A program to help sexual assault victims get adequate physical care in the tri-county area has been resurrected after four years.
One of the last efforts Sherry Caloia has made before she steps down as the district attorney for the Ninth Judicial District next month is re-establishing the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner — or SANE —program.
Her office announced this week that examinations for sex assault victims will be done at the Garfield County Public Health Office in Rifle. It’s at this location where three nurses are qualified to conduct SANE exams.
Prior to this, victims had to travel as far as Grand Junction or Summit County to get treated.
Caloia has been working on reestablishing the program since the summer. She said while she doesn’t anticipate the program to be used a lot, it’s nice to know it’s there.
“I don’t want to give people the impression that we have more crime than we do because this is a pretty safe community but boy when it happens it’s really nice not to send people all over the place and kind of re-victimize them,” she said in August.
