Sexual assault nurses provide support and care for survivors: ‘We’re more than just collecting evidence’

For more than 10 years, ER nurse Kelly Klein always wanted to work as a sexual assault nurse examiner, but she never found the support nearby to do so. She got her chance to build her own SANE team with Northwestern Medicine in 2018.

In those six years, Klein has grown the program to 32 nurses, and a coordinator and will soon have enough staff to run a 24/7 operation in McHenry and Lake counties.

“We’re all still learning,” she said. “I keep improving myself.”

SANE nurses provide specialized care for anyone with a complaint or concern of sexual assault; they provide sexually transmitted infection treatments, forensic exams, emergency contraception counseling, resources for medical and psychological follow-ups and even support for legal proceedings. The nurses collaborate with crime labs, law enforcement, women’s shelters and any other resources that sexual assault survivors of any age need, Klein said.

“It takes a different person, for sure. It’s not an easy role.”

—  Melissa Matulewicz, sexual assault nurse examiner

“We’re more than just collecting evidence. We’re there to help them no matter what it is,” she said. “No matter what age, no matter what gender.”

This program spans five Northwestern hospitals in McHenry and Lake counties including Woodstock, Huntley, McHenry, Grayslake and Lake Forest. Klein’s team gets about 10 cases a month, but sometimes there are peak times like in July when they handled 32 cases.

“The summer months bring out more naughtiness,” she said. “People are out drinking, under the influence.”

Klein said she always felt drawn to working with different agencies and learning from each other. She frequently sets up education sessions with hospital security, nursing students and law enforcement to teach them about the program and she also goes into school to teach about consent.

“As a nurse, this has to be a passion. It’s got to be a want,” she said. “You definitely have to want to do it for the right reasons.”

It’s hard to help patients, and then never knowing how they are doing after the visit, Klein said. SANE nurse Melissa Matulewicz said being a supporter for survivors and helping through one of the worst moments of their lives is the best part of the job.

“It can also be the worst because they are going through that and it can be heartbreaking,” Matulewicz said.

The team relies on strong bonds and communication with each other to handle the stress and trauma they work with. Some cases can stick with Matulewicz, but just talking it out with the team is helpful, and she describes Klein as her “biggest cheerleader.”

“It takes a different person, for sure,” Matulewicz said. “It’s not an easy role.”

Klein has goals to continue the growth of Northwestern Medicine’s SANE program. She hopes to create a pediatric facility in the Lake County hospitals so they can help survivors younger than age 13. She also wants to focus on breaking the cycle of domestic violence, and Matulewicz said she would like to see more male SANE nurses. “We definitely see male survivors of assault,” Matulewicz said.

Matulewicz, who has been a SANE nurse at Northwestern for about two years, said the first job she ever applied for out of nursing school about 15 years ago was to be a SANE nurse. She has always been drawn to the work.

“We all have things in our lives, whether it’s ourselves or friends or family, who have gone through experiences,” she said. “That is my calling. That is what I need to do.”