The Sexual Assault Response Team, a cooperative program between Kalispell Regional Medical Center and local law enforcement agencies. It helps collect solid evidence against sex offenders and reduce trauma to victims.
The team is mobilized when a victim of sexual assault comes to the hospital for treatment. A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner collects forensic evidence when law officers bring in a victim of sexual assault. The victims’ advocate groups and the county attorney’s office are notified as well.
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners receive between 40 and 80 hours of training annually after their initial certification. We complete an average of 50 pediatric exams annually on children under 18. In the adult program, about 30 exams for evidence collection are performed on adult women.
An advantage of the team approach is that young victims of sexual assault only need to be interviewed once, rather than having to recount their experience over and over.
