Federal grant to help sexual assault survivors

Oct. 3—The Harbor in Astoria has been awarded a federal grant to improve services for sexual assault survivors in Clatsop County.

The amount — $695,519 over three years — is part of $3.2 million coming to Oregon through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden recently announced. The grant is for rural communities. Grant County received a similar grant.

The Harbor advocates for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Terri Steenbergen, the nonprofit's executive director, said the money will help The Harbor partner with the Astoria Birth Center & Family Medicine to train midwives as sexual assault nurse examiners.

Midwives already perform pelvic exams. As sexual assault nurse examiners, they will be able to treat survivors and collect forensic evidence. The goal is to have everyone on the birth center staff who has a nursing degree trained as examiners, Rebeckah Orton, the executive director of the birth center, said.

"I don't know of a birth center that's ever done this before," Orton said.

Cities all along the Oregon Coast lack sexual assault nurse examiners, Steenbergen said.

In Clatsop County, as The Astorian reported in June, the shortage represents a critical gap in services for sexual assault survivors. A forensic examiner is rarely available at local hospitals, which often tell survivors to go to Portland two hours away. A forensic exam itself can last several hours. Many survivors get discouraged and give up.

"We have been working for a while now to try and figure out a solution to this problem, not having enough, or any, sexual assault nurse examiners in the county," Steenbergen said.

The partnership will mean wellness and forensic exams can take place in a setting more comforting and discrete than an emergency room.

"Sometimes being in a hospital can be an added level of trauma," Orton said. "And I think it's really important that we're able to offer this service in a calm, serene environment that's not full of other people — it's not full of people who are sick, who are bleeding, who need other emergency services."

The birth center will offer 24-hour access to sexual assault nurse examinations in English and Spanish and serve survivors of any gender.

In addition, The Harbor plans to do outreach to let people know the center is available for people who have been assaulted and want to talk to someone. The Harbor can walk survivors through the process of visiting a hospital and let them know their rights — including their right to a free wellness or forensic exam, or both, in the days following an assault.

Among survivors who participated in a Harbor survey last year, the overwhelming majority — 83% — did not get medical care after their assault, and 30% were not aware they could seek services.

The Harbor also hopes to help survivors feel more comfortable about reporting what happened to them, and not just to law enforcement or to a hospital.

About 15% of participants in the Harbor survey said they did not report their assault to police. The shame and stigma attached to the experience are often too great, Steenbergen said.

"They believe it was their fault or they did something to deserve that," she said. "And obviously it is never anybody's fault for being assaulted — except for the person who does the assaulting."

Part of the grant, Steenbergen said, may go toward storytelling projects, or other art- or writing-based projects, with survivors. These activities can provide a measure of healing when someone decides not to report an assault, or when their reporting does not result in justice served, Steenbergen said.

"Whether or not somebody decides to report, or whether or not there is some sort of legal justice around a sexual assault, I think there's a lot of healing that needs to be done," she said.