Nursing Students Promote Sexual Assault Awareness

DANVILLE , IL (03/26/2012)(readMedia)-- A group of students from Lakeview College of Nursing will participate in Sexual Assault Awareness Month by hosting a speaker on Wednesday, April 4 beginning at 4 pm in room number 205 at Lakeview College of Nursing, 903 N. Logan Ave in Danville. The public is welcome to attend.

Patty Metzler, who is a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) at Carle Hospital, will be providing her expertise. She has given a number of presentations for police departments and the University of Illinois. Patty's presentation will describe the role of the SANE and the process that the SANE will go through with a sexual assault victim.

Lakeview students Aaka Surti of Chicago, IL; Briana Kennett of Bismarck, IL; Karianne Szlufik of Chicago, IL; and Leslie Williams of Cisco, IL, decided to work in collaboration with the Vermilion County Rape Crisis Center to offer this presentation. The students will be providing information about the services offered by the Vermilion County Rape Crisis Center and highlighting the important role that the organization plays in this community during the April 4th event.

The group members stated they believe that recent events in the news about the Sandusky trial provides a segue to open discussion about sexual assault. Jerry Sandusky is the former Penn State assistant football coach, who is facing child-sex abuse charges. The national media brought a lot of attention to this case this past November.

"We felt that the media attention from the Sandusky trial opened a forum of discussion about sexual assault and violence. Not only did the media attention provide an opportunity to continue to talk about sexual assault and violence, but the trial has opened discussions about male victims of sexual assault," stated Kennett, one of the Lakeview group members.

The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in the United States. The goal of SAAM is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. For more information about SAAM please go to www.nsvrc.org/saam.

For more information about this presentation please contact Lakeview College of Nursing at 217-709-0920.

Lakeview College of Nursing has provided excellence in nursing education since 1894. Lakeview currently offers a bachelor of science degree program in Danville as well as Charleston, IL.