Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force

Connections                                             November 2009

In This Issue
Save the Dates! 2010 SATF Meetings
Staff Contact List
4th Statewide SART Conference Workshop Proposal RFP
2009 CHANGE Award Winners Recognized
Comprehensive Prevention Efforts: How SARTs Can Play a Role
Rebecca Swearingen Receives Advocacy Award
Support for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners
Membership Program News
Committee Reports
 

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April 21-23, 2010
Salem, OR
  

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SAVE THE DATES!

 
2010 SATF MEETING DATES
 
January 7th
February 18th
April 1st
May 13th
June 24th
August 5th
September 16th
October 28th
December 9th
Greetings Task Force!
Alexa PriddyChristine Herrman, Executive Director
 
SATF Members and Friends,
 
It's been a busy time here at the AGSATF!
 
Since July, Task Force staff members have presented at the Oregon District Attorney's Association summer conference, the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Annual Conference, the Oregon Network of Child Abuse Assessment Centers, and the National Sexual Assault Conference.
 
We've put on one 40-hour Advocate training for 45 participants, two regional SART trainings (Prineville and Linn/Benton counties), two national SART trainings (Wisconsin and Michigan), two SART implementation trainings (Eugene and the U of O), two regional Law Enforcement trainings (Coos Bay and Rockaway Beach), one national Law Enforcement training (Oklahoma), as well as our usual law enforcement training at DPSST every six weeks or so. We did a 40-hour SANE training at Salem Hospital, a one-day regional SANE training and mock exams in Ontario, and SANE technical assistance in Ontario.
 
Additionally, the SATF, along with the Office of Family Health at the Department of Human Services, sponsored a statewide prevention planning retreat in August, and co-sponsored a national conference, with the National Organization for Men Against Sexism and the Women's Center at Portland State University, in October.
 
In August, we were joined by Ashley Maier, Prevention Program Coordinator, who has been busy making site visits to RPE grantees in Klamath Falls, Bend, LaGrande, and Baker City. Ashley and I attended the National Rape Prevention and Education Meeting and the National Sexual Assault Conference in Alexandria, VA, in September. Patti Kenyon, SANE Program Coordinator, and June Christensen, Training Specialist, attended the annual conference of the Internatinoal Association of Forensic Nurses, which was held in Atlanta in October.
 
Task Force staff also continue to serve on statewide advisory committees and work groups, including the Oregon Violence Against Women Act Advisory Committee, the Oregon Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Fund Advisory Committee, the Oregon Crime Victims' Rights Advisory Committee, the Oregon Teen Pregnancy Prevention/Sexual Health Promotion Advisory Committee, the Oregon Legislative Alliance to End Violence Against Women, the Oregon Human Trafficking Task Force, the Oregon SANE Certification Commission, and the Oregon Board of Higher Education Oversight Committee on Sexual Assault.
 
Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to fulfill our mission of facilitating and supporting a victim-centered approach to the prevention of and response to adolescent and adult sexual violence.
 
Happy Holidays!
Staff Contact List
 
Office Phone Number: (503) 990-6541
 
Christine Herrman
Executive Director
 
Alexa Priddy
Sexual Assault Response Program Coordinator
 
Ashley Maier
Sexual Violence Prevention Program Coordinator
[email protected]
 
Patti Kenyon
SANE Program Coordinator
 
June Christensen
Training Specialist
 
Judy Hays
Membership Specialist
[email protected]
 
Statewide SART Conference Request for Workshop Proposals
 

Sexual Assault Training InstituteThe Oregon Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force is pleased to announce the release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 4th Statewide SART Conference to be held April 21-23, 2010, in Salem, OR.  The Task Force holds a Statewide SART Conference in the spring of even years in an effort to support local SART efforts.  This conference includes plenary sessions for all participants and specific tracks for law enforcement, advocates, medical professionals, prosecutors, offender management professionals, campus responders, and other professionals who respond to sexual assault.  Copies of the RFP are available at the AG SATF Website  

http://www.oregonsatf.org/training/sart.html

If you have any questions, call Alexa Priddy at  503.990.6541 or email her at: [email protected]

2009 CHANGE Award Winners Recognized


 Jan Hindman Memorial
CHANGE Award
Creating Healthy Alternatives to promote Non-violence and Gender Equity

The CHANGE Award was established to honor Jan Hindman, who dedicated her life to addressing sexual violence, and to recognize Oregonians who have made a difference in their communities.
 
The 2009 CHANGE Awards were announced and awarded at our recent Roots of Change Conference. The SATF received numerous nominations for CHANGE award recipients, and we are honored to be able to recognize the incredible contributions of our three winners.

Marcelina Mart�nez, Indigenous Community Educator, Oregon Law Center
"Since the creation of the Oregon Law Center Farmworker Program's Project Against Workplace Sexual Violence in the Fields in 2005, Marcelina Mart�nez has been a tireless, creative and pioneering advocate. A former farmworker herself, Marcelina has accomplished ground-breaking work in Oregon's farmworker community, where sexual violence was rarely--if ever before--addressed. From the most base of grass-roots levels, Marcelina is responsible for CHANGE in her community: working with farm workers to speak up if assaulted; working with bystanders to intervene when co-workers are harassed or assaulted; working with service providers to appropriately respond to victims, all with a compassionate heart and endless vigor. Marcelina is an inspiration, a mentor, and a friend, as well as a reminder that change is possible for victims when it originates from within a community from a humble and unassuming voice." - nominator Laura Mahr

                                         Alexa Priddy
Marcelina was unable to attend the awards ceremony, as she was out of the country. However, she asked co-worker Mavel Morales to read a letter that she wrote.
 
"The award is not for me. It is for all of the indigenous women who have suffered and overcome their fears with hard work and perseverance. It is an award for those women who have dared to break the silence and show us all their survival stories, to change working conditions not only for them but also for the farmworker populations across the state of Oregon. Knowing that the voices of indigenous women are beginning to be heard is of great solace to me. They deserve dignity and respect and the right to work in a safe environment." 
- Marcelina Martinez, 2009 CHANGE Award recipient
 
Esther Nelson, Volunteer Coordinator and Sex Trafficking Case Manager, Sexual Assault Resource Center
"Esther Nelson is a leader in the Portland area and the country for providing services for minor victims of sex trafficking. Her efforts have resulted in dozens of Portland advocates being trained to respond to these survivors, and for the first time, through her tireless work, girls in Portland who have been sexually exploited have advocates come with them when they are brought in by police. I am absolutely in awe of her, and she inspires me every day. I'm honored to have her as a colleague and a friend." - nominator Christina Bondurant

Esther CHANGE Award"Esther brings true, genuine hope and love to young women who have never been told they have any value." - nominator Liz Jacobsen

"I can only hope to show 1/10of the grace and strength that Esther shows when she responds to these young women." - nominator Jill Winsor
  
"I accept this award on behalf of all of the teens involved in the sex trade. I think it's fitting that I'm receiving this award here (at the Roots of Change Conference), because the oppression in the sex industry is not going to disappear until we dismantle misogyny and sexism and classism and racism and poverty." 
- Esther Nelson, 2009 CHANGE Award recipient
 
Maria Paladino, Executive Director, Sexual Assault Support Services
 
"Under Maria's leadership, SASS has become a forerunner in the state and nation in the efforts to serve LGBTIQ survivors of sexual violence. Silence and invisibility have been and will continue to be dangerous and often fatal for LGBTIQ survivors in our communities. We all need strong voices and leadership, like Maria's, to lift this veil of silence and invisibility." - nominator Alexa Priddy
 
Alexa Priddy"Those of us that work in anti-violence organizations, there's something that we hear a lot. When we tell people where we work, and what we do, invariably they say, that must be so hard, hearing those painful stories every day. And we all know, those of us who do this work, that that's not the hard part, listening to survivors, believing them, supporting them, walking a little way beside them on their journey to healing. That's not hard. That's an honor.  The hard part is that the advocacy that we're called to do is not just listening, making things go a little easier for each survivor but working to change our systems, so that every survivor receives a respectful, supportive and culturally competent response. And working to change our communities from places where sexual violence is normal, and normalized, to places where sexual violence does not happen, and if it does, is not normal and is not tolerated. We're all here because we want change, and each of us has the power to make it happen." - Maria Paladino, 2009 CHANGE Award recipient
 
 
Sincerest congratulations to our three worthy awardees. You are all inspirational.

2009 CHANGE Award Winners Recognized


 Jan Hindman Memorial
CHANGE Award
Creating Healthy Alternatives to promote Non-violence and Gender Equity

The CHANGE Award was established to honor Jan Hindman, who dedicated her life to addressing sexual violence, and to recognize Oregonians who have made a difference in their communities.
 
The 2009 CHANGE Awards were announced and awarded at our recent Roots of Change Conference. The SATF received numerous nominations for CHANGE award recipients, and we are honored to be able to recognize the incredible contributions of our three winners.

Marcelina Martinez, Indigenous Community Educator, Oregon Law Center
"Since the creation of the Oregon Law Center Farmworker Program's Project Against Workplace Sexual Violence in the Fields in 2005, Marcelina Martìnez has been a tireless, creative and pioneering advocate. A former farmworker herself, Marcelina has accomplished ground-breaking work in Oregon's farmworker community, where sexual violence was rarely--if ever before--addressed. From the most base of grass-roots levels, Marcelina is responsible for CHANGE in her community: working with farm workers to speak up if assaulted; working with bystanders to intervene when co-workers are harassed or assaulted; working with service providers to appropriately respond to victims, all with a compassionate heart and endless vigor. Marcelina is an inspiration, a mentor, and a friend, as well as a reminder that change is possible for victims when it originates from within a community from a humble and unassuming voice." - nominator Laura Mahr

                                         Alexa Priddy
Marcelina was unable to attend the awards ceremony, as she was out of the country. However, she asked co-worker Mavel Morales to read a letter that she wrote.
 
"The award is not for me. It is for all of the indigenous women who have suffered and overcome their fears with hard work and perseverance. It is an award for those women who have dared to break the silence and show us all their survival stories, to change working conditions not only for them but also for the farmworker populations across the state of Oregon. Knowing that the voices of indigenous women are beginning to be heard is of great solace to me. They deserve dignity and respect and the right to work in a safe environment." 
- Marcelina Martinez, 2009 CHANGE Award recipient
 
Esther Nelson, Volunteer Coordinator and Sex Trafficking Case Manager, Sexual Assault Resource Center
"Esther Nelson is a leader in the Portland area and the country for providing services for minor victims of sex trafficking. Her efforts have resulted in dozens of Portland advocates being trained to respond to these survivors, and for the first time, through her tireless work, girls in Portland who have been sexually exploited have advocates come with them when they are brought in by police. I am absolutely in awe of her, and she inspires me every day. I'm honored to have her as a colleague and a friend." - nominator Christina Bondurant

Esther CHANGE Award"Esther brings true, genuine hope and love to young women who have never been told they have any value." - nominator Liz Jacobsen

"I can only hope to show 1/10of the grace and strength that Esther shows when she responds to these young women." - nominator Jill Winsor
  
"I accept this award on behalf of all of the teens involved in the sex trade. I think it's fitting that I'm receiving this award here (at the Roots of Change Conference), because the oppression in the sex industry is not going to disappear until we dismantle misogyny and sexism and classism and racism and poverty." 
- Esther Nelson, 2009 CHANGE Award recipient
 
Maria Paladino, Executive Director, Sexual Assault Support Services
 
"Under Maria's leadership, SASS has become a forerunner in the state and nation in the efforts to serve LGBTIQ survivors of sexual violence. Silence and invisibility have been and will continue to be dangerous and often fatal for LGBTIQ survivors in our communities. We all need strong voices and leadership, like Maria's, to lift this veil of silence and invisibility." - nominator Alexa Priddy
 
Alexa Priddy"Those of us that work in anti-violence organizations, there's something that we hear a lot. When we tell people where we work, and what we do, invariably they say, that must be so hard, hearing those painful stories every day. And we all know, those of us who do this work, that that's not the hard part, listening to survivors, believing them, supporting them, walking a little way beside them on their journey to healing. That's not hard. That's an honor.  The hard part is that the advocacy that we're called to do is not just listening, making things go a little easier for each survivor but working to change our systems, so that every survivor receives a respectful, supportive and culturally competent response. And working to change our communities from places where sexual violence is normal, and normalized, to places where sexual violence does not happen, and if it does, is not normal and is not tolerated. We're all here because we want change, and each of us has the power to make it happen." - Maria Paladino, 2009 CHANGE Award recipient
 
 
Sincerest congratulations to our three worthy awardees. You are all inspirational.
Comprehensive Prevention Efforts: How SARTs Can Play a Role
 
Alexa Priddy
Ashley Maier           By Ashley Maier and Alexa Priddy
 
Introduction

We have all heard first responders to victims of sexual assault say how helpless they feel as they continually respond to victims and wish they could prevent people from being victimized in the first place. Often these discussions come up at SART meetings as responders share frustrations and experiences.  However, these meetings can be the very place where discussions about sexual assault prevention, not just response, begin.
 
The concept of SARTs and prevention will be a focus of the Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force's 4th Statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Conference on April 21-23, 2010, in Salem.  The conference theme, "Building an Inclusive and Sustainable Community Response," asks conference participants to consider ways for their SART to more effectively and sustainably serve victims.  We will show how including prevention strategies in SART work can be a tool to unite your SART members and maintain your collective focus.
 
The Ecological Model and SARTs
To prevent sexual violence, we must understand what circumstances and factors
influence its occurrence.  The ecological model is one of many theoretical models that describe the root causes of sexual violence and help experts build programs that sustain factors that decrease an individual's risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator (protective factors) and reduce risk factors, by presenting a comprehensive view of the issue.  Endorsed by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Oregon Department of Public Health, and the SATF, this model offers a framework for understanding the complex interplay of individual, relationship, social, political, cultural, and environmental factors (Dahlberg & Krug, 2002) contributing to sexual violence and provides key points for prevention and intervention (Powell, Mercy, Crosby, Dahlberg, & Simon, 1999).  SART teams are ideally positioned to comprehensively contribute to prevention efforts, addressing risk and protective factors in the following domains: 
 Eco Model
  
Individual level factors identify biological and personal history factors that influence how individuals behave and that may increase or decrease their likelihood of becoming a victim or perpetrator of violence.  Examples of these factors include gender, age, education, history of child abuse or neglect, income, psychological or personality disorders, substance abuse, and a history of behaving aggressively.
  • All SART team members work one-on-one with survivors of sexual assault, whether in an advocacy, medical care or criminal justice response, or other capacities.  Many team members also interact with perpetrators, children, and bystanders.  These individuals each hold different risk and protective factors for sexual violence.  Every interaction that a SART team member has with one of these individuals, especially children, is an opportunity to not only identify risk and protective factors, but also to modify them.
Relationship factors include family, friends, intimate partners, mentors, peers, and other significant relationships that may increase or decrease an individual's risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of sexual violence.  Examples of these factors include: having friends who engage in and encourage (or discourage) violence, and living in a home where there is (or is not) mutual respect for all household members. 
  • Clearly, SART team members work tirelessly to change relationship factors in the majority of sexual assault cases, in which family or friends perpetrate the assault.  The nature of the SART structure, however, provides an additional opportunity to practice and model healthy and respectful relationships within the team.  A strong and sustainable SART, in which all members interact appropriately and with respect, strengthens relationships within systems, with survivors, and amongst community members.  Indeed, a SART that models respect receives respect.  
Community factors address community contexts in which social relationships occur, such as sports facilities, community centers, parks, and neighborhoods and examines the characteristics of these settings, which may increase or decrease the risk for sexual violence.  Examples of these factors include: population density, employment trends, and crime rates. 
  •  The goal of SARTs is to provide a coordinated community response (CCR) to sexual assault.  In doing so, SARTs contribute to a key piece of community health - an environment free from the crime of sexual violence.  For example, prosecutors conduct their cases on behalf of the community, to hold offenders accountable to healthy community norms. 
Institutional factors look at the institutional processes and contexts that support or challenge norms that may lead to or prevent sexual violence.  Examples of these factors include: school no-tolerance policies for violent or sexually harassing behaviors, group home rules requiring staff training on recognizing and addressing inappropriate behaviors, press education and guidelines for reporting on sexual violence, and gender and economic equity initiatives by housing, financial and legal institutions. 
  • The very nature of SART work provides insight into the many systems impacting prevention of sexual assault.  For example, a SART team responding to a workplace sexual assault may discover an inadequate corporate sexual harassment policy and work with the employer to implement policies that not only include appropriate response to assaults, but also promote an environment of respect.  Based on survivor experiences, SART teams may also work to improve the systems that team members represent.  
Societal factors foster a climate in which violence may be encouraged or inhibited.  Examples of these factors include: availability of weapons, social and cultural norms that endorse or reject violence, and social norms that support or deny male dominance over women and children.
  • The existence of SARTs sends a clear message: sexual assault is intolerable and we, as professionals, have come together to address this serious issue.  The more SARTs that exist and promote their coordinated response to the general public, the clearer that message.  Some SARTs have used press releases, newspaper articles, and other media outlets to communicate their purpose and presence to the community.
Levels of Prevention in SART Work
While the ecological model addresses the different phases of community engagement for prevention efforts, the levels of prevention allow SARTs to consider how they might intervene in each phase of the model.  Many communities readily engage in public awareness campaigns and risk reduction activities in order to address sexual assault.  Although these are important strategies, they are different from prevention strategies.  Prevention strategies focus on changing the underlying conditions that allow sexual violence to occur in the first place.  Prevention efforts seek to change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that support sexual violence, are comprehensive, and work to create lasting change (sustainability).  Examples of prevention activities include: community engagement efforts that seek to change norms about the acceptability of sexual violence and enhance protective factors that inhibit sexual violence from occurring; efforts that engage youth and strengthen developmental assets; and initiatives that promote the status of women and girls and focus on the issues of male sexual entitlement and violence.
 
The public health approach to prevention recognizes three core levels of prevention interventions.  The levels of prevention detailed below serve as a starting point for any SART.  Although SART resources and member workloads often limit the capacity of a SART and their ability to engage in prevention work, it is important to understand where your SART fits in the levels of prevention.  SART members are already inherently involved in certain levels of prevention work through their response to victims of sexual assault, whether it is a law enforcement officer responding to a report of rape, a SANE attending to a patient at the hospital who has recently been sexual assaulted, a victim advocate providing support and resources to a survivor, or a prosecutor considering the victim's needs as she seeks to hold the offender accountable. 
 
In fact, SART members may routinely find themselves involved in tertiary prevention efforts that focus on the long-term responses to decreasing the impact on victims, increasing the accountability of offenders after sexual violence has occurred, and working to prevent the reoccurrence of sexual violence.  Tertiary efforts usually include treatment and service provision.
 
On the tertiary level, SARTs often engage in prevention work in the following ways:
  • By establishing a mission statement that recognizes that the primary focus of the SART response is to be victim-centered and offender-focused, Team members will be united around the mutual goal to hold offenders accountable and to mitigate trauma that victims experience. 
  • By decreasing the impact on the victim, you can decrease the impact on the entire community.  The victim who is empowered, not disempowered, by the criminal justice process may miss fewer days of work, have lower health care costs, and so on. 
  • By recognizing that trauma is an ongoing experience and not something that ends after the criminal justice system process does, SARTs can develop ways to ensure follow-up care for victims of sexual assault, addressing mental health, housing, and other needs.
Another level of prevention that SARTs will engage in is secondary prevention.  When a SART is engaged in secondary prevention, it will be focusing on the immediate responses after sexual violence has occurred in order to deal with the short-term consequences of violence.
 
On the secondary prevention level, SARTs may engage in the following activities:
  • Provide a quality, coordinated, and caring first response to victims of sexual assault as advocates, law enforcement, and medical providers.  This can be ensured through the development of first response protocols.
  • By recognizing that every responder plays a role in mitigating victim trauma, you are empowering the victim and decreasing the impact of sexual assault.  While the experience of sexual assault itself is traumatic, we know that the quality of response either contributes to or mitigates the amount of trauma that a victim experiences.  If the victim feels a lack of support, invalidation, and/or blame in the aftermath of her or his assault, the amount of trauma she or he experiences may increase. 
  • A SART may hold training for its members about how to better serve members of a specific underserved or at-risk population, such as adolescents, LGBTIQ people, non-English speaking people, and so on.
  • A SART may provide educational workshops on healthy relationships, etc., to support survivors in their healing process.
Finally, the third level of prevention is primary prevention, which is often the most difficult level for SARTs to engage.  Primary prevention asks SARTs to not only consider their level of response, but to also focus their efforts on the root causes of sexual assault in order to stop it before it occurs.  Primary prevention efforts address the attitudes, behaviors, and conditions that condone, support and lead to sexual assault.
 
SARTs who wish to engage in primary prevention may consider the following activities:
  • A SART may work with schools on an educational campaign focused on healthy sex and sexuality in an effort to change thoughts about violence and control in relationships.
  • A SART may choose to support or initiate a policy change that will better support survivors and/or hold offenders accountable.  For instance, the Sexual Assault Task Force sets forth legislative initiatives for each session of the Oregon legislature.  A SART could lobby for or otherwise support these policies.
  • SARTs can support member agencies to improve organizational policies through adopting regulations and shaping norms to improve health and safety.  They can also encourage community agencies to do the same.
  • SARTs can hold educational forums with the community where they use their experiences as responders to illustrate what a community can do to keep sexual assault from happening, addressing attitudes and behaviors.
The coordinated community response that SARTs provide is already incorporated into the tertiary and secondary levels of prevention.  The challenge now becomes how to recognize those levels and expand the efforts of the SART to also include primary prevention strategies.  If you would like to explore ways your SART can establish prevention strategies, contact Ashley Maier, Prevention Program Coordinator at (503) 990-6541 or [email protected].
Award for Advocacy
 Rebecca Swearingen
By Kevin Gaboury of the Central Oregonian News, Prineville

Rebecca Swearingen has spent the last nine years tirelessly advocating for victims of domestic violence in Crook County.

   This week, she was honored for it.

   Swearingen, assistant executive director of Saving Grace in Prineville, was awarded the 2009 statewide Award of Excellence from the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) Domestic Violence Council at the "Purple Light Night" event in front of the courthouse on Tuesday.
   The award is given to individuals, groups or organizations that have made significant statewide or local impact in domestic violence prevention and intervention efforts.
   "It's huge," she said. "It's pretty humbling too because I'm not the only one doing the work here. We have a great staff and I'm just one of them."
   Swearingen began her career as a children's advocate, but applied for a job at Saving Grace after she moved to Prineville in 2001. The rest, as they say, is history.
   "It sounded like a great place to work," she said.
   During her nine-year tenure, she has worked as a sexual assault advocate, sexual assault program manager, outreach office manager, and most recently as assistant executive director. She is also an appointed member of the attorney general's sexual assault task force and a board member of the Oregon Coalition against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
   "Rebecca combines a big, compassionate heart with the ability to get a lot of things done," said Janet Huerta, executive director of Saving Grace.
   
For Swearingen, the most rewarding aspect of the job has been helping people who don't think there's any help out there for them.
   
"Being able to show folks that there are services and people here who believe them and care about what's happening to them when they think they have nobody left," she said. "Domestic violence and sexual assault aren't exactly fun topics to talk about, but we know it's out there, so when a victim or a survivor hears somebody actually talking about it and offering help, they know there's places they can reach out to."
   
Saving Grace is a Central Oregon-based private non-profit that provides shelter and 24-hour hotline services to domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking victims. The organization has sites in Bend, Redmond, Madras, Sisters and Prineville and services are free and confidential.
 
(Re-printed by permission.  Reprinting this article is expressly forbidden without the written approval of Mr. Vance Tong of the Central Oregonian Newspaper.) 
Why are SANEs Hard to Find and Keep?
 
By Patti Kenyon
 
    
Patti KenyonThe theme I hear most frequently when talking to nurses about becoming a SANE is, "I don't want to go to court."  Those nurses deciding if they are going to recertify often say, "it isn't what I thought it would be."  To help nurses be better prepared for the field of forensic nursing, we must understand what the road blocks are and how we can help them with the emotional support they will need while practicing in the field of forensic nursing.
 
Susan Chasson, the SANE program coordinator for the state of Utah, summarized it best.  "Everyone wants to help the virginal BYU student that was jumped by the stranger while walking home from class.  Then, they find out that rarely do victims of sexual assault fall into this category.  The perfect victim may have been drinking, suffer from mental illness, live on the fringes of society, may have been doing something they did not have permission to do, or knew the perpetrator and is not sure they want to initiate an investigation."   
 
Nurses who do jump through the hoops, become certified, and begin practicing as a SANE may become disenfranchised quickly.  There are lucky few that return home to a program that is up and running and a hospital that supports them.  The nurse may receive on-call pay or be allowed time off after doing an exam.  The hospital will pay for additional training and encourages ongoing education.  However, most nurses work in facilities that expect them to respond to a case on their off time or return for their regular shift regardless of the amount of time they have been awake.  They may be one of 2 or 3 nurses for the county and feel pressure to do the exam.  They may live in an area with very few exams each year and therefore never feel comfortable with the evidentiary exam and or even have a hard time obtaining enough exams to maintain their certification.  In rural areas, the nurses may know the victim, or worse yet, the accused.  Most nurses are not given feedback as to the outcome of the case or if the kit was collected properly. 
 
The medical profession has historically not taken care of our own.  Regardless of the outcome of a case, we are expected to go on to the next patient and not debrief about the previous patients.  We are expected to provide care without becoming emotionally involved.  Within the past few years this is slowly changing as we explore why people burn out.  It is imperative as a helping profession that we allow ourselves and our colleagues the time and opportunity to debrief the horrendous cases we care for and the time to step back when they need to take some time off.  
 
SANEs must explore why we burn out so quickly and how we can support each other while caring for victims of crime.  If we are healthy ourselves, then we can support those seeking our care. 
 
GOOD NEWS!
The Sexual Assault Task Force has recently subscribed to a web-conferencing service. We hope to have regular, monthly meetings for SANEs across the state via this new medium, starting very soon. It is our goal to provide a platform for SANEs to network and troubleshoot, as well as address issues of concern across Oregon.
 
                           IAFN Forensic Nurse's Day 
Membership Program News
 
Judy HaysBy Judy Hays
 
Membership Program
 
Congratulations to the Legislative and Public Policy Committee and the Victim Response Committee! Both have filled all membership slots and are working at full capacity.  Below is the updated list of other committee vacancies.  We encourage you to talk with your staff liaison if you have any candidates for these committees.  Thanks for your great work!
 
Criminal Justice  
Prosecutor- Urban VACANT
LE Sheriff's Office VACANT
 LE School Resource Officer VACANT
At Large 2 VACANCIES (1 is Tribal LE/Court)
 
Medical Forensics
ER Physician Rural VACANT
 SANE Urban/Rural 2 VACANCIES  
Forensic Specialist VACANT
Public Health Rural/Urban 2 VACANCIES
At Large VACANT
 
Offender Management
Oregon Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers VACANT
Juvenile Sex Offender Specialist 1 VACANCY
Law Enforcement 1 VACANCY 
Adult Victim Advocate VACANT
   
Prevention & Education
Prevention: Youth VACANT
Health Department VACANT
Prevention: Criminal Justice VACANT (1 pending)
At Large (5) 3 VACANCIES (1 pending)
 
Campus Committee
Athletics 2 VACANCIES   (1 pending)
Disabilities/Accessibility Services 1 VACANCY
Diversity/Multicultural Affairs 1 VACANCY
Greek Life 2 VACANCIES
Housing/Residence Life 1 VACANCY
Public Safety 1 VACANCY
Students 2 VACANCIES

Institution Representation
EOU 1 VACANCY
OHSU 1 VACANCY
OIT 2 VACANCIES
SOU 1 VACANCY
WOU 1 VACANCY
Community Colleges 1 VACANCY 
Committee Reports
 
Campus Committee
 
Past work of the campus commimttee has included developing guidelines for comprehensive sexual assault response and prevention on campus and recommended policy for handling first disclosures of sexual assault. Current projects of the CC include developing a position paper on punitive responses in sexual assault cases involving underage drinking conduct code violations. The CC will also be looking into developing a campus resource packet for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April 2010), a list of recommended campus speakers, and the Campus SART Handbook. Finally, the CC will be holding Co-Chair elections during our November meeting as we look to transition our leadership. We are thankful to Carl Yeh and Margaret Trout for their all their time and contributions to the CC as Co-Chairs these past years. 
 
Criminal Justice Committee
 
The Criminal Justice Committee has been working on a survey to go out to Law Enforcement and District Attorney's Offices across the state to try and gauge their training needs for the upcoming year.  We have also been looking at updating the Sexual Assault Investigative checklist for law enforcement that was distributed about 3 years ago The group is also working on finalizing a recruitment letter to fill open positions. 
  
Legislative and Public Policy Committee
 
The Legislative and Public Policy Committee continues to discuss a number of legislative concepts-thank you to those who gave us input! The committee is currently narrowing down ideas for 2011. If you have anything you'd like us to consider, please contact Christine Herrman at 503-990-6541 or SaraBeth Labberton at 503-378-1572.   
 
Medical Forensic Committee
 
The Medical Forensic Committee reviewed and updated the position paper on the role of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) in a child sexual abuse exam.  This paper was recently re-sent to emergency department physicians and other medical providers around the state of Oregon.  Recently the MFC has been collaborating with representatives from the Oregon State Crime Lab to revise the checklist included in the sexual assault forensic kit, in an attempt to aid sexual assault examiners in their forensic evidence collection.  Additionally, and in collaboration with the crime lab, the MFC has begun work on a feedback tool to provide feedback to examiners regarding the quantity and quality of evidence collected.  Finally, a subgroup of SANE programs and the MFC is beginning to work on data collection for the purposes of SANE quality assurance.
 
Offender Management Committee 
 
The OMC has been scheduled to present to the Task Force on April 1, 2010, on how the OMC fits into the larger picture of the Task Force mission to respond to and prevent sexual violence. In view of this upcoming presentation, the OMC developed a survey that will be sent out to members this Fall, to assess topics of interest to the SATF regarding sex offender treatment and management. Other OMC projects include writing a position paper describing sex offender treatment discharge outcomes to serve as a guideline for stakeholders and/or decision-makers who work with or supervise sex offenders in the community, and a plan to partner with the criminal justice committee to advance the goal to have pre-sentence investigation (PSI) reports as a best practice. 
 
Prevention and Education Committee 

The PEC serves as the planning committee for the statewide Sexual Violence Prevention Plan.  In that capacity we are moving forward, with input from statewide stakeholders, with strategic planning.  The PEC is also discussing training needs across the state, and how to meet those needs.  The committee has a number of open slots and is looking to recruit new members.

Victim Response Committee
 
The Victim Response Committee (VRC) is in multiple stages of the writing process on many different work plan items. We are in the final editing process with the new Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer/Questioning (LGBTIQ) chapter of the advocate manual. This has been a labor intensive process with much input from various experts across the state. We are very excited to be nearing a final product. Additionally, the VRC is working on the first outline of a position paper about how to best support survivors when a report is mandated. We hope this will be of benefit to those who are mandated to report sexual assault in certain instances, as well as those advocates who will be working with the survivor through the reporting process. Finally, the VRC is in the preliminary research stage in our efforts to examine statewide efforts to serve populations who do not typically access services through "traditional" sexual assault agencies. After scrutinizing results from a survey we are creating for service providers, the VRC will begin work on a position paper that will provide recommendations about how to better serve these traditionally underserved populations. 
The Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization separate from, but working under the auspices of, Oregon's Attorney General.
 
The mission of the Oregon Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force is to facilitate and support a collaborative, victim-centered approach to the prevention of and response to adolescent and adult sexual violence.
 
Help support the work of the Task Force with a tax-deductible donation!  Click here to learn more.