To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the founding of the 24/7 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners services in the emergency room of the University Hospitals Portage County Medical Center, Portage County is making an effort to start combining community resources to better aid domestic violence victims. The UH Portage Medical Center held the inaugural meeting of the Domestic Violence Task Force on Jan. 24.
“Portage County has wonderful resources and to be able to start coming together, a lot of the resources were not aware of the other resources so putting together our group and getting together a directory is going to be very impactful for Portage County,” Co-Coordinator Jennifer Moreland told The Weekly Villager on Jan. 28.
In attendance for the meeting were law enforcement agencies, legal organizations and medical providers from Portage County. Moreland said that there were also several non-profit organizations that attended the meeting, including TownHall II and Safer Futures.
“The next step is I will email every one of these individuals that attended asking them what organization they are from specifically,” Moreland said. “What resources they can provide victims of domestic violence, and what barriers they have. I will then try to tie everybody together through a directory.”
Moreland will serve co-coordinator of the Task Force along with Cassie Finnegan, Director of the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office Victim/Witness Assistance Division. She also said that the Task Force will have quarterly meetings.
Moreland, the SANE for the Southeast Regions of UH Hospitals Medical Center, said that after the 24/7 SANE Unit was formed, there was a larger number of domestic violence cases reported. She acknowledged that it was concerning to see more cases be documented but added that it was also promising to see more people receive treatment.
Moreland noted that one of the things that she noticed was that many patients were not fully informed of the resources at their disposal to help improve their situations.
“Our unit is helpful, and it is a nice start and the fact that they walk into the hospital is brave in itself, but ours is a little itty-bitty piece,” she said. “The job is when they walk out the door and everything else they have to do.”
According to Moreland, one of the biggest obstacles she has noticed for domestic violence survivors to find safe havens has been the safety of their pets. She said that one resource that has become available is the assistance of the homeless shelter on Infirmary Road, which will lend its support by taking care of the animals while the victims attempt to find safer ground.
In addition to trying to inform patients of their options, Moreland said that during some of her conversations with Finnegan, each of them would learn about resources they were not fully aware of and also gain a better understanding of the limitations of those resources.
Moreland added that domestic violence does not only have a lasting effect on victims but also on the community.
“Domestic violence impacts the entire community,” she noted. “It impacts their children, it impacts their families, their parents and their support. Not only does domestic violence impact the victims but also the people around them who sometimes might not have the ability to support a loved one or victims of domestic violence. By making available community resources, it helps the victims’ families in the long term as well. It is very impactful on the community of domestic violence.”
By forming the Task Force, Moreland said that the goal is not only to give domestic violence victims a better understanding of their options but also allow the community partners a chance to develop a better understanding of what their counterparts have to offer.
“This way if we have a directory and each resource has a directory, they have got a deeper source where they can find specifics to tailor the needs of the victim,” she said. “It is not just about the barriers of what you need to make your resources but awareness of the other resources out there.”
Moreland said that the Task Force will most likely form subcommittees that can focus resources on specific cases of domestic violence, such as strangulation. She added that after one meeting, the community partners are already getting on the same page.
“In the meeting itself, people discussed those barriers and known resources,” she said. “One that came up which is a big barrier for Portage County is transportation, so we are already compiling a list for transportation options for victims. I think a lot of good things are going to come out of this.”
