Valley Baptist Abuse Response Team Commemorates 20th Anniversary
For victims of abuse, the road to healing and justice can be a difficult one to travel, but Valley Baptist Health System is ensuring that some of the most vulnerable in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas do not travel that road alone.
Through its comprehensive medical forensic program, the Child to Adult Abuse Response Team (CAART) at Valley Baptist-Harlingen provides around-the-clock critical services to both child and adult victims of abuse, neglect, and sexual assault.
Since its formation in 2006, the response team has seen more than 22,000 patients for concerns of abuse, neglect, and trauma, with more than 13,600 of those being children.
The abuse response team provides care to more than 100 patients each month, in addition to working with partners and advocates throughout the community and testifying in legal court cases involving abuse.
As part of the services offered by the abuse response team, four specially-trained sexual assault nurse examiners who are also skilled as forensic nurses care for patients in a calming and secure treatment room designed specifically for victims of abuse, where doctors and nurses can provide medical care to the community’s most vulnerable.
Genette Spear is certified by the Texas Attorney General's Office as a Certified Adult and Certified Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and has been a member of Valley Baptist-Harlingen’s CAART since its inception in 2006. She is also certified by the International Association of Forensic Nurses as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner-Adult and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner-Pediatric.
“Valley Baptist Health System is committed to providing quality comprehensive care to our community,” Spear said. “The Child to Adult Abuse Response Team was created to provide that care to the most vulnerable of our population: Those people affected by sexual abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and victims of other forms of violence.”
As the response team recognizes its 20th anniversary, Valley Baptist’s CAART program continues to support local victims of abuse by playing an integral role with sexual assault response teams in both Cameron and Willacy Counties.
”CAART provides medical care with compassion and understanding,” said Spears. “The forensic nurses work with the medical team members to provide a safe and comfortable place to get the comprehensive quality medical care they need and deserve. That includes making sure the victim has a safe place to go, facilitating communication with law enforcement, and connecting the patient with community resources they may need.”