Nurses in SANE unit have helped survivors heal for 20 years

More than 10,000 times over the past two decades, a Denver Health sexual assault nurse examiner has walked into a room to meet someone on the worst day of their life.

Registered nurse Michelle Metz has been at Denver Health for all 20 of those years and has walked into a lot of those rooms. Her responsibility in that moment extends beyond collecting evidence, documenting injuries and providing treatment. Metz knows that her interaction could shape the rest of the patient’s life.

“I don’t want this to be their defining moment,” Metz said.

Sometimes, that means simply talking them through next steps, returning control to someone who may feel like it has been taken away. Metz recalled a former patient who called years after her exam to thank her for something she had said that night. Therapy had helped, the woman told her, but so had something Metz said in that room, a few sentences that lifted the weight of shame she'd been carrying.

"These little seeds that we plant really do make a difference," said Metz, program manager of Denver Health's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners unit, which this month marks 20 years of serving Denver and the surrounding communities.

Community-driven and collaborative

Before Denver Health had specially trained nurses to care for patients after sexual assaults, forensic exams were performed by medical residents, usually at the end of their shifts.

Metz said the SANE unit started because Denver Health and community partners agreed: “We need to do a better job taking care of patients.”

Today, the SANE unit is the longest continuously running program of its kind in the Denver metro area. Its nurses perform more than 700 forensic exams each year, nearly one-quarter of all sexual assault exams in the state.

The program grew out of years of work by Denver Health, the Denver district attorney's office, the Denver Police Department, The Blue Bench and other partners. Denver police bought the program's first colposcope. The DA's office paid for a swab dryer through an office fundraiser.

"Everybody thought that this had value for our entire community," Metz said.

SANE nurses are available 24/7, providing trauma-informed medical care, evidence collection, injury photography, medications and safety planning, all at no cost to the patient. When needed, the nurses testify in court.

Denver Health’s SANE nurses have earned the trust of the local community and in medical communities around the world. Police officers have told Metz that they bring victims to Denver Health, driving past closer hospitals, because they know the patient will be treated well.

Twenty years on, the program is growing. The team has expanded to care for people affected by domestic violence, strangulation, child abuse and elder abuse.

Nearly everyone who helped start the unit has moved on. Metz is still here.

Tonight, she or another SANE nurse will walk into another room and help someone through the worst day of their life.