LIEUTENANT
GOVERNOR MURRAY ANNOUNCES $3.3 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR NEW TELENURSING CENTER TO
HELP VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
Groundbreaking
telemedicine initiative to help health care providers improve assistance to
victims of sexual assault
BOSTON
– Tuesday, February 5, 2013 – Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray today announced
$3.3 million in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice to
create the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Telenursing
Center, which will be used to enhance care and support for victims of sexual
assault nationally.
“Massachusetts
is proud to be a national leader in providing the highest quality of care for
victims of sexual assault,” said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, chair of
the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. “By
investing in this new Telenursing Center and medical care services,
Massachusetts is leveraging technology to improve public health for victims of
sexual assault and ensure a higher quality of care in their healing
process.”
Nationally,
many frontline health care providers do not routinely provide sexual assault
treatment services, and may not be readily familiar with the specific medical,
emotional needs of the victims and the forensic needs of the criminal justice
system. As part of today’s announcement, a pilot Telenursing Center will be
created at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and will provide 24/7 access to expert
medical assistance and consultation for health care providers developed by
national expert forensic sexual assault nurse examiners. The grant will provide
consultation by the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)
Telenursing Center for health care providers who work with selected populations
in pilot locations around the country.
“The
SANE Telenursing Center will allow Massachusetts to share our expertise to help
victims across the country,” said John Polanowicz, Secretary of Health and Human
Services. “I thank the Obama Administration and our partners in the provider
community for their support of this important initiative.”
Grant
funding will support several critical components of the pilot, including
information technology equipment and assistance at each pilot site, expert
clinical staffing, education and technical assistance for pilot participants,
and ongoing evaluation of the overall program. Best practices and lessons
learned from this national telemedicine pilot project will be later used to
inform the development of a National TeleNursing Center.
“This
program will allow us to use telemedicine to promote the most effective
physical, emotional, and forensic care for sexual assault victims,” said Dr.
Lauren Smith, Interim Commissioner of the Department of Public Health (DPH). “We
also need to do everything that we can to support the frontline professionals
who work with these patients.”
Funding
was made available by the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of
Crime, following a nationally competitive grant application process. A total of
$3.3 million will be available over the course of a three-year term. DPH will be
the lead agency on this project and Newton-Wellesley Hospital will provide the
physical location and infrastructure to support the Center. American Doctors
Online/PhoneDOCTORx will provide consultative services and telemedicine network
design.
“Newton-Wellesley
Hospital is proud to support the Patrick-Murray Administration in its efforts to
ensure that survivors of sexual assault receive expert, compassionate care,"
said Erin Miller, coordinator of the domestic violence and sexual assault
program at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
"This
amazing telemedicine pilot will increase access to forensically sound, victim
focused services for adolescents immediately following an assault," said Tom
King, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Children's Alliance. "Once again,
the MA SANE program is leading the national conversation while providing the
best course to healing for the most vulnerable citizens of the Commonwealth."
“All
survivors deserve the access to the expertise SANE brings together; forensic
evidence collection, nursing, and advocacy," said Gina Scaramella, Executive
Director, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC). "BARCC is honored to be part
of the grant project and we are excited to discover the ways that these
components of SANE can come together via technology to help survivors in
underserved communities."
DPH has
long worked with community partners to improve the quality of medical care for
sexual assault victims in Massachusetts. In 1997, DPH created the Massachusetts
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, whose core mission is to provide
compassionate, comprehensive, and coordinated expert forensic nursing care to
patients/victims seeking treatment following a sexual assault. To date, more
than 16,000 patients have been treated by a total of 105 trained SANE providers
within the state of Massachusetts.
This
three-year grant includes three distinct phases of implementation. In the first
year, the funded agencies will develop the necessary infrastructure and
capabilities to deliver quality telenursing services, and identify partner
health care sites that work within the four targeted populations. The second and
third years of the grant will be focused on implementation of high-quality
telenursing care to those nationwide populations.
More
information on the Massachusetts SANE program can be found at www.mass.gov/dph/sane. More information
on the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime can be found at http://www.justice.gov/.