A $30,000 investment by Tucson Medical Center will provide more privacy and dignity for survivors of sexual assault.
While it didn't cost much for Tucson's largest hospital to create wall colors to assist with forensic photos, plus a quiet space and special entrance, local advocates working against sexual assault say the benefit of those changes will be great.
On Sept. 22, the hospital is scheduled to open a new crisis center for sexual-assault survivors in its emergency department.
"This is huge to have the emergency room and hospital staff really get behind it. And it's very unique," said Becky Holton, development director for the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault, which is partnering with TMC on the project. "There are maybe a couple like this across the country."
Hospital spokeswoman Julia Strange said the partnership is the continuation of a long-standing relationship between TMC and the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault. Through the years, the center has educated TMC's emergency department staff about sexual assault victims, and Strange said a dedicated room designed and built for victims came out of that education.
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At the moment, a victim of sexual assault can go to any emergency room in Tucson, but TMC has typically been where most have been transferred to due to the forensic medical exam necessary to build a criminal case.
What will be different now is that victims will no longer be mixed in with the rest of patients in the emergency room.
The new crisis center will have a separate private entrance that law enforcement and emergency medical personnel can use to bring sexual assault victims into the hospital without having to walk through the emergency room, Holton said. There's a quiet space for family and friends, and a dedicated medical forensic examination room. And the walls have been painted gray - a shade that makes it easier for evidence to show up in photos, Holton said.
"It's been designed with thoughtfulness, to make it the least traumatic experience possible," she said.
The new facility will provide the first step of medical support for recent victims, and staff from the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault will be on hand to provide emotional support services and conduct a medical forensic exam, Holton said.
Last fiscal year, the local sexual assault center recorded 144 medical forensic exams for victims of sexual assault. Holton said there are typically 140 to 170 such exams locally each year.
Officials with the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault say the new crisis center at TMC is part of the agency's mission to reduce the trauma and incidence of sexual assault by providing treatment and promoting prevention of sexual abuse, incest, molestation and rape.
"This center is a huge step forward in our community's ability to provide the full spectrum of care that is so urgently needed in a crisis situation following an assault," center program director Montserrat Caballero said in a prepared statement.
On StarNet: Read Stephanie Innes' blog containing local health information at go.azstarnet.com/health
If you need help
Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault crisis line: 327-7273 or toll-free, 1-800-400-1001.
Contact Star reporter Stephanie Innes at sinnes@azstarnet.com or 574-4134.
