruz on the campus of Dominican Hospital.
The new examination clinic in Santa Cruz is not only closer, but the women's charitable organization Omega Nu says it's focused on making survivors feel more comfortable.
“We have blankets, cup of coffee or tea just something to take that burden or edge off," Omega Nu Watsonville chapter president Margo R. Flores said. "So you don’t feel like you’re waiting in an office or in a waiting room taking the clinical part out of it."
Every year there are 60 to 70 rape exams processed in the county.
Localizing the process also frees up time for Sheriff’s Deputies who typically drive the survivors to the clinic.
The Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office says you can still get the examination and choose not to have a criminal investigation.
“We will keep the exams indefinitely, but they don’t have to include law enforcement if they’re not ready,” spokesperson Ashley Keehn said.
During the pandemic Monarch Services advocates were communicating with survivors virtually, but now that exams will happen in Santa Cruz they will meet in person.
