skip navigation
Implementing SANE Programs in Rural Communities: The West Virginia Regional Mobile SANE Projectsubnavigation
Publication Date:  June 2008
Printer-Friendly Option
About This E-Pub Message From the Director Acknowledgments About the Author Related Links
minus icon
minus icon
minus icon
minus icon
minus icon
minus icon
Office of Justice Programs Seal   Office for Victims of Crime, Putting Victims First

A Rural SANE Solution

Where they exist, SANE programs have raised the standard of care for patients presenting as victims of sexual assault and improved the collection of forensic evidence. These programs have grown tremendously in metropolitan areas in the past decade and a half; it is now time to see parallel growth in rural areas. For such progress to occur, however, rural communities must overcome considerable challenges in starting and sustaining SANE programs.

The Regional Mobile SANE Project of West Virginia offers a viable model for developing SANE programs in rural areas where funding is limited and a minimal number of nurses are available. The work done by FRIS and regional stakeholders to plan and implement the West Virginia project has laid a foundation for other areas to follow. Rural communities are encouraged to use this replication guide to determine whether a mobile SANE project might work for them and to help them start planning their own.