HJBR May/Jun 2024

EDITOR’S DESK 8 MAY / JUN 2024  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   All the commotion with the new St. Tammany coroner and his attempt to dismantle the SANE (sexual assault nurse examiner) program from his department sent a shiver up the spines of not only hospital executives but the entire community involved in dealing with victims of sexual assault. You are going to read the first in a U.S. Healthcare Journal series, “Hidden Epidemic: Unveiling the Shocking Public Health Challenges of Violence, Abuse, and Sexual Assault,” written by three trauma-informed experts in Louisiana. CDC statistics show that 1 in 4 women in the U.S. experiences rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. As a woman, I had no idea this number was so high. It hurts my heart deeply that this is the experience of so many of us. One in 4 women in America have either been raped or had to fight off rape. Is this the best we can expect for women walking this earth? What is wrong with us? Dianne Marie Normand Hartley Chief Editor editor@healthcarejournalbr.com Dianne Marie Normand Hartley Chief Editor editor@healthcarejournalno.com INSANE Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/fastfact.html