Care for Victims of Sexual Assault

Each human being is a subject who can never be reduced to the status of an object. (Laudato Si 81)

At St. Michael’s Hospital in Bremerton, WA, we have a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE). The role of the SANE includes evaluating and treating each patient in a holistic way, being mindful of both the acute and long-term consequences of sexual violence victimization. Care may include follow-up services with community-based sexual assault advocacy programs, and medical and law enforcement partners. The SANE provides culturally sensitive, developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed and patient-specific evaluation and treatment. This work is a recognition that, as Pope Francis states in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si,  “…each human being is a subject who can never be reduced to the status of an object.”

Kate Espy

CHI Franciscan Health St. Michael’s Hospital, Bremerton, WA