EAST LOS ANGELES : AIDS, Rape Hot Lines Seek Volunteers

The East Los Angeles Sexual Assault Program and the Bilingual AIDS Hotline are seeking bilingual volunteers to answer emergency calls.

Separate training sessions will be held for the two hot lines over the next few weeks.

The East Los Angeles Sexual Assault Program’s 24-hour rape hot line, (800) 585-6231, founded in 1974, will hold eight training sessions, beginning Saturday, at the Huntington Park Recreation Center, 3401 E. Florence Ave. The sessions will meet on Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Volunteers will be trained in crisis intervention, rape awareness and how to accompany victims on visits to the police and hospital.

The nonprofit service receives 65 to 75 calls a month from throughout Los Angeles County, said Project Director Carolyn Marron. Calls are up from about 60 a month in the last year because of an increase in reported spousal rape and domestic violence, Marron said.

Many times, other rape crisis hot lines refer women to the East Los Angeles service because they do not have volunteers who speak Spanish, she said.

The sessions, taught by people in the medical, legal and law enforcement fields, as well as community agencies that help rape victims, will teach volunteers how to handle rape crisis calls.

The service is part of the nonprofit Avance Human Services, which also operates the Bilingual AIDS Hotline, (800) 400-7432. A six-week training session for that hot line will begin Wednesday at Santa Marta Hospital, 319 N. Humphreys Ave.

To sign up for volunteer training for either service, call (213) 526-5819.