General Information
The North Bay Regional Health Centre's Emergency Department, in collaboration with SLLNPC, offers the following emergency services to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence:
- Timely response - nurses on call respond to situation
- A confidential, sensitive, non-heterosexist approach
- Facilitation of decision-making by survivor
- Information on options available to survivors
- Evidence collection for police if the survivor chooses
- Preservation of evidence for up to 6 months
- Assessment and documentation of injuries
- Treatment to prevent pregnancy
- Testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections
- Short term safety planning
- Referral to appropriate community agencies
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When and how should I access the services?
Come to the North Bay Regional Health Centre’s Emergency Department within 72 hours of sexual assault, or while injuries are still visible in cases of domestic violence. The sooner you can get here, the more helpful it is for you.
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What if over 72 hours have elapsed since the assault?
If you have no injuries requiring emergency medical attention and over 72 hours have elapsed since the assault, you should access other non-emergency community services. There are support, counseling, shelter and health care services available for you.
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What should I bring with me?
Bring your health card. Also, if you aren’t wearing the same clothes as worn during the assault, bring them with you, or ensure they are readily available in case you want to proceed with a police report. Do not wash or repair the clothes worn during the assault until you know your reporting options. You can bring a friend to wait with you in the designated waiting area.
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What happens to me when I arrive at the North Bay and District Hospital’s Emergency Department?
Upon arrival, you will be registered, and then a triage nurse will determine what your immediate needs are. If you report a sexual assault, and have no urgent or life-threatening injuries, a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner will be paged immediately. The Nurse Examiner will see you within one hour, and often much sooner.
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What does the Nurse Examiner do?
The Nurse Examiner is here for you only. She accompanies you throughout the assessment, treatment and discharge phases of your care. She begins by introducing herself, and finding out a little about you. She then offers you three options relating to police reporting:
- Collect evidence and report assault immediately to police
- Collect evidence for storage up to 6 months in case you decide later to report to police
- Collect no evidence and don’t report to police
No matter which option you choose, the Nurse Examiner provides quality health care and useful information to you.
The Nurse Examiner takes a health history, examines you head to toe, provides medication to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections: chlamydia and gonorrhea. In addition, she offers medications to prevent Hepatitis B to those who aren’t already immunised, and HIV (the virus which causes AIDS). Testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections is also provided, and counselling is offered in relation to the range of possible reactions to sexual assault. Finally, the Nurse Examiner also ensures you are discharged to a safe place.
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What is a sexual assault kit?
A sexual assault kit is used to collect evidence from persons planning to report the assault to police or those who think they may report to police. Evidence may help provide useful information to police or to a court of law.
The kit itself is a special sealed box containing swabs, envelopes, bottles, combs and other items used to collect evidence. Evidence is collected from these main areas:
- Clothing
- Mouth
- Genital and anal area
- Remainder of body
The most useful evidence is collected within 24 hours of assault. Evidence includes clothes, saliva, blood, urine, hair and photographs of injuries. You can consent to the collection of any or all of these things.
Nurse examiners have the skills required to collect the evidence for police in a sensitive and respectful way. They will explain what to expect during evidence collection, and will discuss with you the possibilities of either giving the kit immediately to police, or having the kit confidentially stored for six months in case you decide later that you want to report to police.
Choosing not to proceed with the kit will not compromise the health care you receive in any way. Choosing to proceed with the kit does not mean your case will automatically be reported to police: that is your choice. Finally, you do not have to have the kit in order to have police involvement.
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Is the service confidential?
Yes. Confidentiality means that information about you is shared only with hospital staff who are directly involved with your care, and no one else, without your consent. If you do want to share information with others, you will be asked to sign a consent form.
There are exceptional circumstances in which confidentiality cannot be assured. These include:
- Abuse of children (person under age 16) or children in need of protection
- Criminal investigation - subpoena for court of law
- Danger of serious injury to self or others
- Positive sexually transmitted infection (only the result is reported to Public Health Sexual Health program - not the details of the assault)
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What if I would rather see my regular health care provider?
This is okay, as long as you understand what this person can and cannot provide. Your regular health care provider, whether physician or nurse practitioner, can provide testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infection, pregnancy testing and possibly emergency contraception, and physical assessment. However, health care providers outside hospital emergency setting generally do not collect forensic evidence for police.
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Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's)
There is a slight chance that you could get a sexually transmitted disease if you have been sexually assaulted. A doctor or nurse will be able to tell you if you are at risk and know how to help you. They can give you medication to prevent a sexually transmitted infection from occurring.
They will also be concerned about how you feel about what happened. They may advise that you talk with a counselor about your feelings. That will be up to you.
They will ask you to follow-up with your health care provider after the assault to double check that you are alright. If you would choose not to let your family doctor know about the assault, they can refer you to another health care provider.
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HIV
It is unlikely that you will get HIV from a sexual assault. The risk is very low. If you are concerned about HIV, this is something you can talk about with a nurse, doctor or other health care provider.
If there is reason to believe that you could be at risk, there is medication that might help prevent HIV/AIDS. Your doctor will know if this would be a choice for you to think about.
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Pregnancy
The concern of becoming pregnant can be a big worry after a sexual assault. You may want to talk to a health care provider about the chance of getting pregnant, and get information about the choices you have. A health care provider at the Sexual Assault Treatment Centre at the North Bay Regional Health Centre or North Bay General Public Health Department can talk with you about these issues.
There is medication called the Emergency Contraception Pill, also known as the "Morning After Pill" that is effective in preventing a pregnancy. The medication must be taken within three days (72 hours) following the assault. If taken within 72 hours, this pill can slow down or stop the release of an egg and may prevent the fertilized egg from growing. It is safe for most women to take.
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