SAN ANTONIO – Reporting a sexual assault and receiving an exam can be terrifying, which is why it’s crucial that survivors have choices and control of their own recovery.
“They have experienced some of the worst things that a human can possibly experience,” said Rape Crisis Center Outreach Coordinator Lauren Aguillon.
After an assault, survivors often get a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exam. Now, they are able to choose where they get that exam.
Before November, when the new system went into effect, anyone who needed a SANE exam would have to go to Methodist Transplant and Specialty Hospital in the Medical Center, where there were SANE nurses on staff.
Survivors now have options across the city as long as the hospital they choose is within the major systems, including Methodist, University, Baptist or Christus. That does not include private urgent care or emergency rooms.
San Antonio Police Department officers and the Rape Crisis Center offers survivors rides to whichever hospital they choose.
“They can go to the hospital that they’re familiar with. They can go a hospital that is just in an area they’re familiar with,” Barnes said.
SAPD Special Victims Unit Lt. Rachel Barnes said an intricate collaboration made this possible, including:
- SAPD
- Texas Forensic Nurse Examiners (TXFNE)
- South Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC)
- San Antonio hospital systems
- Rape Crisis Center
The calls from either police or hospital staff go through a dispatch service called Medcom, which notifies on-call nurses and advocates.
The nurses are no longer stationed at a hospital but are part of a 24/7 on-call operation where the people working the shift are paged to a specific hospital to do the exam.
“Multiple victims can be seen at different hospitals at the same time, and they don’t have to wait,” Barnes said. “They don’t have to come back. They don’t have to be told they have to make an appointment, and that’s huge.”
STRAC coordinated with the hospitals to provide private areas for sexual assault survivors to wait and receive examinations.
Since the switch to the new on-call system, Barnes said she has seen a big difference.
“We do have an increase in the number of kits that we’re receiving, which is very exciting, because to me that means the process is working,” she said. “Now we’re seeing them pop up all over the city and it’s generally people stay close to home normally.”
Barnes said when survivors feel more comfortable, evidence is easier to collect.
“It makes it a lot faster for the victims to get services,” Barnes said. “It helps the cases move quickly through investigation, because we have all the information near the beginning, and it helps the victims to know that we care.”
Giving survivors a little bit of control after the trauma they’ve been through makes a big difference.
“It really allows them once again to redefine their healing journey and allows them to really take their power back,” Aguillon said.
Advocates want survivors to know getting a SANE exam doesn’t mean they have to make a police report.
The choices are up to the survivor, and they don’t have to make those choices immediately. The rape kits can be securely stored in a state facility in case a survivor decides to make a report down the line.
If you or anyone you know has been sexually assaulted, the Rape Crisis Center has a 24/7 hotline, with advocates ready to help at 210-249-7273.
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