Photo Courtesy of the Office of the Borough President
“It is our intent with this initiative to more than double the number of SANE nurses dedicated to Queens by this time next year, and to especially expand the multi-lingual pool of SANE nurses here in the World’s Borough,” Acting Borough President Lee said.
By Forum Staff
Acting Queens Borough President Sharon Lee on Thursday announced an initiative to expand the number, language proficiencies and breadth of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners nurses across Queens hospitals. With this initiative to enhance the accessibility of the care and expertise sexual assault survivors need, there will be at least 54 SANE nurses covering 14 languages across seven of the borough’s nine hospitals by September 2021, Lee promised.
The initiative will more than double the current 26 specialized SANE nurses — registered nurses specifically trained to provide comprehensive medical forensic care for survivors of sexual assault or abuse — who work exclusively across just four Queens hospitals, only some of whom speak Spanish, Chinese and/or Korean.
File Photo
There are no SANE nurses dedicated to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
“Specialized, sensitive forensic care can make all the difference in the immediate aftermath of rape and/or sexual assault, not just in the ultimate pursuit of justice but in the survivor’s own agency and power,” Lee said. “It is our intent with this initiative to more than double the number of SANE nurses dedicated to Queens by this time next year, and to especially expand the multi-lingual pool of SANE nurses here in the World’s Borough. Queens thanks our committed partners in this shared mission to enhance the accessibility of this specialized expertise to care for and strengthen the Borough of Families.”
The initiative will further expand the language accessibility of Queens’ SANE nurses by training nurses proficient or fluent in the following languages in addition to English: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Korean, Nepali, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.
““Addressing the serious public health issue of sexual violence requires specialized training and expertise,” said New York State Nursing Association Board Member Tracey Kavanagh, RN. “Certified SANE nurses are equipped to properly handle the emotional and physical needs of survivors, as well as maintain the integrity of evidence. NYSNA is proud to provide care and support to our community and survivors of abuse and violence.”
The borough president’s office’s funding will pay for the specialized SANE training of 15 of the 28 additional certified nurses, who will complete the SANE training by September 2021. The 28 SANE nurses will be trained at either the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault or Hofstra University.
