Sexual assault survivor pleased with VON/SANE expansion

Well respected agency chosen to provide service for local area

TRURO, N.S. - A sexual assault survivor whose story helped convince the provincial government to expand the province’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, now feels vindicated.

Speaking in response to Wednesday’s announcement that the Nova Scotia government has contracted the VON to manage an expansion of the SANE program to Colchester and Cumberland counties, East Hants and the Eastern Shore, the woman said the news was “better than what I imagined.”

“I’m really pleased with it,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be published for personal reasons. “I believe that it will grow and once they get the nurses they want in this position trained to do what they need to do, that’s all we can ask for.”

The woman was one of two sexual assault survivors who previously shared their stories with the Truro News about receiving poor service when they went to the emergency department of the Colchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro to report being sexually assaulted.

After their stories were published, Health and Wellness Minister Randy Delorey announced last October that the SANE program would be expanded to Truro. The woman also received a letter from the minister reaffirming that commitment, but after waiting for more than six months without action, she began to have her doubts and felt Delorey may have gone back on his commitment.

Now, however, she is satisfied.

“I think Randy Delorey delivered on his promise to me, that’s how I feel,” she said. “And I think the VON is the perfect way to go. They have a way of accessing people in the community in various places and I think they will be able implement this very well.”

Rebecca Druhan, VON’S project lead on the SANE program, said the organization has been working closely with the Nova Scotia Health Authority towards expansion of the program as well as working hand in hand with the provincial SANE coordinator.

“And, as part of that we’ll be doing community outreach and working with the various SANE sites to build the infrastructure and processes that we need to deliver the services,” she said, by telephone from Halifax.

“We’re working with the province on exactly which sites will be opened.”

That effort includes preparing the appropriate facilities at each SANE site to be able to provide personalized care while also addressing privacy and confidentiality needs for when someone arrives to report a sexual assault.

Druhan anticipates 20 SANE nurses will be required for the expansion that VON will be responsible for, with an undetermined number of those coming from existing staff.

Implementation of the new sites is expected to occur by late spring or early summer.

“We will do it as soon as we possibly can but we want to make sure we do it right,” she said.

Druhan said the VON decided to answer the government’s request for proposals for the SANE expansion because officials see it as a natural alignment with what the organization currently does.

“We’ve been interested in this for some time because we see it as a really important service to provide in the community and it fits very well with our history and our vision and our mission to provide care to people where they live,” she said.

“I think it’s an important service to the people of the area and we are going to be building on the established and effective models of community care that already exist. But we’re going to enhance that with our expertise and experience in the delivery of our community nursing care. We think it’s a really good fit and were very pleased to be involved in the program provincially.”

The province previously provided SANE services in the Halifax area and Antigonish. The province’s expansion now also includes 22 trained nurses who are shared between South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater, Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville and Yarmouth Regional Hospital.

“I think Randy Delorey delivered on his promise to me, that’s how I feel. And I think the VON is the perfect way to go.”

Sexual assault survivor