A SANE Program for Rural West Virginia
Rural SANE Programs—Few and Far Between
Despite the benefits they offer, SANE programs have not been added in rural areas as broadly as they have in or near metropolitan areas.10 It can be extremely difficult to recruit enough nurses in these often sparsely populated communities to staff a program 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24/7). Although one or two nurses in the area may be trained SANEs, they alone cannot cover a 24/7 on-call schedule on a continuous basis. Moreover, hospital administrators find it hard to justify the costs of a 24/7 SANE program if few sexual assault victims are seen at their facilities. In addition, when so few sexual assault cases are encountered in an isolated county, SANEs may be unable to maintain sufficient skill in examining victims.11