HALIFAX—Following complaints of gaps in health care for survivors of sexual assault, and difficulties in recruiting nurses to provide more supports, Nova Scotia is expanding services to some rural areas and will soon have every hospital in the province equipped to support survivors.

A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) is a specially trained registered nurse who provides confidential support to survivors within the first five days after a sexual assault. SANE services include medical and forensic exams, collection of forensic evidence — which can be passed on to police if the survivor wishes — and expert testimony in court.

Health Minister Randy Delorey announced Wednesday that 24-hour SANE services had launched in the Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville and the South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater. He said his department was also one step closer to having SANE services available at every hospital.

The Department of Health and Wellness has partnerships with non-profit organizations to manage SANE programs, including the Tri-County Women’s Centre, which handles the two new programs in the Annapolis Valley and on the South Shore.

The province has been trying to launch SANE services on the South Shore since last fall but struggled to recruit enough nurses.

Shana Vidito, the co-ordinator for Tri-County Women’s Centre SANE programs, said that was a symptom of a workforce that’s generally stretched.

“We had a little bit of trouble recruiting South Shore nurses. I think it mostly speaks just to the availability of nurses, especially in rural areas,” Vidito told reporters Wednesday at Province House.

Most nurses who are SANE trained already have full-time jobs, and when they’re called to support and treat survivors they’re often putting in overtime hours, according to Vidito.

“Nurses are maxed out, they’re working overtime — there’s not a lot of extra nurses willing to pick up extra shifts,” Vidito said.

Still, Tri-County Women’s Centre now has a roster of 22 nurses for its region and a wait-list for SANE training, which Vidito attributed to “a lot of word of mouth of what the program is doing in other areas.”

Also part of Wednesday’s announcement, the Department of Health and Wellness has struck a deal with VON to manage the remaining SANE programs in Colchester and Cumberland counties, East Hants and the Eastern Shore.

The services in those regions haven’t launched, as nurses still have to undergo training, but Delorey said the VON contract will eventually close all remaining gaps for SANE services.

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The province endured scrutiny for those gaps last fall, after a 22-year-old woman was turned away from the Colchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro. As reported by the Truro Daily News, the young woman went to the hospital seeking counselling and treatment following a sexual assault and was given pamphlets, but no care. Her mother drove her to the nearest hospital with a SANE program, an hour away.

Delorey said all emergency rooms are now required to accept each and every sexual assault survivor and, if the hospital doesn’t have a SANE program, transfer the survivor to the nearest health centre that does.

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