Cogdell Memorial staff dons denim to show solidarity with victims of sexual assault
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Cogdell Family Clinic staff members pictured on the front row are (l-r) LVNs Taylor Watson and Wanda Torres, CNA Rylan Martinez, LVN Jessalyn Porter and hospital clerk Francis Deleon. On the back row are (l-r) family nurse practitioner Sarah Hite, LVNs Kathy King and Laura Ortega, CNA Heather James, certified medical assistant Olivia Coronado and LVN Amy Sartain. -
Cogdell Memorial Hospital staff members display bracelets worn in observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. -
Cogdell Family Clinic nurse practitioner Sarah Hite introduced the Denim Day campaign to the hospital. -
LVN Wanda Torres was among the staff members who participated in Denim Day.
April is proclaimed Sexual Assault Awareness Month and as part of the observance, Denim Day is held on the final Wednesday of the month. For the first time, the Cogdell Memorial Hospital staff participated in the nationwide observance.
Employees wore jeans and sexual assault awareness T-shirts on Wednesday to stand in solidarity with sexual assault victims.
“There is no excuse and never an invitation to rape,” said Cogdell Family Clinic family nurse practitioner Sarah Hite, who spearheaded the Cogdell observance.
Hite said it is important to bring awareness to this area because the Texas Department of Public Safety reported that in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available, there were six sexual assaults reported to Scurry County Sheriff’s Office and six sexual assaults reported to the Snyder Police Department.
“TAASA (Texas Association Against Sexual Assault) states that 1-in-3 women have been a victim of either an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime,” Hite said. “Think about it, if Scurry County’s population is approximately 16,000 and 46 percent of that population are females, that means it is possible that at least 2,500 women in Scurry County have been sexually assaulted, but only 12 were reported, if my numbers are correct. So yeah, we have a problem.”
Hite said having the hospital participate in Denim Day for the first time was a step to raising awareness in the community and fighting for victims.
“It’s not just about the nurses recognizing the situation with their patients,” she said. “It’s about the receptionist recognizing it with her co-worker or someone she goes to church with. This is just the first step in making our community more aware.”
“We are wearing jeans today just to show that we are taking a stand,” LVN Laura Ortega said. “We want to make it known it is not OK. When patients come in and ask, ‘Why are we wearing jeans?,’ we are spreading the awareness.”
“I know some kids who have been sexually assaulted,” LVN Amy Sartain said. “This needs a lot of attention. The system is very broken and the victims need to be believed.”
Denim Day originated in Italy in 1992 when an 18-year old girl was sexually assaulted by her driving instructor.
The man was convicted of rape and sentenced to jail, but years later his conviction was overturned.
According to the campaign’s website, denimdayinfo.org, the Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the man was released. The court concluded that because the victim was wearing very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was not rape, but consensual sex.