TOWSON, Md. — The month of April brings awareness to a situation that can be devastating for anyone at any age, sexual assault.
After a sexual assault, it may be hard to gather your thoughts, and emotions or even know what to do.
The Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson is one of the few facilities in Maryland there to offer help and guidance for anyone who goes through something so traumatic. They have what’s called the sexual assault forensic exam or “safe.”
"We never know when someone's going to come through those doors and need us but we're always ready to respond,” said Laura Clary who is the Clinical Program Manager of the GBMC SAFE program.
24/7, 365 days a year-- the doors are open for a victim of sexual abuse at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center to receive a sexual abuse forensic exam that is completely free.
"They can just walk in through the ED and say I’m here for SAFE and we immediately get dispatched and then we'll call in one of the nurses and then we'll call in one of the advocates as well,” said Clary.
For the nurse to collect the most evidence for the SAFE exam, it is important not to shower, don't use the restroom, don't eat or drink, and don't change your clothes. For those who may fear someone finding out, the service can be completely confidential. Not even the police will know unless you authorize it.
Clary said, "They can come in and completely have an exam under an anonymous number so we wouldn't have any identifiers about who they actually were on the outside of what we do.”
It's a traumatic experience and for some, it can take most of their life to come forward about a sexual assault.
"Especially when you're thinking about child sex abuse, a lot of kids don't disclose right away, right after their abuse. In fact, some studies show that people are more likely to come forward in their 50s and even later because they make the disclosure after their abuser has passed away,” said Clary.
Clary says while you don't have to release the findings about the sexual assault to anyone, there is a time frame to get the exam done after the sexual abuse happens. "The gold standard is really five days to come in and have that full medical forensic evidentiary exam, but we will see patients up to 15 days post assault or post abuse.”
It doesn't stop there-- after a victim goes through a SAFE exam the program provides crisis counseling, safety planning, danger assessment, and follow-up support.
Saturday, April 22nd GBMC will hold a fundraiser called "Walk A Mile in Their Shoes" at its GBMC campus to raise funds and awareness for their SAFE program. For more information about this go to https://www.classy.org/event/8th-annual-walk-a-mile-in-their-shoes/e439276
To Find other hospitals in the state that offer the SAFE program click on https://mcasa.org/survivors/getting-medical-attention
