Tippah County has gotten its first full time Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, or SANE, trained nurse. Wendy Cooper, RN, an employee of the Tippah County Hospital for over ten years, is now SANE trained to handle sexual assault cases.
“I recently completed the SANE course to help our community because there is no one in the area who is and it’s something I feel we need,” Cooper told us about her reasoning for going through the class.
SANE teaches participants how to properly use and submit forensic rape kits to local authorities who then submit them to the state crime lab.
“I have plans to help create a SART (Sexual Assault Response Team ) in Tippah County to help spot warning signs both in child and adult abuse,” Cooper told us of her training and plans for this area.
Mrs. Cooper is the only SANE trained individual in Benton or Tippah County and she is going further with her training to eventually become certified. It will take 300 course hours as well as on the job training before she can submit for that certification.
When asked why she is going through these procedures Mrs. Cooper had a very altruistic set of reasonings.
“There are a lot of vulnerable individuals in our area and this is something our community needs.”
Add this to the reasons why you should thank a nurse.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
