East County Exam Room Sought for Rape Victims

Outraged that rape victims must travel 45 minutes to Ventura to receive medical exams that will hold up in court, east county officials are fighting to bring that service closer to home.

For the last decade, Ventura County Medical Center has been the only local hospital with the space and equipment for “medicolegal” examinations. These are in-depth exams performed by certified nurses that include the collection of swabs, fingernail scrapings, microscopic photographs and pubic hair combs necessary for a sexual assault prosecution.

That could soon change.

A group of east county public officials and law enforcement representatives says its top priority for 1998 is securing medicolegal exams at Simi Valley Hospital for rape and child abuse survivors in the east county.

“I’m 100% supportive of this,” said Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams, whose department sees two or three rape victims a month. “We’re trying to minimize [the victim’s] trauma. Right now, the time involved for this examination is an hour and a half just in driving. Wouldn’t it be more compassionate and empathetic to offer this [examination] at a local facility?”

Alan Rice, Simi Valley Hospital’s chief executive officer and president, has already volunteered to set aside free space for the county’s four contract sexual assault nurse examiners--one of whom is on call 24 hours a day.

Simi Valley City Councilman Paul Miller, Supervisor Judy Mikels and Adams are ready to canvass local service groups for necessary hospital supplies--a $15,000 to $20,000 microscopic camera called a colposcope and evidence storage lockers. The officials hope to hammer out details in a January meeting.

“This has been an issue for me for years,” said Miller, a former Simi Valley police chief. “It just seems to me that there is no reasonable service [for victims] in this end of the county. . . . This isn’t just important to Simi Valley, it’s important to Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.”

Of the 175 medicolegal exams performed last year, about 45 were for victims living in the east county, said registered nurse Natalie Erickson, the co-director of the sexual assault nurse examiner program.

She and three other nurses perform all of Ventura County’s medicolegal examinations--which cost law enforcement agencies $250 for a child and $300 for an adult. The exams take place in a designated room somewhat removed from the hospital’s bustling public emergency room.

“Being in the hospital and around nurses makes it a safe place for victims,” Erickson said. “We have a victim’s advocate here and only women in the room. The police officer waits outside.”

While being called to Simi Valley Hospital would mean a long drive in the middle of the night for Erickson and two of her colleagues who are west county residents, it is worth the trouble to accommodate victims, she said.

“I think it would be beneficial to the Simi Valley Police Department and to the victims,” she said. “We have told everyone that we’re willing to travel if they can set something up over there.”

Victim’s rights advocates and Sheriff’s Department Cmdr. Kathy Kemp, who oversees police operations in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark, also endorse the concept.

“The concern is providing the best service we can to victims in Ventura County,” said Susan Becker, the rape crisis program manager for the Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. “This can only help our services.”

Medicolegal exams have been conducted at Ventura County Medical Center for about two decades.

About a decade ago, St. Johns Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and Columbia Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks stopped offering the service because it took doctors and nurses away from other emergency room patients, Erickson said.

In recent months, Kemp has been negotiating with Los Robles for space and equipment for medicolegal exams too. Kemp said she is willing to work with Simi Valley officials to raise money for an east county medicolegal examination room in either city.

“This could help in some respects with us too,” she said. “This team of nurses provides an outstanding job of giving us the physical evidence to get a successful prosecution.”

Simi Valley Hospital’s Rice said his hospital is willing to do whatever it can to help in the endeavor.

“We’ve been working for some time with the local police department and county to ensure these exams can be done locally,” he said. “We’re probably a few days or a few weeks away from a firm announcement.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FYI

Sexual assault victims seeking counseling and services can call the Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence’s hotline at 656-1111. Counseling in Spanish is available at (800) 300-2181. People interested in training to become victim advocates can call 654-8141.