In the News

Valley Baptist Starts Area's 1st Child Abuse Response Team

HARLINGEN, Nov. 9, 2005  – Valley Baptist Health System has established the Valley’s first Child to Adult Abuse Response Team to help abused children, adolescents and adults with immediate medical care, assessment of abuse, and assistance in accessing the services they need to stop abuse.

The Child to Adult Abuse Response Team (CAART) is the first program of its type in the Valley. The wide-ranging program includes the establishment of a special treatment room for victims of violence in the Emergency Dept. at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, with the program to eventually be located in a new Pediatric Emergency Room at VBMC-Harlingen. CAART will be able to provide medical forensic services for the entire Valley.

“Abuse is a leading killer of children, and physical and sexual abuse of all ages often goes unreported,” said James Springfield, FACHE, President and CEO of Valley Baptist Health System. “The Child to Adult Abuse Response Team will help address the high incidence of abuse in the Valley -- and serve as an advocate for the prevention of abuse.”

“The challenge is clear: we as a community must improve our prevention and intervention efforts,” said Shane Spees, CEO for VBMC-Harlingen. “Our highest priority should be to protect those who cannot protect themselves. We are excited about offering this new program here at Valley Baptist.”

Services of the response team will include a Forensic Nurse Examiner Program, which will provide medical forensic examinations of child, adolescent and adult sexual assault victims 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The program will utilize state-of-the-art equipment such as a colposcope with image capture software and digital photography to assist in documenting the physical findings of the exam. The program will provide both inpatient and outpatient services, including forensic photo documentation and follow-up for victims of sexual and physical abuse as well as neglect.

Other services will include psycho-social assessments, crisis intervention, prevention education, expert witness testimony, professional education, and fostering community awareness of abuse and how to prevent it.

The program will work in close coordination with the Cameron County Children’s Advocacy Centers, which operate Monica’s House and Maggie’s House to assist child abuse victims in our local area. The Advocacy Centers recently named Valley Baptist Pathologist Marguerite DeWitt, MD, as the “Child Advocate of the Year” for the Harlingen area.

The CAART program will also coordinate with multiple local, regional, state and national law enforcement personnel, Child and Protective Services staff, and district and county attorneys as well as the Family Crisis Center.

In addition, the Valley Baptist team is working closely with Driscoll Children’s Hospital, which started a similar program in Corpus Christi ten years ago and has provided care to more than 10,000 victims of violence and their families. Sonja Eddleman, RN, CA/CP SANE, SANE-A, DABFN, CMI-III, CFN, has served as the CARE Team Clinical Coordinator at Driscoll for the past ten years and is serving as a valuable resource for the establishment of the CAART team at Valley Baptist.

Funding for the CAART project will come from Valley Baptist and community efforts, including the annual Children’s Gala which was held in Oct. 2005. For more information on the CAART program, please call (956) 389-4NSC (389-4672) or contact the Valley Baptist Foundation at (956) 389-1614.