24/7 forensic care expands to Jim Wells County, seven-county region

Jim Wells County survivors of sexual assault and violence will soon have a closer place to go for forensic care, instead of relying on a single Corpus Christi hospital. Beginning at midnight June 13, a new 24/7 Coastal Bend mobile nursing network will put exams, evidence collection and advocate support into participating hospitals across the region, including CHRISTUS Spohn-Alice.

Texas Forensic Nurse Examiners announced the expansion on May 20, launching it with the Coastal Bend Regional Advisory Council, Corpus Christi Medical Center, CHRISTUS Spohn Health System and Refugio County Memorial Hospital. The program is set to serve Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, McMullen, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio counties.

Under the new model, a specialized nurse from the community can provide forensic care and testing within 90 minutes of a survivor’s arrival. A Purple Door advocate will be dispatched to provide emotional support, advocacy and counseling, giving patients a single path from emergency room care to follow-up help.

That change matters in Jim Wells County because it puts a local option on the map. The Coastal Bend site list includes CHRISTUS Spohn-Alice, along with hospitals and emergency departments in Beeville, Kingsville, Portland, Rockport, Corpus Christi and Refugio County. For many survivors, that means they will not have to leave the county at the very start of the process, when getting help quickly can affect both healing and evidence collection.

The Purple Door says it provides free, confidential services to men, women and children affected by domestic or sexual violence. It serves 12 counties and operates outreach sites in Alice, Beeville, Kingsville and Sinton, which gives Jim Wells County residents another local connection to shelter, legal advocacy, prevention education and sexual-assault services.

The Coastal Bend Regional Advisory Council says its mission is to reduce death and disability through coordinated trauma, disaster and emergency response. Its Forensic Nursing & Victim Services Committee is scheduled to launch June 14, and state public-safety records show sexual-assault crime data collection began in Texas in 2008, underscoring how recent this kind of coordinated response still is. Texas A&M’s forensic nursing education program says Texas Attorney General and federal funding support SANE training, part of the workforce pipeline behind the new regional coverage.