PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city has officially taken over control of the Philadelphia Sexual Assault Response Center (PSARC), which gives survivors medical treatment and forensic exams.
When a survivor seeks medical attention following an attack, a team of nurses goes through methodical steps to collect forensic evidence and offer medical aid through PSARC, which began at Drexel University in 2011.
City officials announced the center will now transition to the Health Department's control, but that doesn’t change the process for a survivor, said Adara Combs, director of the city’s Victim Advocate Office.
“Shores up the financial support that PSARC very desperately needed in order to provide the support that they do to survivors of sexual assault.”
With the government pulling back on grants and National Institutes of Health funding, the center needed support.
Combs said the change keeps the focus on what a survivor needs.
“The services that are actually rendered at PSARC are medical in nature. So the staff at PSARC are nurses and doctors and things of the sort, so it makes sense to have professionals that are well-versed in that arena to oversee the work there to make sure that it's within industry standards.”
The center is still located next to the Special Victims Unit at 300 Hunting Park Avenue, but it is separate from the police department.
“Survivors don't need to do anything different. They don't need to go anywhere different,” Combs said.
For more resources, visit woar.org.
