RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Bon Secours Richmond is expanding its team to help victims as some violent crimes increase.
Bonnie Price, administrative director of community health advocacy for Bon Secours Richmond, said the number of patients who report being strangled, especially by loved ones, keeps going up each year.
“Part of that I think is because more people are coming forward,” she said. “The other part of that I think are our community partners are aware of it.”
That’s why the hospital system’s Violence Response Team has continued evolving. The team, made up of forensic nurses and victim services advocates, is trained to help people impacted by violence.
“The advocate serves as a warm handoff to local resources,” Smith said.
Initially, the team was trained to respond to people who reported sexual assault. But now, members are trained to support people impacted by child and elder abuse, domestic violence and trafficking.
“Over the last 30 years, the program has changed a lot,” Price said.
In July, Price said the team added two community health workers to assist those impacted by community violence, specifically gun violence.
Bon Secours 2022 Impact Report reported a 17% increase in patient volume from the previous year. Out of the nearly 1,938 cases the forensic nursing unit had last year, almost 1,274 were physical assaults and nearly 664 were sexual assaults. The Violence Response Team also cared for 355 patients who had been strangled — a 22% increase from 2021.
Fatima Smith said she remembers her competitive cheerleading coach walking into her bedroom in her Virginia home when she was sleeping.
“I wake up to him touching me,” said Smith.
Smith was just 12 years old when she says she was sexually assaulted. As a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor, Smith said she educates people on anti-violence, justice, inclusion and healthy relationships.
“I’m a survivor and for me, part of my healing journey is being able to connect and support other survivors,” she said.
So for her, the increase in cases of domestic and sexual violence across central Virginia is alarming.
“We’re not having enough conversation about it. There’s not enough money from our legislators investing in prevention services. There’s not enough education in our public schools about what a healthy relationship is. We’re going to continue to see this public health issue play out if we don’t really get a handle on it,” she said.
Smith said she hopes to work with VCU Health doctors about asking patients more trauma-informed questions at every visit. This will help get support to patients who are too scared to reveal details of abuse on their own.
“It cost us nothing to believe, so if we can all just start there, I think we’ll realize that this is happening more often than not,” she said.
