Five Good Shepherd Medical Center nurses have completed training as Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) as part of Oregon’s Sexual Assault Task Force (SATF).
The SATF is a multi-disciplinary program focused on sexual assault prevention, victim advocacy, medical forensic care, criminal prosecution and sex offender management and treatment.
Amber Davis, Susan Stephens, Anne Peterson, Melissa Pridgen, and Sherri Colton have all completed SANE training. The SANE training program includes a number of supervised patient examinations; riding along with or reviewing cases with law enforcement officials; observing offender court proceedings; and observing the operations of the district attorney’s office and survivor advocacy program.
Beginning this year, only SANE-trained nurses will be allowed to conduct sexual assault examinations. Good Shepherd will have a SANE-trained nurse on call during periods where a trained nurse is not on duty. The nurses are working toward full SANE certification, which is granted upon the successful completion of post-training testing.
Good Shepherd erroneously reported the nurses as SANE-certified in a recent community newsletter mailing.
“That was my mistake,” said public relations director Mark Ettesvold. “There’s an important distinction between ‘trained’ and ‘certified.’I should have made sure I had my facts straight.”
