A groundbreaking telemedicine initiative launching in Massachusetts aims to help health providers improve assistance to victims of sexual assault.
Earlier this year then-Lieutenant Gov. Timothy Murray announced $3.3 million in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, which will be used over three years to create the Massachusetts Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Telenursing Center. A pilot Telenursing Center is set to be created at Newton-Wellesley Hospital that will provide around-the-clock access to medical assistance, consultation and expert forensic sexual assault nurse examiners.
“This program will allow us to use telemedicine to promote the most effective physical, emotional, and forensic care for sexual assault victims,” Lauren Smith, Interim Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said in the announcement. “We also need to do everything that we can to support the frontline professionals who work with these patients.”
