Greater Metropolitan Indianapolis Centers of Hope Team Meetings—Indiana

Overview
The Greater Metropolitan Indianapolis Centers of Hope consists of prosecution, law enforcement, advocate groups, and hospitals with SANE programs. The group has held team meetings every other month since January 1997.

Goals
The goals of the team meetings are to collaborate to help individuals and organizations to meet the emotional, legal, and medical needs of victims.

Making the Idea a Reality
The multidisciplinary meeting allows participants to discuss scheduling and activation issues, funding issues, interagency programmatic concerns, and professional development opportunities. Most important, the meetings provide a consistent way to address cross-agency responses in a nonpunitive, nonjudgmental manner. Team members volunteer to take the meeting's minutes and to send out reminders for upcoming meetings.

Benefits to Victims
Team meetings improve multidisciplinary responses by promoting interagency communication and systems review. The results have translated into better testimony by forensic medical examiners and a more comfortable environment for victims.

Benefits to Victim Service Professionals
SART has enabled hospital staff, law enforcement, prosecutors, and advocates to share their expertise as well as SART-related costs for administration and services. Professional contacts have flourished.

Lessons Learned
The SART members agree that a commitment to persevere through the challenging times has enormous dividends to both service providers and victims.

Contact Information
Caroline Fisher RN, CEN, SANE–A
Coordinator, Centers of Hope
St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers
8111 South Emerson Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46237
317–865–5440
317–865–5108 (fax)