Demand for Rape Kits High

At 12:01am on May 30, SafePlace began offering Sexual Assault Forensic Exams (SAFEs, colloquially known as rape kits). Two months later, the local nonprofit is the only place in Austin to get an exam by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE).

"Legally, the hospitals have to provide them, but in practicality they treat the patient and then transfer them to SafePlace for the exam," clarifies Lynne Skinner, the chief communications officer at LIFT Alliance (a partnership of Austin Children's Services and SafePlace). Lieutenant Gena Curtis, with Austin Police Department's Violent Crimes, confirms that all SAFEs are now being done at SafePlace.

Emily LeBlanc (Courtesy of SafePlace)

SafePlace, whose stated mission is to end sexual and domestic violence through safety, healing, prevention, and social change, decided to take on the responsibility of administering SAFEs back in the early days of 2014, just months after SB 1191 took effect in Sept. 2013. The bill required all hospital emergency rooms to offer sexual assault patients the option of a medical forensic exam on-site or a transfer to the community's designated facility, and to "ensure that emergency room personnel have a minimum amount of training to perform exams," says Emily LeBlanc, SafePlace's director of community advocacy.

SB 1191 highlighted several worrisome concerns including growing wait times for exams at local emergency rooms. "Members of SARRT [Travis County Sexual Assault Response and Resource Team] became so concerned with the gaps in service in Austin/Travis County that a special working group was formed to explore alternatives," says LeBlanc. While working with the special committee (consisting of representatives from APD, Travis County District Attorney's Office, St. David's Medical Center, Austin/Travis County Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, and more), SafePlace was approached about starting an additional SANE program to aid A/TC SANE – a group of nurses specifically certified to assist with sexual assault survivors within Travis County.

"We spent most of 2014 doing due diligence," explains LeBlanc. "The intent was to open a clinic at SafePlace where survivors could go for exams, and we would work alongside the [A/TC SANE] group that was then working out of St. David's." But last March, A/TC SANE announced that they would no longer be working with APD as of May 29, making it vital that SafePlace accelerate the start of their SAFE clinic. "We began working to open our doors on May 30 so there wouldn't be a gap in service to survivors. Though it was impossible to get the clinic built in such a short time, we converted a room at our shelter into an exam room where SAFEs are currently done," says LeBlanc.

Prior to opening their exam room, Skinner says the organization expected to perform 100 exams in their first year. By June 13 – just two weeks from the start date – SafePlace had served approximately 30 survivors. That's two to three people per day reporting being sexually assaulted in Travis County. As of July 20, LeBlanc says they've done 88 exams in total – with another 10 months to go before they hit their first anniversary.

SafePlace currently has 17 qualified nurses on-call 24/7 to conduct exams.