Texas Health Cleburne unveils SAFE room

Apr. 13—When someone who has been sexually assaulted arrives in a hospital's emergency room, it's not often a comfortable environment. It's bright, there is a lot of hustle and bustle and often loud.

But that is no longer the case for those who arrive at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne. Last week, the hospital unveiled it's new Sexual Assault Forensic Exam, a dedicated space for caring for victims of sexual assault.

"Victims come in and they're scared, they're confused," said Cindy Burnette, director of Texas Health's SANE program. "They're often embarrassed about a crime that was perpetrated against them. and so that on top of the hormones that go on in the brain, when a trauma happens, just puts them in overload."

Quiet and private with its own bathroom, the SAFE Room provides an atmosphere of compassion and healing where sexual assault victims can be interviewed and examined by a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. The exam area includes all equipment needed for the potential collection of evidence that could aid in the investigation and prosecution of their case.

"A victim will come in just like everybody else through triage," Burnette said. "The only thing different is the minute that triage person hears that there's a sexual assault involved, that person is immediately brought back and not left in the lobby.

"From that point, they go through the normal triage because they may have a medical condition or an injury for the trauma that needs to be treated. They're going to go through that normal process of the triage part where they ask their medical history, their medications and all that."

After they are seen by an ER physician, they are brought to the SAFE room where SANE takes over.

No matter what time of the day it is, a SANE nurse shows up to treat the victim. If necessary someone from the Johnson County Family Crisis Center also shows up.

The room has already been used multiple times, and Burnette said all who were treated appreciated the warm touch.

"The minute that I came through the door with my victim, she said, 'Wow, this is nice,'" she said. "I was able to come in and say, 'Where do you want to sit? You get to choose.' That's why I say victim a lot. and I know the politically correct word is survivor. But when I see somebody, they're a victim. It's just happened to them. and for them to become a survivor, they have to take back control and little things like asking, 'Where do you want to sit?' gives them that start to that."

Statistics say that one in six women and one in 33 men will be a victim of sexual assault sometime during their life, Burnette said.

"Since 2018, we've actually done over 150 sexual assault exams here at the Cleburne rotation alone, which seems like a lot for our community," she said. "We have already treated three in this [SAFE] room."

By Texas law, adult victims of sexual assault do not have to report the crime.

"Adults do not have to report this crime," Burnette said. "But that does not mean that they can't get the same exam and the same medical care. They're still treated the same. We still collect evidence. But under the law, we can submit that evidence anonymously to a DPS warehouse that stores it for five years. and if they decide to come back, and they want to report this crime, now law enforcement has a kit they can get to the test."

Burnette said they have had several women later come back and ask for their evidence kit, or police have contacted them to obtain them.

When victims come to the hospital for sexual assault care, they do not receive a single bill.

"By state law the forensics portion is automatically paid for by [the Crime Victims' Compensation Program,] but their medical portion also qualifies for that."

Each victim arrives at the hospital with a resource kit including information about every resource available to them as a survivor of sexual assault. It includes advocacy resources as rape crisis centers, explains what their medical forensic examination entails.

The SANE program was originally only instituted at Texas Healths in Dallas and Fort Worth. So victims who reported to other hospitals had to be transferred. Donations from the Moody Foundation and the Caruth Fund allowed the expansion of the program to other Texas Health hospitals.

SANE nurses are registered nurses with at least two years experience who go through an intense training and clinical classes to learn about to perform exams, do evidence collection and become certified.

The Texas Health Cleburne SAFE Room was made possible by a donation from the Black & White Gala Foundation.

"The Black & White Gala committee graciously supported this vision and because of their very generous donation, we were able to move forward and create this calm and quiet yet functional area," Texas Health Cleburne Chief Nursing Officer Vicki Brockman said.

Beverly Archer, a Black & White Gala committee member, said they were glad to fund such a worthwhile project for the hospital.

"It is definitely an asset for our community," Archer said. "The room has a very warm feel for those women and men who have gone through trauma, away from the normal activity of an emergency room. It is a beautiful area with calming colors, new furniture and its own exam area."

Julia's Sacred Space

A closet inside the room will be dedicated as "Julia's Sacred Space" in memory of Julia Wells, an 18-year-old Cleburne woman who lost her life due to human trafficking on May 2, 2018.

"As an organization we decided to call the closet actually a sacred space for my sister, Julia, who was killed while being trafficked in 2018," Breaking the Chains of Human Trafficking Vice President Gwendolyn Wilson said. "Julia was autistic and often overwhelmed and over emotional, and in these times she would go into her closet and tell everyone to leave her alone in her sacred space. That's where she got to decompress. So that's why we call these closets Julia's Sacred Space because we wanted to give a piece of her to all of those victims as hope for their future."

In addition to creating the closets, Wilson and her mother, Mary Wells, have been instrumental in working with state Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, in creating legislation to help combat human trafficking.

"Texas representative DeWayne Burns has been a great help and a voice for human trafficking education and prevention," Wilson said. "In 2021, my family worked alongside him to get the Julia Wells Act passed through and as you saw in 2022, it became not just a hope but reality.

Texas House Bill 985, also known as the Julia Wells Act, includes information about human trafficking prevention in the curriculum of driving safety and driver education courses.

Burns was on hand to see the unveiling of the new room.

"The only thing that comes to mind for me and hearing you speak Cindy with what you deal with and what this family has done and the vision you have is that I think about the example of Jesus," Burns said. "That was probably his greatest example was where there's a need, fill it, and that's exactly what you all have done here today. There was a need here, and you all filled it. My kudos and appreciation to the folks that thought of this and had the foresight to look and see where the need was."

Wilson said BTC will continue to combat human trafficking or human trafficking through Texas Legislature, educational events and resources for survivors.

BTC donated personal hygiene supplies and new clothing to be stored inside the closet for sexual assault victims, whose own clothing must often be collected in such investigations.

"Before we had Julia's closet, either the Family Crisis Center would bring clothes or we would scrounge Walmart," Burnette said. "Zonta of Johnson County also gave us a lot of donations before Julia's closet came along."

For more information about Breaking the Chains, visit btctx.info.