New training offered to health-care workers who care for victims of sexual assault in rural Alberta

New sexual assault-care training for rural medical professionals is being welcomed by those who work with survivors in northwestern Alberta.

The online Rural Sexual Assault Care course, offered through Northwestern Polytechnic in Grande Prairie, opened this month for registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered midwives, paramedics and physicians.

Led by instructor Cathy Carter-Snell, a professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, the new course is an expansion of the Enhanced Emergency Sexual Assault Services program, which she developed.

The course outline explains it is designed for health-care professionals working in rural or remote settings who provide care to clients who have been recently sexually assaulted — for example, within the past seven days.

Carter-Snell said the 10- to 12-hour self-paced training provides additional tools for trauma-informed care in rural communities.

"It's bringing everybody onto the same page in terms of understanding some of the myths that we have about sexual assault that hold us back," she said.

The course will help provide medical professionals with knowledge and language to feel confident, she said.

It will also provide learners with "the reassurance that how they treat the client is as important, if not even more important, than whether they get a perfect evidence kit," Carter-Snell said.

Jacquie Aiken, executive director of Pace Community Support, Sexual Assault and Trauma Centre, said the training could help address higher rates of violence in rural and northern communities. 

Based in Grande Prairie, Pace provides programming as far north as High Level. 

Aiken said the waiting list to receive therapy through Pace is between two and four months. 

In April, the province announced $3.8 million toward addressing waiting lists at 13 sexual assault and trauma centres across the province. Pace is receiving $120,370 of the grant funding.

However, Aiken said funding isn't the problem. She said the organization could hire three positions if qualified applicants were available.

"Attracting qualified clinicians to deal with trauma and complex trauma is very hard," she said.

Aiken said she would like to see psychologists and social workers receive education in the region. 

"If we do not deal with domestic violence and sexual violence, we are going to continue to have physical and mental health issues to be dealing with," she said.

Long-term consequences 

Carter-Snell said the trauma-informed approach can also reduce longer-term health consequences. 

"It's the shame and the blame that is the driver of post-traumatic stress," she said. 

She said caring for patients in rural communities can also help lower the risk. 

"If they come back from the city, they've been separated from their support people. Positive responses and positive support people is a really big preventative factor for PTSD."