Expanding Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Services at TCRHCC

PROPOSAL ABSTRACT

        Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (TCRHCC) is an Indian Health Service (IHS) P.L. 93-638, Title V Self Governance tribal organization and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Coconino County, Arizona. TCRHCC provides comprehensive primary care, dental, behavioral health, and ancillary services through its 73-bed hospital and clinics in Tuba City, as well as a Federally Qualified Health Center Mobile Health Program that travels to remote corners of the service area.

TCRHCC serves an extremely impoverished, geographically dispersed population of Native Americans (Navajo, Hopi, and San Juan Southern Paiutes) in Coconino and Navajo Counties, AZ. TCRHCC’s immediate service area includes 36,000 covered lives, but the organization serves up to 100,000 individuals from surrounding Navajo and Hopi communities.

           Sexual violence victims face limited resources and barriers to services on the Navajo Nation reservation. TCHRCC is proposing to expand on its current a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program (SANE), and is uniquely positioned to provide the full spectrum of support services across a wide geographical area. As the only 24-hour Emergency Department and level 3 Trauma Center in this vast service area, TCRHCC is a main point-of-entry for sexual violence victims seeking care and provider of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) services.  
         If funded, TCRHCC’s will further enhance the level of support and services available to sexual assault victims by improving TCRHCC’s capacity to train and mentor SANEs through the use of a U.S. Department of Justice National Sexual Assault training standards and reduce the level of staff turnover by recruiting trained examiners that are not on temporary assignments.  Further, TCRHCC will review our existing policies and procedures to include advocacy services and strengthen existing SANE policies and protocols to support the expansion of services.  TCRHCC will further expand their use and awareness of their SANE program by utilizing their existing social media and communication platforms to promote the services offered by TCRHCC to the community relating to sexual violence. Lastly TCRHCC will utilize the funds provided through this grant to re-establish its SART program and expand its role and utilization within the community.

        TCRHCC is excited about this opportunity to improve the well-being of its patients who are sexual violence victims, and is the ideal organization to provide a seamless comprehensive support services - from outreach to advocacy to physical and mental health care – to the western Navajo population who has been significantly impacted by this issue.