For most survivors of sexual assault, the forensic exam happens in a hospital emergency department. At Mary's Place in Savannah, Georgia, it happens in the agency's own building, in a suite with an exam room, an interview room and a private restroom.
Doris L. Williams, the executive director, explains how that came about, and the answer is not the one the sector usually tells. It was not a capital campaign. Early in COVID the hospital called and needed the space Mary's Place occupied near the emergency room. Doris was given 48 hours to clear it out. She emailed the county's sexual assault response team on a Sunday, and by Monday morning the state, law enforcement, the district attorney's office, the hospital, the child advocacy centre and the domestic violence centre had agreed to move exams into her building. The first exams were done on a stretcher, because the exam table had not arrived yet.
The conversation covers what the ER path cost survivors in privacy and waiting time, what the agency kept from its hospital relationships rather than replacing, and everything that happens after the exam — protective orders, counseling, court accompaniment, and a fund that puts a client in a hotel when every shelter in reach is full. Doris also talks about how a team that works a 24-hour crisis line looks after itself.
GUEST
Doris L. Williams, Executive Director, Mary's Place: Sexual Assault Center of the Coastal Empire — Savannah, Georgia
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:48 The founding mothers, and what Mary's Place covers across seven counties
3:16 Prevention at scale: twenty thousand young people, twelve staff, forty volunteers
5:19 Carrying the work: trauma-informed care that starts with the staff
7:09 "Everybody don't need to be on the front of the line"
8:38 Who Mary McAlister was, and why the agency took her name
11:44 Before: what a forensic exam in a hospital emergency room meant for a survivor
12:20 The Sunday night COVID took their hospital space, and 48 hours to move
14:22 What changed: privacy, wait times, and a room that was used for other bad news
18:02 After the exam: protective orders, counseling, and the lifeline fund
21:30 A support group of eight that outlasted its eight weeks