A team led by Jessica Landry, DNP, FNP-BC, Program Coordinator, BSN-DNP Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing, successfully competed for a $1.3 million grant to increase access to certified sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) for people who have been sexually assaulted in 12 southeast Louisiana parishes. The Health Resources & Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services awarded the three-year grant, which began September 30, 2018.
“Currently, 1.3 million residents share one sexual assault nurse examiner certified to manage adult cases of sexual assault, and there are no SANEs certified for pediatric cases,” notes Dr. Landry, who is the grant’s principle investigator. “Of the 10 rural parishes surrounding the New Orleans area, none have SANE services available locally. When a resident is sexually assaulted, he/she must be transported up to 90 miles to either Jefferson or Orleans Parish. In addition to providing SANE training, we plan to work with rural parishes to increasingly implement the Community-based Model, where SANE practitioners are centralized and travel to local hospitals to complete forensic sexual assault examinations rather than requiring victims to come to them.”