Life-changing care arrives with new SANE program offering 24/7 support for sexual assault

Some survivors of sexual assault no longer have to face the added burden of traveling to receive the critical care they deserve. MUSC Health Lancaster and Chester emergency departments have partnered with the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network (SCVAN) to offer the community Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) care. Through this partnership, select nurses have completed extensive training to become SANEs, enabling them to care for survivors of sexual assault and perform forensic exams, including DNA collection, immediately following an incident.

The initiative was made possible by MUSC Health Chester Medical Center Emergency Department nurse manager and regional SANE coordinator Jessica Stillwell, R.N. When she started at MUSC last year, she recognized that Lancaster and Chester were underserved areas when it came to SANE care – in part because they’re located between larger cities like Charlotte and Columbia, which can leave them overlooked and without adequate local resources. After receiving a $1 million grant from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, the program was launched first in Lancaster and is set to expand to Chester. 

“It is something that's been needed for a long time, and I'm so thankful to see it happening because as a SANE nurse, it's unfortunate because sometimes cases are thrown out of court if you don't have a SANE nurse that performed the exam,” said Stillwell. 

The nine SANE nurses at Lancaster Medical Center went through extensive training to be able to provide the best care to adult and adolescent sexual assault survivors. SANE training begins with a 40-hour didactic course, so it's a fairly intensive classroom experience, Stillwell explained. After that, participants complete clinicals. The training covers a wide range of topics, including working with law enforcement and the solicitor's office. It also includes anatomical instruction, evidence collection and the use of DNA and toxicology kits. For instance, if a survivor believes that she or he may have been drugged, nurses are trained to collect blood samples to test for substances. 

“I think it's a really great asset that we can provide for our community. We do have, unfortunately, a lot of cases. Just having that available to our patients within our community so patients don't have to travel to another facility or another area they might not be familiar with or comfortable in is really a benefit. It’s an all-around win for everyone,” said MUSC Health Lancaster Medical Center Emergency Department nurse manager Christina Skwarek, R.N. 

For Scott Broome, chief executive officer of the MUSC Health-Catawba Division, having a resource like this within reach of patients is a huge win. 

 “For us to be able to provide care for someone in that state of need is incredible. I'm just extremely thankful that we can do that for anyone that has that need in our communities,” said Broome. “It’s an honor to be able to do it, and we also take that responsibility very seriously.”

It’s not just a huge win for MUSC Health Lancaster and Chester medical centers to be able to train SANE staff and provide these services but also for the survivors the team will be helping. Stillwell emphasizes how much this care can make a difference in their lives. 

“It's a huge deal for us to be able to help those patients along their journeys and to work to get justice for them,” said Stillwell. 

For more information on sexual assault services at MUSC, please visit the MUSC Health sexual assault resources page for more information.