Anna Jaques Hospital Offering Specialized Care for Sexual Assault Patients
Hospital designated Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner site by Mass DPH
Newburyport, MA. – Anna Jaques Hospital, part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, is partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to offer the services of the nationally recognized Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program in the community.
Anna Jaques Hospital recently earned designation from the state as a SANE site, which will allow the hospital to provide trauma-informed, expert forensic nursing care, guidance and support to patients who have experienced sexual assault.
“At Anna Jaques Hospital, we are committed to providing care to all patients, including compassionate, evidence-based care to those who have experienced sexual assault,” said Glenn Focht, MD, president of Anna Jaques Hospital. “Providing these services locally is another step forward in our promise to our patients and communities to be a needed resource within the local region.”
SANE experts are registered nurses who are specially trained and extremely knowledgeable in the care of sexual assault patients. They offer sensitive, compassionate care, while preserving the patient’s dignity and reducing psychological trauma.
Certified SANE experts will be on-call at Anna Jaques Hospital and serve as a resource for clinicians in the Emergency Department. They are available to conduct a medical-forensic exam to assess, document, and treat injuries; provide timely and thorough evidence collection, preservation and documentation; ensure that patients receive quick access to victim services; and provide access to crisis intervention to begin the healing process. Each patient chooses how they would like to be examined, what evidence they would like collected, and what type of follow-up they would like to pursue.
About Anna Jaques Hospital
Anna Jaques Hospital is a 119-bed not-for-profit community hospital serving the Merrimack Valley, North Shore and Southern New Hampshire. With 1,200 employees and more than 200 physicians on staff, Anna Jaques is recognized for delivering high quality community health care with an emphasis on patient satisfaction.
Anna Jaques Hospital is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians, and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through ground-breaking research and education.
