What Does the SAFE Program Do?
The SAFE program reaches further than our St. Joseph emergency room, it spans far and wide. Many local and county organizations benefit from the combined tenure of 28 years of forensic nursing practice that we have in the hospital.
Hospital Emergency Care
The primary roles that they provide are: medical forensic exams, consultations for victims of sexual assault, elder abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, dependent adult abuse, and human trafficking.
Education and Training:
The St. Joseph Healthcare SAFE nurses conducted over 100 hours of education for various community organizations such as The Alpha program at Brewer High School, various law enforcement agencies such as Penobscot County Sheriff's Office, various EMS agencies such as University of Maine Volunteer Ambulance Crews, Husson and UMaine Nursing student, EMCC Criminal Justice students, Rape Response and Partners for Peace advocates, each of our multidisciplinary teams such as the Domestic Violence Taskforce and the Child Advocacy Center, State of Maine Elder Abuse Summit, and the Wabanaki Women's Coalition Tribal Summit. To name a few.
Outreach:
Tabling at area events such as Bangor Pride, Human Trafficking Not Here conference at Bangor Advent Christian Church and It’s Happening Right Here event at Bangor Church of Nazarene, participation on the State of Maine SAFE Advisory Board and being a key member of a planning committee to create a domestic violence course for health care providers in Maine.
St. Joseph Healthcare SAFE nurses continue to be present and active on all multi-disciplinary teams including the Penobscot & Piscataquis Counties Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Sex & Labor Trafficking Action Response Team (START), and Child Advocacy Centers, the Penobscot County Domestic Violence Taskforce (DVTF) and the Washington-Hancock SART.
The bellow video features lead SAFE nurse Keri Kapaldo talking about the program.
