The Student Health Center received a $15,000 gift this past August from the Irene W. and C. B. Pennington Foundation to continue funding their sexual assault prevention, education and support program.
Ashley Granger, wellness education coordinator over the Health Center’s sexual assault programs, said the gift will be used primarily to provide supplies for the Sexual Assault Victims Advocacy program and the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners program, which are not supported through the Health Center’s fees that students pay.
The SAVA program teaches University personnel how to provide guidance and support to students who identify themselves as survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. SAVA counselors educate and assist sexual assault survivors with a range of options: from filing a police report to academic assistance and accommodations.
Since its inception in 2000, the SAVA program has helped nearly 60 students as recently as this past week. The program has grown from about 12 trained SAVA counselors in four campus departments in 2005 to its current size of more than 30 trained SAVA counselors in about 20 campus departments. “You may find that the person you speak to all the time or the person that schedules your classes or your favorite professor is SAVA-trained,” Granger said. Granger said she hopes to expand the program so there is a SAVA in every department of the University that serves students. The SANE program provides rape survivors with free medical exams, evidence kits and prescriptions for sexually transmitted diseases. The SANE program also trains nurses to work with survivors in a sensitive, nonjudgmental manner. Granger said the SANE program provides an alternative to treatment in a local hospital’s emergency room by an on-call doctor who may have no training on how to deal with rape survivors. Since its creation 14 months ago, the SANE nurse has helped six rape survivors with the latest case occurring this past December. The SANE program pays for all medical expenses the rape survivor may incur, which range from $500 to $800 because of the lab work, medicine and nurse’s time necessary to treat rape survivors. Granger said the state offers to reimburse survivors only if they decide to press charges. And if rape survivors go to a hospital, they will leave with a bill – something that won’t happen when a student visits the SANE nurse. Granger said the University is the only school in the state to provide this service to students, and there are about eight to 10 universities in the country that offer the SANE program. The University is also the only school that offers the SAVA program in its capacity, and Granger said she often receives inquiries about the setup of the University’s SAVA program. “The Student Health Center has done an incredible job providing programs for sexual assault survivors,” said Lori Bremen, President and CEO of the Pennington Foundation. Bremen said the Pennington Foundation has partnered with the Health Center for several years to promote peer-based health and sexual awareness education and is thrilled to be able to do so again. The Pennington Foundation has given $25,000 to the Student Health Center since 2005. The Pennington gift will also be used to bring speakers to campus. On April 2, Mark Lebeau, chief of the Chemistry Unit of the FBI laboratory, will host a public workshop on drug-facilitated sexual assault. The workshop will be approved as professional hours for attendees working in the sexual assault field. Lebeau will deliver a similar presentation at a conference in New Orleans the day before he comes to campus which will cost $500 to attend, but the University’s presentation is free. The gift will also be used to bring the “Can I kiss you” presentation on dating communication, respect and sexual assault awareness to campus and to buy equipment for the Rape Aggression Defense class – a 12-hour self-defense class for women.