Center for victims of sexual assault opens at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center

During the week in which the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was marked, the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center has opened a Center for victims of sexual assault, following a decision by the Ministry of Health and the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center administration around two months ago.

Hillel Yaffe is at the center of a constantly-developing region, whose population in the surrounding communities is expected to reach over half a million people in the next few years. Up until now, victims of sexual assault who came to the hospital were referred to specialist centers in Haifa or Central Israel. Starting this week, such victims will be able to receive the multidisciplinary treatment required, if needed, at a new center, known as Helena.

Dr. Renat Raines Karmel – Senior gynecologist and Director of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Emergency Room at the hospital in recent years, has been appointed Director of the Center. She is joined by social worker, Ms. Nirit Sharabi, Coordinator of the Social Services aspect, and Ms. Mia Sapir – Acting Head Nurse of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Emergency Room.

The senior staff of the Center for Victims of Sexual Assault at Hillel Yaffe, right to left: Social Worker Ms. Nirit Sharabi, Dr. Renat Raines Karmel, and Nurse Mia Sapir

The Center, which operates 24/7 within a designated and intimate room within Hillel Yaffe’s Gynecology and Obstectrics Emergency Room, provides the best caring, speedy, and professional solution to women, men, adolescents, girls, and boys, who have been sexually assaulted. The response is both physical and emotional, with treatment by specifically-trained staff. When required, patients also receive treatment from other professional teams.

The Center helps both females and males who come after any kind of sexual assault, usually up to three days after the incident, although sometimes it can be even a week later. If necessary, help can be provided after even more time has elapsed.

It is important to emphasize that it is very important to come to the Center as soon as possible after the incident, preferably before showering or changing clothing, so as to enable evidence to be gathered, if needed, during treatment, from the criminal aspect. If more time has elapsed, the victim should come for treatment (prevention of STDs, unwanted pregnancy, etc.). Coming to the Center does not obligate someone to submit a complaint to the police. “It is important to clarify that someone’s coming to the Center, as well as any details supplied by the patients, is confidential,” explains Dr. Renat Raines Karmel, “no one outside the Center can access the details, and we will do our utmost to respect the body and soul of everyone who comes here”.

The Center can be accessed in a number of ways:

• Turning to the police, and coming with an investigator to the Center at the hospital by prior arrangement.
• Victims from various institutions in the area coming to the Gynecology and Obstetrics Emergency Room by prior arrangement.
• Arriving directly at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Emergency Room.

Visits to the Helena Center and the follow-up clinic are fully funded by the Ministry of Health, and the patient will not be required to present a referral letter or financial commitment form from the medical insurer (Form 17).

Contact can be made with the Center by telephone (24/7) at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Emergency Room, 04-7748206, or email [email protected]

For additional information about the Center for Victims of Sexual Assault >>