Klinic, Indigenous non-profit to offer culturally sensitive sexual assault forensic exams

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This article was published 28/07/2023 (770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Culturally sensitive, survivor-centred forensic nursing services will be available in a community setting for the first time in Winnipeg this fall as cases of sexual- and intimate-partner violence increase across the province.

“The time to do this work differently and truly centre the voices of survivors and engage them in all aspects of the work is now,” Ayn Wilcox, Klinic Community Health executive director, said.

“Because that’s what they need in order to begin to feel some safety and to be able to get on the road to healing in ways that are important to them, as opposed to just a biomedical model or approach.”

The West Broadway-area health centre and Indigenous non-profit Ka Ni Kanichihk are collaborating to offer sexual-assault nurse examiner (SANE) services in October through a new, provincially funded program intended to expand access to forensic nursing and connect survivors immediately with recovery supports.

The community-based expansion follows significant turmoil within the forensic nurse examiner program at Health Sciences Centre earlier this year. In late March, seven casual nurses trained to gather criminal evidence of sexual violence resigned from the program, owing in part to worsening gaps in coverage and the distress of not being able to provide the care survivors deserve.

A government-ordered expansion of the hospital’s program and commitments to around-the-clock access to forensic nurse examiners this summer have also been delayed as nurses hired to work in the program left for jobs elsewhere in the health system.

A community-based alternative to in-hospital forensic exams has been needed for some time now, Wilcox said.

Not every person needs to be seen in an emergency department for their injuries and some may not be comfortable going to a hospital, she said.

Wilcox expects patients who would have otherwise been examined by nurses at HSC will instead see nurses at Klinic Community Health or at one of two Ka Ni Kanichihk locations when the program is fully operational.

“We all know how difficult it can be to sit in an emergency room at any time, but particularly after you’ve experienced a sexualized trauma,” she said. “We will see folks who come to a community-based model, but we absolutely anticipate that we’ll be seeing more folks.

“The numbers overall are going to continue to grow. And quite frankly, the numbers HSC has been seeing have been growing over the last number of years,” she said.

HSC’s program sees about 700 patients annually.

“There are more and more instances of violence like this,” Wilcox said.

The program will be supported by a full-time nursing co-ordinator, a team of part-time nurses and a crew of cultural support workers and knowledge keepers. It is mandated to be culturally grounded and accessible to all people currently under-served by health services and disproportionately affected by sexualized violence, she said.

While the program was scheduled to launch this summer, more time was needed to create position descriptions, hire staff and make modifications to the clinic space, Wilcox said.

All the nursing positions are filled and many will arrive in the program having had previous experience with forensic examinations, Wilcox said. Training and orientation are scheduled to begin in mid-August.

Initially, examinations will be available during regular, weekday operating hours with the possibility of expanding to weekends, she said, though the details are still being finalized.

“There are only so many nurses, and this is specialized training, and what’s super-important to survivors and to community is that we don’t further destabilize the system of services that are available for them,” Wilcox said.

“(The) HSC SANE program plays a really critical role because there are going to be situations on a regular basis where a community-based service is not appropriate for somebody to come to, or they may prefer to go to HSC, and that has to be available for folks 24-7.”

“We want to get this up and running as quickly as we can, so survivors have access to the services they need and deserve,” she said, emphasizing the program is being developed with survivors and knowledge keepers guiding the work at all levels.

An Indigenous-led sexual violence and forensic nursing program is a critical addition to the health system that responds to the Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Ka Ni Kanichihk executive director Dodie Jordaan said.

“Statistically, Indigenous people don’t access health services in the way in which we’d like to see, or the way in which they need,” Jordaan said. “For a lot of people, going to a hospital or an emergency room is more traumatizing.

“We hear from a lot of our community that they just won’t go,” she said. “They’d rather be unwell or rather stay hurt.”

Offering nursing services in partnership with Klinic was a natural continuation of programming already provided by Ka Ni Kanichihk and builds on existing community relationships to support access to health services and counselling, she noted.

“Seeing the forensic nurse is one piece of this, but being able to then talk to somebody right after that is a leader, that is an aunty, or an Indigenous expert in the field that’ll be able to work with you and help you… the goal is that you can have those services right there,” Jordaan said.

“That’s the vital difference that we’ve heard from community members and survivors,” she said. “It then becomes much more than the forensics — it becomes part of individuals needing to heal.”

Klinic Community Health operates a toll-free, 24-hour sexual-assault crisis line for people needing support: 1-888-292-7565.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca