Check Due Today for Rape Services Center

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) will deliver a check for $500,000 to Mission Community Hospital today for the creation of the first rape treatment and services center in the San Fernando Valley.

Funding for the Sexual Assault Response Team, or SART, was approved by the state Legislature last month.

Advocates for victims of sexual assault say that team programs--comprising social workers, doctors, nurses and police--increase the speed and efficiency of treatment for rape victims. Now, many victims must wait, sometimes several hours, in emergency rooms while other patients are treated.

About 500 rapes were reported in the Valley last year.

The quality of treatment also has been at issue, most recently in the case of a 4-year-old girl who deputies say was assaulted by her 12-year-old cousin.

Deputies allege that the girl was kept waiting 90 minutes in the emergency room of Lancaster Community Hospital earlier this week and after waiting, was treated roughly.

But Dr. Christine Daniel, the physician who attended the child, said the examination was delayed because of a hospital policy that requires the presence of a nurse from the Sexual Assault Response Team. While waiting for the nurse to arrive, the doctor treated others in the busy emergency room, she said.

“We had planned this appearance [at Mission Community Hospital] for this week and then, ironically, the Lancaster incident happened,” Katz said. “It was a very horrible coincidence, but it points to the need for this center.”

After presenting the check at 9:45 a.m., Katz will tour the facility that will house the program.