Rape Crisis began providing services in Pueblo County in 1994, including: 24-hour Helpline, in-office counseling, educational presentations and volunteer victim advocates available 24 hours a day.

While responding to the Emergency Rooms' requests to provide support, victim advocates noticed that most sexual assault victims were given a low medical priority because most had very minimal or no physical trauma. As a result, victims were often kept waiting for 6-8 hours before the evidence collection procedure was even started. All of this time spent waiting in the chaos of the emergency waiting room was itself taxing on the victim. In addition, they were unable to eat, smoke, chew gum, drink any fluids or use a restroom without destroying evidence. Numerous victims would leave before the exam due to frustration and exhaustion.

Local statistics confimed that local procedure was not effective, and the Rape Crisis staff began to do research on ways to improve services. In January 1998, Rape Crisis Services started the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). The goal of the team is to provide a more comfortable, less traumatic environment for forensic evidence collection and law enforcement investigation, while increasing the quality and quantity of evidence collected. Ultimately, our hopes are to increase the rate of conviction.

A group of community agencies formed an Advisory Board with various representatives. The three-member SART Team is comprised of a sexaul assault nurse examiner (SANE), a victim advocate and a law enforcement officer. The team has 24-hour accessibility through an answering service.

• The SANE is a Registered Nurse who is licensed to practice in the state of Colorado and has a minimum of two years nursing experience. They undergo 48 additional hours of classroom training, complete 98 hours of additional clinical experience in the areas of OB/GYN exams, well-child exams, child abuse exams, adult abuse exams and oberservation of expert witness testimony. They acquire their training from the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN).
• The Victim Advocate is a volunteer who is trained in victim rights, sensitivity, rape kit procedure, crisis intervention and grief reactions. They are utilized during the evidence collection process to help support the victim by explaining what the procedures are, communicating to family members and significant others and to offer any care and comfort measures while in the evidence collection process. They offer follow-up services to encourage the victim to see the Victim Specialist at the District Attorney's office and to connect them with other pertinent community agencies/resources.

The team offers their asistance to the victim during the investigative and judicial processes as well as addressing the medical and emotional needs from the beginning.