SANE PROGRAM RECOGNIZED — Hawaii County’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program has been recognized for its achievements. Displaying the award, presented by the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, are, from left, Fred Ferguson-Brey, president of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center Advisory Board; Phoebe Lambeth; Catherine L. Stevens; and Detective Randall Medeiros.
HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
JUVENILE AID SECTION
LIEUTENANT LARRY R. WEBER
PHONE: 961-2254
DECEMBER 28, 1999
MEDIA RELEASE
Hawaii County’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program has been recognized for its achievements by the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children.
The SANE program received the “Pu’uhonua” award at Kapiolani’s Sex Abuse Treatment Center’s 1999 Annual Awards Banquet, held November 21, 1999, at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu.
Accepting the award were Phoebe Lambeth, former chief operating officer at the Hilo Medical Center; Catherine L. Stevens, Hawaii County SANE program coordinator; and Detective Randall Medeiros of the Hilo Juvenile Aid Section. Both Stevens and Medeiros are with the Hawaii County Police Department.
The SANE program was started in 1995 after an 18-year-old sexual assault victim waited five hours at the Hilo Medical Center to be examined by a physician. After numerous attempts to locate a physician failed, the victim left the hospital without being given an examination.
As a result of the incident, Lambeth, director of hospital nurses at the time, lead the effort to form a multidisciplinary group, the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), to address the need for immediate and appropriate medical care for Big Island sexual assault victims.
Since there was insufficient interest from local physicians to conduct examinations, the team arranged to train registered nurses to examine sexual assault victims.
The SANE program began nationally in the 1970s in response to circumstances similar to the one experienced in Hilo in 1995.
In 1998, Hawaii County held a SART/SANE training institute and is currently planning a second institute. Interested nurses on the Big Island and from other counties are invited to attend.
Registered nurses with at least two years of clinical experience who are interested in becoming a sexual assault nurse examiner should call Stevens at 961-2255.
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