River Park battles domestic violence

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard

AcuHealthcare Solutions’ Megan Gannon, center, goes over some information on dealing with domestic violence with River Park ER nurses Sandra Witt, left, and Shannon Swindell. (Charles W. Johnson photo)

River Park Hospital takes the problem of domestic violence seriously, and is one of several medical facilities in the region that has taken advantage of education programs to address the issue.

A recent seminar for emergency room personnel, given by Megan Gannon of AcuHealthcare Solutions, was designed to provide ER nurses and doctors with vital information on how to deal with abused women and children when they visit the local ER.

Gannon said the emergency room represents the first line of defense for many of these women.

“It’s of the utmost importance,” Gannon said. “This is where these women go when they’re hurt. They don’t necessarily go to their family practice physician. The one place they can go where they can seek immediate help is the emergency room. So these nurses and the doctors in the ER are going to see them more than anybody else.”

Domestic violence is an issue which affects millions of Americans, mostly women, every year. And though more effective laws have been drafted in recent years to address stalking, domestic violence and child abuse, the problem still remains and takes a major toll on families.

Statistics show nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point. It is estimated more than a half million women are stalked by an intimate partner each year. Almost four million were physically abused by their husbands and boyfriends in the last year alone.

Some of the facts are surprising. Women are victims of domestic abuse more often than burglary, muggings or other physical crimes combined. And of murdered women, 42 percent are killed by their male partners.

Though these statistics are alarming, and many of these cases go unreported, Gannon says emergency room personnel can offer much in the way of help to abused women.

“If they can physically see something,” she said, “or if the women open up, they can push them in the right direction. They’re not going to fix the problem. All they can do is provide information for them to get better, go to a shelter, get away from the perpetrator.”

Gannon said one of the main problems facing ER nurses and doctors is the presence of the perpetrator during the visit, which can prevent victims from being forthcoming about their actual situation.

“First and foremost they need to get the perpetrator out of the room,” Gannon said. “Because of HIIPA rulings you can say, ‘I only need to see the patient right now.’ They can choose not to have anyone else in the room. They need to get the perpetrator out and let the women be able to talk.”

Gannon says ER personnel need to elicit all the information they can despite fears of invading a patient’s privacy.

“Ask and be as direct as you can,” Gannon advised in her presentation. “Do not beat around the bush. ‘Is there something going on at home?’ ‘Is there any way I can help you?'”

ER nurse Sandra Witt felt the presentation provided a wealth of valuable information.

“It helped to give me more definitive screening tools to identify victims of domestic abuse,” said Witt, who also indicated local facilities like Families in Crisis have been very important in these situations.

Another presentation will be scheduled in the near future that will be open to the public. For more information, contact River Park Education Coordinator Barbara Lancaster at 815-4334.