The Forensic Nurse

Victims Assistance Services of WestCOP, Inc. in collaboration with Barbara Rome, RN, SANE-A will be providing a four-day, 40-hour Adult/Adolescent SANE training course based on the New York State DOH protocol, the National protocol and the IAFN standards for SANE education.

Victims Assistance Services coordinates the Westchester County SANE Program.  This training will take place at their main office in Elmsford from 8am-6pm, on January 28^th, 2010 through January 31^st, 2010.  If you are a RN, NP or PA interested in taking this training, in order to specifically work as a SANE in our county-wide program, please send a cover letter and resume via email to mlaaksonen@westcop.org or via fax to 914-345-3513 to the attention of Michele Laaksonen, Sexual Assault Program Manager I.    The training fee is $250.  The deadline for training registration is January 1^st, 2010.  Due to space limitations, we will be accepting a restricted number of applicants.   

 About the trainer:  Barbara Rome is an Assistant Professor at Westchester Community College and emergency room nurse and nursing supervisor at Northern Westchester Hospital.  She is a nationally and New York state certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and has been practicing as a SANE in both Putnam and Westchester County for over ten years.  Barbara has been called to testify in criminal trial and before the grand jury on numerous occasions.  She holds a Master of Science degree from Mercy College.  

Victims Assistance Services is a component of Westchester Community Opportunity Program Inc., a private not-for-profit, multipurpose social service agency dedicated to helping people and changing lives.

Victims Assistance Services (VAS) of WestCOP, Inc. coordinates the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program. The SANE has the responsibility to respond to any one of our nine participating hospitals in Westchester County to provide direct-services to victims of sexual assault, ages 12 and older. The SANE provides immediate, specialized, patient-centered medical care and performs comprehensive forensic medical examinations, including evidence collection, health-related education, and referrals; the SANE may also be called to testify in court as an expert witness regarding the quality of the evidence he/she collects, documentation, and the preservation and custody of physical evidence. The SANE utilizes an interdisciplinary approach through collaboration with hospital staff, advocates, law enforcement, and the DA’s office. The SANE will also attend mandatory continuing education trainings and case review meetings. 

Other Information About This Job:  SANEs will provide on-call services for at least three full shifts a month (shifts are weekdays and weekends, 8am-5pm or 5pm-8am) and commit to the program for a minimum of one year.  The nurses in our SANE program work in all different fields of nursing and choose to work as a SANE during their free time – in order to give back to their communities.  While they do receive a flat stipend per case, our SANEs volunteer their on-call time.  To apply for this position, please send a cover letter and resume via email to mlaaksonen@westcop.org or via fax to 914-345-3513 to the attention of Michele Laaksonen, Sexual Assault Program Manager I.   

For well over two hours outside a school gymnasium in Richmond, a 15 year old california girl was allegedly beaten and gang raped while a a crowd of approximately 20 people stood by and watched. The crowd managed to stand by and watch, snicker, and even “tweet” about the incident on twitter, the popular social networking site. Not one of them intervened or called the authorities to report the crime.

The reasoning behind why no one got involved gets a little more complex. Some say there was fear of repercussions from the gang conducting the rape and beating. Others say the crowd was overcome with what is known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect is when individuals in a crowd see that everyone else in the crowd is doing or not doing something, and that behavior becomes the accepted social norm. In essense, because no one else was doing anything, it must be ok for me to do nothing.

Some of you may remember the story of Kitty Genovese who was brutally raped, beaten, robbed, and eventually stabbed to death in Queens New York back in 1964. The story gained national attention when it was later revealed that several witnesses heard her scream during the attack during the night, and no one notified the police. One man shouted from his window to leave the girl alone, and the attacker fled, only to return a few minutes later when the police never arrived, and dragged her into a stairwell and stabbed her again leaving her to bleed out in a stairwell.

California has a law that makes it illegal to witness a crime against a child and not report it to police. But in this case technically the crowd did not violate the law which specifies that age of the minor child is 14 or less. The victim in the California gang-rape case was 15 years old.

  “This just gets worse and worse the more you dig into it,” Lt. Mark Gagan of the Richmond Police Department. “It was like a horror movie. I can’t believe not one person felt compelled to help her.”

To date the AP is reporting that five people have been arrested so far in connection with the crime. Three juveniles and two adults.  Richmond police spokesman, Lt. Mark Gagan said that  the three juveniles will be charged as adults. While the complete list of charges is not final yet, the suspects will be facing felony charges like “rape in concert” which can carry a life sentance.

The police were eventually notified when a person called in who had overheard others who were at the scene of the assault talking about the incident. The girl was found unconscious and “brutally assaulted” under a bench shortly before midnight Saturday 

Police have posted a $20,000 reward for anyone who comes to them with information that helps arrest and convict those involved in the attack.

TheForensicNurse.com is pre-releasing a program for fundraising groups looking to help create revenue to fund their local SANE/SART programs.

We realize that funding for programs are under more pressure than ever to come up with alternative ways to pay for services rendered. Thats why TheForensicNurse.com is working on trying to help programs find solutions as well as create our own solutions to help.

So please visit our Fundraising pages at:

http://www.theforensicnurse.com/fundraising

Often SANE programs go unnoticed and unpraised for their efforts. Most people would tell you that its not really polite conversation to talk about the needs for such programs.  

But the Chicago Tribune recently published an article about a SANE program in cook county. There is a phenominal qoute in the article by Tom Fleming Jr of the Park Forest Police department:

“We know that a SANE nurse who is trained in evidence collection has done the correct work for us,” he said. “Our goal is to not have a trial. Our goal is to get a confession from that offender. And we’re best equipped to do that with medical evidence. If we can do that, if we can get an offender to take a plea and not go to trial, then we’ve served that victim right at that very moment.”

Read the Full Article here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-sex-assault-treatment-sw-zon.ar0apr08,0,7944054.story

North Georgia College, on of the partners in the upcoming Adult SANE Training  at Northside Hospital Forysth in May 2009, is announcing another training opportunity.

Course: The Investigation of Mass Fatalities & Human Identification

When: March 16-17 2009

Where: North Geogia College campus

Overview: Topics to be covered will be mass fatality incident response, processing and management of mass fatality scenes, critical stress management for responders, human facial reconstruction, DNA applications for human identification, and forensic odontological identification methodologies.

Learn from experts who have worked at many major national and international disasters as they share their first-hand experiences and explain how this information can benefit you in your daily work.

Presenters:

Human Facial Reconstruction
Mary Manhein
Professor Mary H. Manhein will discuss the role of the forensic
anthrolopologist in a mass fatality event and the utilization of digital
resources in the identification of skeletonized human remains.
Manhein has handled more than 1,000 forensic cases and works with
law enforcement agencies all over the country. She is the author of
The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist and Trail of Bones.
Manhein has over 27 years of experience as a forensic anthropologist.
She is also the director of the FACES Lab at Louisiana State University,
director of the Louisiana Repository for Unidentified and Missing
Persons Information Program, and professional in residence at LSU.

Mass Fatality Incident & Scene Management
Cotton Howell
Cotton Howell will give insight into all facets of command and
control of mass fatality events. Howell has been deployed to
numerous recent disasters such as the floods in North Carolina,
Egypt Air crash, Alaska Air crash, the World Trade Center on
Sept. 11, 2001, the crematory incident in Georgia in 2002, and
Hurricane Katrina. He has been featured in the Discovery Channel
documentary on disaster response teams.
Howell is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and has been the
director of the York County (SC) Office of Emergency Management
since 1983. He is a registered nurse and a member of the
Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management
Agency, and the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, of
which he is the commander of DMORT Region 4.

Mass Fatalities & Post-mortem Dental Examination
Dr. Richard A. Weems
Dr. Richard A. Weems will discuss dental identification in a major
loss of life event. He will share his experience in conducting dental
identification at the site of the World Trade Center disaster.
Weems is a forensic odontologist and assistant professor of
dentistry at UAB. He has been a dental consultant to the Alabama
Department of Forensic Sciences since 1987. In this time, he has
investigated over 100 cases involving criminal human bitemark
analysis and victim identification through dental remains resulting
from homicide and accidental death.
Critical Incident Stress and PTSD
Dr. Grady Bray
Dr. Grady Bray brings over 30 years of experience to the lectern
regarding critical stress debriefing of police, fire, and emergency
workers at the scenes of mass fatality events. Additionally, Bray
possesses a unique expertise in the recognition and diagnosis of
PTSD in mass fatality workers.
Bray established the Family Assistance and Training program for
Kenyon International Emergency Services, where he served as vice
president from 2000 to 2006. During this period, he responded to
many major world disasters, including the 9/11 attacks on the World
Trade Center, the tsunami in Thailand, Hurricane Katrina, and the
Helios Airways crash in Athens, Greece.
HAZMAT and Bio Terrorism Response
FBI Hazardous Materials Response Unit
Experts from the FBI’s Hazardous Material Response Unit (HMRU)
will address attendees regarding federal response and coordination in
the event of chemical and bio-hazard fatalities. The HMRU responds
to criminal acts and incidents that involve hazardous materials. The
unit also develops technical proficiency and readiness for crime
scene and evidence-related operations in cases involving chemical,
biological, and radiological materials and wastes, as well as training
US and international law enforcement in these skills.
Applications of DNA for Human Identification
Dr. Mark Wilson
Dr. Mark Wilson will discuss identification through the utilization
of state of the art DNA techniques. Wilson is an internationally
recognized expert on the topic of mitochondrial DNA and human
identification. He is also the director of the forensic science program
at Western Carolina University. Wilson is a retired special agent in
charge with the FBI’s DNA Laboratory.

Full Brochure Download: http://www.theforensicnurse.com/FS_NGSCU_2-10-09.pdf

Northside Hospital in coordination with TheForensicNurse.com and North Georgia College is offering a 40 hour Adult / Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Training at Northside Hospital Forsyth, located just outside of Atlanta Georgia.

The SANE program at Northside hospital has grown from infancy to one of the most highly respected in the state of Georgia. They not only service Forsyth county, but serveral of the other surrounding counties at well. The program also is the only facility in the state that uses the SDFI telemedicine system for advanced digital forensic evidence collection.

Class Information: 

 Date: May 18 - May 22 (5 days)

Location:

1200 Northside Forsyth Drive

Cumming GA, 30041

Cost: $350.00

Registration Website: http://www.theforensicnurse.com/atlanta_georgia_sane_training.cfm

Northside Hospital is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Georgia Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Centers Commission on Accredidation.

Course Material Outline

• Overview and History of Forensic Nursing
• Myths and Barriers
• Rape Trauma Syndrome
• Roles of SANES
• Continuum of Care
• Crime Lab Kit
• Photography
• Medical Forensic History
• Head to Toe Assessment
• Genital Anatomy / Variations
• STD’s
• Trauma Identification
• Death Investigation
• Evidence Collection
• Serology & DNA Analysis
• Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault
• Multi Disciplinary Team Concept
• Advocate / Police Roles
• Profiling of Sex Offenders
• Special Populations
• Sexual Assault / Domestic Violence
• Clinical Requirements
• Documentation and Testimony
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Judicial System and Laws

The IAFN, has selected Atlanta GA for its 2009 Annual Scientific Assembly. This event is held each year around the country to help spread the word about forensic nursing and give participants and exhibitors the opportunity to network and learn more about the latest trends and best practices for Forensic Nursing.

This four day event will be held on October 21-24, 2009.

For Hotel information in the area or flight arrangements: http://www.findnearbyhotels.com/DESTINATIONS/Atlanta_GA_US/

Northside Hospital Forsyth is also offering a 5day / 40 hour SANE-A training class in May 2009.

The Los Angeles Daily News recently reported that the LAPD is a backlog of more than 7,000 rape kits waiting for processing by the LAPD DNA lab.  Some of these cases are nearing the ten year mark, at which time they become inadmissible as evidence due to the statute of limitations law in california with regard to evidence testing. In California, if the kit is tested within two years of the sample collection date, then there is no statute of limitations for it.

The main reason that these kits haven’t been tested yet, is simply manpower and funding. In just five years the demand for kits to be tested has doubled.  According to the article. “In about 2000, the department ordered analysts to keep every shred of cell evidence in rape cases, just in case they might need to test it. Before the change, rape kits were regularly purged from the property division, with the permission of an investigating officer.”

The City of Los Angeles recently approved the hiring of 16 addtional criminalists, but these positions have yet to be funded.

The IAFN, has  just announced two new regional chapters were formed. One in Northwest Florida, and the other in Illinois.

 These two new chapters do not currently have established websites that we have found, but once they do, we will be sure to update everyone with the proper information.

If you would like information about the Northwest Florida chapter, contact Lynda Tiefel.  Information about the Illinois chapter, contact Patricia Metzler.