About SART

What is SART?

The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) is a consortium of professionals who provide direct service (i.e. medical care, counseling, advocacy and justice system assistance) to individuals who have been sexually assaulted and represent organizations that provide related services to special populations. The SART membership includes SANE Coordinators, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, the Sex Crimes/Child Abuse Unit for the City of Cleveland, the County Prosecutor's Office, and the Cuyahoga County Witness/Victim Service Center, among others.

The goal of SART is to improve communication and coordination among these disciplines, establish more SANE Units throughout the county, enhance the evidence collection process so it is admissible at trial, increase prosecution rates, and advocate for greater understanding within the public of SART and how it operates.

What is SANE?

The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) are nurses who have received a specialized education and training in forensic examinations and the evidence collection process, clinical issues relating to sexual assault, and the criminal justice system. Within a hospital SANE units work together to form a SANE Unit, which is a designated area run by a SANE Coordinator that is equipped to provide high quality care to rape and sexual assault survivors and valuable evidence collection for law enforcement and prosecutors.

There are several hospitals in the county that have SANE unit working in their emergency department, but having a SANE Unit means there is designated space and equipment for sexual assault forensic examinations and a SANE who is on-call 24 hours a day at these hospitals. Whenever a survivor comes to an Emergency Department within a SANE Unit, a specially trained nurse (SANE) is paged and performs the entire examination. The SANE Unit ensures that no nurse is ever taken away from the Emergency Department to do the exam and that no nurse provides this service without specialized training and experience. Individuals who have been sexually assaulted can go directly to the SANE Unit or be redirected from a non-SANE hospital after an initial medical screening is completed.

Currently, prosecutors in Ohio are able to use 98 percent of evidence collected from SANE units as compared to as low as 30 percent from non-SANE trained examiners. Therefore, establishing SANE Units in hospitals throughout the county is vital to better service delivery and evidence collection, and to prosecuting more perpetrators.

Where are SANE Units in Cuyahoga County?

Currently, there are three hospitals with SANE Units. Regardless of where the rape or sexual assault occurred, the survivor may go to any of these SANE Units or to any hospital in the county. SART is working with hospitals in the county to establish more SANE Units in 2005. The three SANE Units are:

Fairview Hospital Emergency Department
Cricket Rerko, SANE Coordinator
18101 Lorain Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44111
(216) 476-7080

Hillcrest Hospital
Diane Daiber, SANE Coordinator
6780 Mayfield Road, North Campus
Mayfield Heights, Ohio 44124
(440) 312-7890

Huron Hospital
Shannon Wendland & Kathy Gelin, SANE Co-Coordinators
13951 Terrace Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44112
(216) 761-4242

Marymount Hospital
Judith Rogowski, Coordinator
12300 McCracken Boulevard
Garfield Heights, Ohio 44125
(216) 587-8170

Marymount South
Joanne Socausky, Coordinator
2001 E. Royalton Road
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147
(440) 717-5856

How can I obtain more information about SART or SANE Units?

Please contact:

Dan Clark
Director of Professional Training and Outreach, SART Coordinator
1370 Ontario Street, Suite 420
Cleveland, OH 44113-1701
Ph: (216) 619-6194 x104
Fax: (216) 619-6195
danc@clevelandrcc.org