YWCA plans sexual assault exam space

YWCA Westman is in the early stages of developing a trauma-informed space where survivors of sexual assault or intimate partner violence can choose to be examined and access care in a community setting rather than at a hospital.

The organization plans to build the new space on its 11th Street lot where it operates a 24-7 emergency shelter for women and children, as well as counselling services and various programming to support survivors.

The goal is to create an examination room where a forensic nurse can complete a sexual assault evidence kit and offer testing for pregnancy, sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections and physical assessments, said YWCA Westman’s executive director, Lois Ruston.

“These spaces just don’t exist in the region of southwestern Manitoba,” she said.

“It could be a transformational project for the entire region.”

The building would also include rooms for law enforcement to interview survivors in a way that may feel safer and more comfortable as opposed to sitting in “cold chairs in a police station,” she said.

The project is in partnership with the Brandon Police Service and Prairie Mountain Health and will provide a pathway for survivors to navigate the services and supports they need to heal.

“I think what hasn’t happened to date in this region … is looking at how health and law enforcement and justice — and then service providers such as ourselves — can work together to provide better care and support to survivors,” Ruston said.

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate confirmed she is working with the organization and is “supportive of their future programming plans.”

Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates was unable to provide a comment on Friday.

The YWCA Westman has raised nearly $700,000 and estimates another $200,000 is needed to move beyond the pre-development phase and begin construction drawings by early 2027, Ruston said.

“It’s a big project and it’s a little ways out, but … we hear and see and feel the need,” Ruston said.

“Our organization is really passionate about being part of that solution.”

Anecdotally, Ruston said she has heard of cases where survivors in Westman have had to travel to Winnipeg to see a forensic nurse because a specialized nurse wasn’t available to provide that level of care at the Brandon Regional Health Centre.

Last month, a patient who had been sexually assaulted went to the emergency room at the Brandon hospital and was told to come back on a different day because no trained nurses were available to provide an examination.

The patient had to drive more than two hours to receive the care they needed at either the Health Sciences Centre or Klinic Community Health.

“That’s why this has really come to the forefront as a priority as part of this project, and why we’re working to partner with these other agencies that are truly involved in that front-line service delivery,” Ruston said.

There are eight forensic nurses in Brandon who are trained through the province’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program. Outside the city, these services can be provided by rural doctors in Prairie Mountain Health who work in collaboration with law enforcement, the regional health authority has previously said.

Ruston said the organization held a community engagement session last spring to speak with their partners in the police and health sectors, other service providers and members of the public on what gaps exist in the area.

The need for a sexual assault examination and interview space, in addition to other supports for survivors “came through loud and clear,” she said.

“The intention is to put in place certainly meaningful and trauma-informed supports for people in those situations, so that they don’t have to go to Winnipeg, or simply not report.”

Offering these services in a community setting rather than in an emergency room or nursing station — where care is typically provided — focuses more on the survivor by connecting them to an abundance of resources in one place, Ruston said. She added that local police and the regional health authority are doing the best they can with the services they’re able to provide, but she’s looking forward to creating a new model that can better serve people in Westman.

Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, previously told the Sun that many women choose to see a forensic nurse in a community setting rather than wait in a busy emergency room.

Ruston is planning to tour medical facilities such as Klinic Community Health, which has approximately 10 forensic nurses who offer care in a community setting.

The clinic has been around since January 2024.

Ashley Stewart is one of the forensic nurses and co-ordinators of Klinic’s Hummingbird program, which supports people affected by sexual assault and intimate partner violence.

Last year, the program saw more than 700 patients, she said.

“Even the numbers we’re seeing right now, not being a 24-hour program, are quite high,” Stewart said. “Usually, we see more in the summer … the need is definitely here.”

Stewart said the number of people who’ve been sexually assaulted is likely a lot higher because not everyone decides to access care or make a report to police.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com