Yukon nurses get course on caring for sexual assault victims

An expert in forensic nursing is in Whitehorse to teach nurses how to treat victims of sexual violence.

Sheila Early teaches at the B.C. Institute of Technology. She said nurses need to have special skills to treat patients who've been sexually assaulted.

Early's first experience with a victim of sexual assault came in 1971 when she was a young emergency room nurse. She helped a doctor administer a rape kit.

"My nursing response to her was I held her hand while the doctor did all the things that this kit asked us to do, in the presence of police officer, a male police officer, while she quietly cried," said Early.

Early said that experience motivated her to learn how best to help victims of sexual violence.

So 20 years ago, she developed the first 'sexual assault nurse examiner' program in B.C. Early says nurses need to know how to respond to victims - and they must care about the patient.

"To care about each one individually, and to give up that power that nurses have. Nurses and physicians and law enforcement are all very powerful people. This is a case where we all have to step back and say 'this issue belongs to our patient or client'...we give them the knowledge to make choices that are best for them."

She said people who have been sexually assaulted dont always want to go to the police andthere needs to be a safe place for these victims to go for help. Early added that nurses must work to engender trust, and thats particularly important in small communities.

The course continues this week in Whitehorse.