Advocates warn Des Moines County lacks local SANE nurses; board proclaims Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Summary
DVIP/RBAP told supervisors the county has no local SANE nurses and often must transport victims to Iowa City for exams; the board approved a proclamation for Sexual Assault Awareness Month and advocates requested funding and awareness.
The Des Moines County Board on March 31 approved a proclamation recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month after hearing from Brianne Hellmers of the Domestic Violence Intervention Program/RBAP.
"We do not currently have any nurses in Des Moines County, so we have to transport victims from Des Moines County all the way up to Iowa City to the nurses up there to be able to undergo these," Hellmers said, describing service gaps for sexual assault nursing exams (SANE). She told the board DVIP/RBAP served 28 assault clients last fiscal year and provided 543 services across victim advocacy, counseling and support, and said the group is the only shelter in Iowa that offers emergency pet sheltering to help people leave abusive households.
Hellmers asked supervisors to consider funding and to help publicize events planned during awareness month: an April 7 Clothesline Project at the Burlington Public Library and an April 8 donation-drive "Shop for Survivors" at local Hy-Vee stores that will gather nine months' worth of supplies for shelters.
Board members thanked the group for local services and approved the proclamation. Officials discussed barriers to having SANE nurses locally, including the cost and certification burden on hospital nurses, and noted regional efforts are under way to expand access.
The board also read and approved a separate proclamation naming April National Child Abuse Prevention Month and discussed community prevention programs.
AI generated
The text on this page is AI generated. Summaries, highlights, analysis, and video transcripts are all produced from the original source material.
AI can make mistakes, so if you spot one, and we will fix it for everyone.
Note: the source content is unaltered by us. Any content source we link to, be it a video, an audio recording, or a document, is presented exactly as its publisher released it. That publisher is usually a government body, sometimes an individual official or another organisation.
