Jennie Edmundson Hospital Rebuilds Its Sexual Assault Response Team

Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital has rebuilt its team of forensic nurses by providing trauma-informed training to a new group of employees.

Jennie Edmundson established a trained and active team of sexual assault nurse examiners in about 2009, but employee movement and turnover caused it to lapse from October 2021 to March 2023, said Nicole Brunow, BSN, RN, the sexual assault nurse examiner/sexual assault response team coordinator at Jennie.

“We had nurses that transferred out of the emergency room; we had nurses that left,” she said.

In addition, the ER manager left, Brunow said. Now, the hospital has three nurses trained to be SANEs.

The Methodist Heidi Wilke SANE/SART Survivor Program, which provides specialized, compassionate care to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking and elder abuse, is already in place at Methodist Hospital and Methodist Women’s Hospital in Omaha.

“Every survivor deserves timely care close to home,” Brunow said. “Although our doors have always been open to survivors, we owed our community more. Now, Jennie has the ability to provide survivors specialized treatment, resources, safety plans and assistance in reporting to the appropriate agencies if they so choose. It’s all right here for them. We’re here for them.”

The Daily Nonpareil: Jennie Edmundson Hospital Rebuilds Its Sexual Assault Response Team