A3
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2022
Shortage: ‘We only have a handful of nurses who are trained to do this’
Continued from Page A2
wanted to address eight-hour wait times
for exams at local hospitals and improve
the low reporting rates for sexual assault.
They launched the Jackson County
Sexual Assault Response Team, a non-
profi t that educates and trains nurses to
contract to hospitals.
“We decided the gold standard would
be a strictly on-call program that would
respond to the hospitals, but was not asso-
ciated with the hospitals,” Moen said.
T he response team employs between
13 and 16 nurses at a time, allowing for
24/7 on-call coverage with response times
under 30 minutes in Jackson C ounty. The
program recently expanded to Josephine
C ounty .
N urses are typically on call for 48 hours
a month . Moen said she limits burnout by
paying well and giving nurses suffi cient
time off .
“I’m paying somebody to sit around
and wait for a phone call that might never
come. That’s a really hard thing for folks
outside of these systems to understand. I
mean, our program is about $220,000 a
year. That’s a huge amount of money,” she
said.
The majority of the response team is
funded by grants, foundations and dona-
tions, including money from the Victims
of Crime Act.
“I would hope that programs coming in
now would be able to actually get the hos-
pitals to provide the majority of the fund-
ing. Unfortunately, I didn’t know better
when we started, so my pitch to the hos-
pitals was, ‘O h, this won’t cost you any-
thing,’” she said.
The response team does an average of
11 exams a month.
Before the program launched, around
40% of survivors who came to hospitals
reported their assault to law enforcement.
Now, that rate ranges between 85% to 95% .
“Having that fi rst contact of the system
be somebody who can walk into that room
and say, ‘I’m really sorry, and I’m here just
for you,’ and answer all of their questions,
and give them reassurance that they’re
OK , and get the medications and get them
resources and connect them to whatever
they need afterwards, it is so crucial.
“I truly think it makes a huge diff erence
in how the rest of their journey unfolds.
Just kinder, gentler fi rst contact,” Moen
said.
Powell, who works with the attorney
general’s sexual assault task force , said
s he’s not sure if a similar program would
be realistic on the North Coast given the
region’s staffi ng challenges.
“It would be nice to have, in each com-
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
A sexual assault nurse examiner cart contains materials to gather evidence.
munity, a couple of SANE nurses who
could travel to other hospitals. Some-
one who’s in Columbia County, some-
one who’s in Clatsop County, someone
who’s in Tillamook County, that if they are
available and they would have a network
to communicate,” she said. “Just so the
patient doesn’t have to drive, that would
be ideal.”
While more robust state and grant fund-
ing would be benefi cial, Powell said hos-
pitals are in the most immediate position
to address the issue. She recognizes that
many smaller, rural hospitals have budget
constraints.
“So it kind of puts a little bit of weight
on the ethics of it,” she said. “Ethically, we
need to take care of these patients in our
community and these survivors, and so,
are we willing to put funding there as kind
of a charitable aspect of the hospital?”
‘It’s something
the community needs’
The Harbor, hoping to increase the
number of sexual assault nurse examin-
ers , has applied for a $750,000 federal
grant from the Offi ce on Violence Against
Women to train midwives at the Astoria
Birth Center.
The nonprofi t will fi nd out this fall
whether it will receive the grant .
Local hospitals have been making an
eff ort to improve availability. Three nurses
at Columbia Memorial and two nurses at
Providence Seaside are training to become
certifi ed .
“The (s exual a ssault n urse e xaminer)
program at Providence Seaside has a for-
mal connection to, and the support of,
the Providence m edical f orensic p rogram
based in Portland to ensure access to ongo-
ing training opportunities and 24/7/365
telephone consultations with a goal of
increasing access to sexual assault services
within our community,” Mike Antrim, the
communications manager for Providence
Seaside, said in an email to The Astorian.
Casseopia Fisher, a nurse supervisor,
is in training for certifcation at Columbia
Memorial.
Working as a supervisor , Fisher said
she saw the need and decided to help
despite knowing the intensity .
“It doesn’t feel to me like it’s hard to
necessarily hear these sometimes very sad
and potentially frightening stories as long
as I feel like I could come into that situ-
ation and make a diff erence in and help
improve it,” she said.
Fisher started by taking the national
40-hour online course while recovering
from a minor surgery in 2018 . Since then,
she has taken the state s exual a ssault t ask
f orce’s week long course and built experi-
ence under mentorship.
While training at Columbia Memorial,
Fisher can collect evidence kits, but can-
not do the pelvic exam, which is often the
most uncomfortable for patients. If a survi-
vor chooses to have one performed , which
can sometimes be benefi cial for building
a criminal case, Fisher must ask a physi-
cian to do it.
“We have really great physicians at the
hospital, and they’re all very compassion-
ate people. But sometimes it’s diffi cult if
I’ve just been working with somebody for
a really long time and we’ve built some
trust together for me to bring somebody
else into that to do what is oftentimes the
most diffi cult piece of the exam,” she said.
When she collects evidence kits, Fisher
lets survivors know that every part is
optional. She gives recommendations , but
asks for consent every step along the way.
“The biggest, most important thing that
I want people to know is that they’re in
control. Because they’ve just experienced
something where they didn’t have con-
trol, and giving that back to them is prob-
ably the most important thing I can do,”
she said.
Certifi cation requires an average of
16 hours a month in relevant practice,
court observations and meetings with
law enforcement, the d istrict a ttorney’s
offi ce and advocacy organizations . It also
requires demonstrating competence as
outlined by the hospital. With the coun-
ty’s low reporting rates for sexual assault,
it can be diffi cult to get training within the
community.
Dr. Regina Mysliwiec, the e mergency
d epartment d irector at Columbia Memo-
rial, who is also on the sexual assault nurse
examiner certifi cation board, said budget
and burnout are the biggest obstacles to
local availability .
“These survivors of assault are coming
to the department on their own, or they’re
being brought in by police. They’re trau-
matized. They just want it all to go away.
They want it to be over. And then what
we have to do is fi nd a way to take care
of them as quickly as possible. And limit
the trauma as much as possible,” Mysli-
wiec said. “But we only have a handful of
nurses who are trained to do this process.”
Fisher was the nurse who collected
the two evidence kits taken at Columbia
Memorial so far this year. She was called
in a third time, but the patient left before
she could get there several hours later.
“I personally have had to call Cassie in
to do these exams just after she fi nished
working. I imagine her sitting down to
have dinner with her family and then just
picking up the phone,” Mysliwiec said.
“It’s asking a lot, but it’s something the
community needs.”
WINDERMERE REALTY TRUST
The Harbor would like to say thank you to all the
donors who made this year’s Soup Bowl a success!
Because of your generosity, we can continue to offer
our services for free to survivors of domestic and
sexual violence in Clatsop County.
Smith Lake Frontage
The Prefect & Private Gearhart Opportunity
Great Gearhart Location
92161 Ridge Rd, Warrenton
415 Spruce Ave, Gearhart
461 Woodland Ave, Gearhart
Pam Ackley (503) 717-3796
$629,000
Jenny Frank (503) 440-1973
$625,000
Barbara Maltman (503) 717-2154
$695,000
Thank you to Richard Rowland, Master Potter and
his team of volunteers for 20 years of support, none
of this would be possible without you!
Thank you to our sponsors:
Platinum Sponsors: Astoria Granite Works, Fort George
Gold Sponsors: Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation,
Cannon Beach Vacation Rentals, First Presbyterian Church
Oceanfront Cape-Cod Style Townhome
1/12 Share Stylish Townhome
Oceanfront in Seaside
The Cottages Condo, Gearhart
132 E Surfcrest Ave C1-K, Cannon Beach
Beach Club Condo #305, Seaside
Melissa Eddy (503) 440-3258
$995,000
Karen Meili (503) 440-5806
$90,000
Karen Meili (503) 440-5806
$425,000
Silver Sponsors: Thrivent, Marilyn Lane, Ph.D., Columbia
River Bar Pilots, Martin North, Watershed Wellness, Seaside
Attorneys, Providence Seaside Hospital
Bronze Sponsors: Osprey Café, Cannon Beach History
Center and Museum, Sea Breeze Restaurant, Joe DiBartolomo
Law Office
With Special Thanks to All of the Following:
TPaul’s Supper Club, Hallmark Resort and Spa Cannon Beach,
Red Chair Woodworkers, Mo’s Restaurant, Blue Scorcher
Bakery and Café, A Gypsy’s Whimsy, Green Door Café, Terra
Stones, Sea Gypsy, Reclamation Market Place, Emerging
Phoenix Studios, Buoy Beer, Cloudy Day Candle Co.,
Wayfarer Restaurant, Cannery Pier and Spa, Bowline Hotel,
Astoria Fire Department, The Merrytime/Labor Temple, Brut
Wine Bar, Gizmo’s Arcade and Eatery, Newman’s at 988,
Highlands Golf Club, Don Nisbett Gallery, Icefire Glassworks,
Finn Ware, Bill Fornas, Columbia River Maritime Museum,
Finn’s Fish House, Blaylock’s Whiskey Bar, Carruther’s
Restaurant, Lower Columbia Bowl, Sahara Pizza, Seaside
Aquarium, Child’s Play, Doe and Arrow, Street 14 Café,
Tongue Point Job Corps, Fred Meyer, Busu’s, Fede of Astoria,
Good to Go, Judith Nyland Gallery, Peter Pan Deli, Astoria
Co+Op, Naked Lemon, North Coast Food Web, Jane Dunkin
and Clatsop County Volunteers, Stacey Brown, Jeany Birdeno,
and to David Frei our Emcee.
Unique Creative and Private One-of-a-Kind! Vivacious Views Beachfront Home!
Remodeled Oceanview
39011 Hwy 30, Astoria
1338 Pacific Dr, Cannon Beach
3755 Coho Place, Cannon Beach
Jackie Weber (503) 440-2331
$575,000
Jackie Weber (503) 440-2331
$2,999,999
Michele Johnson (503) 440-0921
$799,999
Ocean View Overlooking Seaside
Ocean View Cape Cod
Warrenton’s Newest Subdivision
2155 Middle Fork Circle, Seaside
3159 Sunset Blvd, Seaside
1190 Bugle Ave, Warrenton
Craig & Dana Weston (503) 738-
2838
$799,000
Tim Regan (503) 738-2419
$999,000
Pam A., Tim R., Jackie S. (503) 739-3700
$629,000
Gearhart Office
588 Pacific Way, Gearhart
503-738-8522
Cannon Beach Office
255 N Hemlock, Cannon Beach 503-436-1027