by Tawsha Brinkley-Davenport
The McCurtain Memorial Hospital will soon have a newly updated SANE (Sexual Abuse Nurse Examination) room for sexual abuse survivors in the county.
With a new SANE room, it will help the survivor feel more at ease when coming to the hospital to be interviewed and examined after a traumatic event.
The new SANE room will be on the first floor where the foot traffic is less visible.
When the survivor arrives, he or she will be taken to the room that looks like a comfortable living room.
“The idea would be the SANE nurse would be able to take them into the room and conduct the interview process about what has taken place,” said Brian Whitfield, CEO of the hospital.
The nurse stays with the survivor throughout the process.
“The room is a solid room where police and investigators can be part of that questioning process as well,” said Whitfield.
The hospital has had the program for years.
“We wanted to update where we have the program at because it has been located on the third floor. The current room is not well lit. To me that would be pretty scary for a sexual assault survivor to be taken to a not well lit, abandoned floor of a hospital. I just don’t think it is very inviting, and the SANE. nurse agrees. Those that are abused, now won’t have to walk by everyone, get on an elevator, walk down another hall just to be interviewed. And I want to stress they are not victims they are indeed survivors,” said Whitfield.
SANE rooms with this type of setting have shown that it helps immensely to the survivors during a stressful situation. Their dignity can be preserved along with showing them compassion in a peaceful setting.
As for family members entering the SANE room with the survivor, it is up to the circumstances of each case.
“That depends on who is the alleged perpetrator? How cooperative is the survivor going to be with those individuals present? There are a lot of factors which go into it, whether family members are brought into the living area of the SANE room,” said Whitfield.
After the interview process is completed, the survivor will enter an exam room which is connected to the interview room. In the exam room only, the certified SANE nurse will be alone with the survivor, no one else.
“We only have one SANE nurse in the entire county and her name is Penny Rodgers. You have to be certified as a SANE nurse to perform this job. It takes an additional 10 to 12 months to complete the training. Penny not only covers McCurtain County, but several other counties as well,” said Whitfield.
In the exam room, Rodgers will perform the physical exam. She will collect evidence and clothing then bag it for the forensic OSBI agents to be sent to Oklahoma City for testing.
All of this will help in preserving the dignity of the survivor and help in prosecuting the offender.
Once the examination is completed, the survivor immediately qualifies for the Oklahoma Victims’ Act of Oklahoma funding.
“There is funding that is there for the counseling of the mental health component for the survivor and any treatment following,” said Whitfield.
Another part of the program is the SANE nurse can speak with the physician on call at the emergency room at the time.
“She can explain, for example, this individual was sexually assaulted by say a father or an uncle or whatever. And they have requested the nurse to administer certain medications in order to prevent a pregnancy,” said Whitfield.
This decision is done at the request of the survivor.
“Then there is a coordination between the SANE nurse and law enforcement, and the District Attorney’s office, where together they coordinate to take this survivor a safe location when there is immediate danger,” said Whitfield.
The SANE room is for everybody, adult, children, male or female.
It is recommended that a survivor be seen by a SANE nurse within two days after an assault. If a victim needs medical emergency services first, the victim will be seen in the emergency room, then by the SANE nurse.
Rodgers performs between 50 to 75 exams per year.
“That is just at our hospital. That is not counting the youth survivors that are treated at the Kidz Kottage here in Idabel,” said Whitfield.
Kidz Kottage is a non-profit organization serving child abuse survivors in McCurtain County. Their services include forensic interview and pediatric S.A.N.E. examinations.
“We need to be working toward getting another SANE nurse, because there definitely is a need,” said Whitfield.
Funding for the two new rooms is being planned to come from private donations first.
“I am just right now soliciting donations to renovate the two new rooms. The cost for the renovation is $4,500. It really isn’t very much. Our maintenance team we have will do the work,” said Whitfield.
He hopes to have it finished within 30 days.
He already has the equipment, the exam tables and more.
Whitfield wants the interview room to have a peaceful home feeling, not cold and clinical.
“I want to work with our foundation and try to set some funds aside for this project. So, for example, if Penny does some 300-something exams a year, the Oklahoma Victims’ Act will pay only if the victim consents to the exam. The problem being is, according to Penny, there are over 60 percent of the survivors that don’t consent to the exam,” said Whitfield.
The reasons are varied; sometimes the perpetrator is a family member. Sometimes the survivor simply chooses not to because of the long process of getting to court.
“I imagine it is all a very demeaning process. The survivor has to be interviewed by many individuals. And keep in mind that the survivor has now become a crime scene. Everything about that person is being torn apart. The interview and exam can take 10 to 12 hours straight,” said Whitfield.
Those that refuse to have the exam, rape kit done, the officials try to talk them into considering doing it in a compassionate way. They explain to them it could happen again to them. It could happen to other people as well. Their exam could prevent future attacks on other women or men.
“This is very important for us to have this for our community. Our citizens need this, it is that important. We are getting a lot of good feedback from a lot of people about the SANE room,” said Whitfield.
Other updates to the hospital
Over the last several months Whitfield has been tirelessly working on providing McCurtain Memorial Hospital with much-needed improvements.
To date the entire first floor has been renovated. The entire hospital has new flooring and new LED lighting.
“The first floor is completed. We redid the entire gift shop and added a coffee bar that is open to the community. We added a Wi-Fi station to it as well with bistro tables. I set it up almost like a little coffee bar. We were doing $150 a week in sales at the gift shop now that amount has increased to $600 a week. The Wi-Fi station is so big for the community,” said Whitfield.
The administration office has been moved to the first floor right in front.
“It is surrounded by glass much like our gift shop. It is awesome it just got finished,” said Whitfield.
His office is now what they call the fishbowl.
“I am out front where everybody can see. We installed glass just like the gift shop is and we extended it out onto the sidewalk. My office is a solid glass fishbowl,” said Whitfield.
Then the chapel is finished that we dedicated to local businessman’s Larry Brinkley’s honor.
“The chapel is 575 foot now. The new chapel is located next to the hospital’s Emergency room waiting area where the business office used to be. It has new carpet, fresh walls, ceiling tile, LED track lighting, new country chapel décor and is adorned by a new wooden cross that was donated by hospital employee Mildred Carrell, in memory of her son, Perry,” said Whitfield.
The motors on the elevators have been replaced.
“The deal on the elevators is I did retro it all. Also there has been a complete visual upgrade. But the reality is I can’t do anything with those elevators. The new elevators are much bigger and the shaft that we have won’t support a new elevator. The new striker beds will not even go into that elevator. They are too long. The deal is too, if you change the floor plan or do anything you lose your grandfathered in stuff on a lot of your old things. Then you have to bring everything up to ADA code standards.
The new updated McCurtain County Memorial Hospital gift shop. (Contributed photo.)
Second floor
“We have funding to do around 20 rooms. So far nine of those are completed. So, we are almost finished with half of the renovations on the second floor. The patient rooms they look amazing,” said Whitfield.
The old chapel on the second floor will be renovated into a family room.
“I am having the glass in the old chapel tinted this week. So, it won’t be so hot in that room. I installed a brand-new a/c system as well,” said Whitfield.
When Whitfield completes the second floor, he will begin work on the third floor.
“For the third floor my goal is to revitalize the entire third floor for a surgery center and specialty offices for specialty clinics. The goal is that we will never be able to do open heart surgery or brain surgery. But the goal is to expand Dr. Brown’s general surgery. We want to be able to utilize that floor for post- op and pre- op. Sterile processing and all of that is already up on that floor. So, it just makes sense to get everything moved up there. It will utilize the space and on our cost report I can show that it is a patient care area rather than just dead space. Which we don’t receive reimbursement for dead space,” said Whitfield.
Exterior
“We are about to begin to paint the exterior of the hospital. This will seal it up and stop all of the leaks.
The new color will be on a couple of different gray scales to make it look more modern,” said Whitfield.
He is also adding all new lighted signage outside with new lighting on the walking track too.
“We are doing new landscaping, parking lot and the clinic parking lot too. My goal is to be finished with everything by August and September.
He has had some criticism about updating the hospital at this time. But the positive reviews more than outweigh the negative.
The rooms in the hospital had never been updated for instance. The same wallpaper from the late 1970s was still on the border of the walls. Whitfield is the first to overhaul the entire building.
“Whitfield is proud of the new improvements.
The improvements look amazing. Everyone should come and visit it. Oh, my goodness, the feedback from the community has been amazing. We are really proud of all of the improvements and the ability to provide a new SANE room for survivors,” added Whitfield.
