December 23, 2015
Calgary Sexual Assault Response Team (CSART) members, from left — Pauline Head, Emergency Department Physician and Medical Director, Marcy Harris, Clinical Nurse Lead, CSART and Meg Sloane, Area Manager for CSART and DV (Domestic Violence) — share a private, safe area where team members typically sit with sexual assault survivors after they have visited an urgent care centre for treatment after an assault. The team provides safe, anonymous medical care and support for people referred to them by the urgent care centre.
Story and photo by Kerri Robins
Communities are coming together again this Christmas to offer help and support for people who experience the trauma and emotional stress of sexual assault and violence.
In partnership with the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund, the Calgary Health Trust has been chosen as one of 14 charitable organizations to receive a portion of the funds raised throughout the six-week campaign that ends Dec. 31.
The health trust will donate the funds to the Calgary Sexual Assault Response Team (CSART) of Alberta Health Services. This group of dedicated nurses, doctors and sexual assault workers provide specialized medical treatment as well as assist with any criminal proceedings and/or forensic work to help Calgary Police Service.
While CSART provides medical treatment at all times and in all cases, the program also provides confidential services, including:
Collection and storage of evidence is called the ‘third option’ program, which is not covered by Alberta Health Services because it goes beyond direct medical care. This is why donations are critical — it costs about $50,000 a year to provide this option.
In 2014, 84 people chose the third option program, and now the team wants to expand its services to rural communities. Donated funds will support a pilot project aimed at encouraging rural residents to come to Calgary for treatment in the third option program.
Meg Sloane, area manager for CSART and Domestic Violence says: “We know that it’s cost prohibitive for some people to get to Calgary for treatment, so donated funds will help rural residents access the third option program by providing them with safe transportation, accommodation and meals.”
While CSART started in 1996, the third option program only began in 2011. Donations to the third option program have also provided clothes for people to wear home.
Marcy Harris, clinical nurse lead on the team, says: “You can imagine that many victims come to us immediately, or soon after an incident, and need clothing because the police use their clothes as evidence.”
To be connected to CSART, people can visit any Calgary or rural urgent care, emergency department or health care provider within four days of being sexually assaulted.
Pauline Head, an emergency department physician who also serves as CSART medical director, adds: “The program is about choice, allowing survivors to guide their own care.”
While the team saw 266 women, men and children in 2014, this figure does not represent all of the sexual assaults that occurred in the Calgary area.
“Not all victims report to police or seek medical treatment,” says Sloane, “but statistics show nearly 40 per cent of women in Canada have experienced an incident of sexual assault in their lives, and less than one in 10 report a sexual assault to the police.”
The health trust provides funding for this important program throughout the year, and donations from the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund will supplement this effort.
Jill Olynyk, CEO of the Calgary Health Trust, says: “We are so pleased to be chosen as a recipient of the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund to support CSART. The work CSART does is so impactful to the lives of the individuals who require their services.
“Donor funding contributes to the many elements of this program that go above and beyond standard care. This is a great example of how donors can make a difference."
If you, or someone you know, has been sexually assaulted, or may be at risk of sexual violence, please call 403-955-6030, or visit the CSART website.
To make a donation, please visit calgaryhealthtrust.ca.
