Rape Center Staffing Crisis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - In thirty-four years of providing confidential and dedicated service, the staff at the Memphis Sexual Assault Resource Center has provided, the more than twenty-eight-thousand victims of rape who've come through their doors, the same sobering advice.

Center Manager, Julie Coffey, observes, "The biggest mistake is not reporting the crime. The biggest mistake is not reaching out for help."

However, Memphis City Hall administration appears to be responsible for committing the biggest of all mistakes in failing to find replacements for the dwindling number of MSARC nurses trained to handle essential sexual assault exams. A shortsightedness, Shelby County Attorney General, Bill Gibbons, says now threatens the investigations and prosecutions of rape suspects.

Gibbons explains, "You've got to have that forensic exam done properly. And I mean if you wait a couple of days then you may as well not do it."

In a 2007 interview with Fox 13 News, the MSARC's Coffey explained the importance of the victim's early examination by a nurse.

Coffey related, "It allows for the collection for the forensic evidence. It insures immediate safety and medical services. It minimizes emotional and physical trauma. It also allows for police to pursue the perpetrator more effectively, improving the likelihood of apprehension."

The MSARC nursing shortage reached crisis proportions last weekend when it was reported two alleged teenage victims had their tests delayed due to staffing issues and the subsequent resignation of a nursing coordinator.

Gibbons says, "They were down to one employee who was covering all the other shifts that I believe three part-time employees were covering. So, she was really performing double duty, so to speak."

Memphis City Councilman, Jim Strickland, remembers, "Four, five, six years ago, our Center was a national model for the country."

However, Strickland points to a city employment "bug-a-boo"...residency requirements for the center's nursing jobs...as putting the program and the victims it serves at risk."

Strickland argues, "This is an example of why it limits the city and we oughta get rid of the residency requirement. Service to the public oughta have precedence over where the employee lives. Even with the residency requirement we oughta be able to find a handful of nurses who live in the city who want to be working there at the Center."