Medical professionals play an important part in detecting and prosecuting child abuse. Kim Hansen a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) details the medical side of detecting and documeting abuse. She also helps us understand why ongoing training and ongoing research can help eliminate concerns, protect individuals and support families through a variety of experiences. 

Kimberly Hansen has been a registered nurse for 30 years and a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner for 20 years.  Her main job is working as a nurse practitioner at F.H.L. Pediatrics in Roswell, NM.  She is the clinical coordinator and SANE-A for the Roswell Refuge SANE Program, and currently performs all the pediatric SANE exams for Chaves and Eddy counties, and has been assisting other program in Southeast NM due to COVID related losses of medical providers. Kim is also a core instructor at the district training for SANE nurses in Albuquerque, NM where she teaches on multiple topics, including injury across the lifespan and strangulation. Kim was also a part of the Strangulation Education Team of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence and presented to several hospitals, clinics, and MDT in New Mexico.

She has guest presenter for the 5th district Search & Seizure / Legal Updates in southeast NM in 2015, 2016 and  2017, where she instructed law enforcement officers about strangulation. Kim has presented at the Advanced SANE conference in 2015, 2016 and 2017.   She has also given presentations about sexual assault awareness at “violence in the workplace” training at Roswell Job Corps and at the 2016 Southeast Region Self-Advocacy Conference.  Kim has also authored several articles for her local paper about sexual assault awareness.

Kim has 3 grown children (one of which followed her into the nursing profession), 8 grandchildren and 17 nieces and nephews. She spends her off hours watching her family play football and soccer; and at dance recitals.

Episode Highlights 

1:30 -  Meet Kim Hansen SANE practitioner as she shares what her role on the multi-diciplinary team in New Mexico looks like. 

3:15 - Kim explains the qualifications and role of a SANE investigator

4:30 - How developmental and safety milestones play a part in understanding how children talk about themselves

6:00 - When child and parent statements raise concern - Breastfeeding & Medical Marijuana example

8:00 - Acknowledging when the injury doesn’t match the development level - Children’s falling example

9:00 - Behavior of adults can also provide insight into what a child's life is like

9:45 - Statistics around abuse reported by medical professionals

10:30 - Positive data medical professionals are looking for 

12:30 - What Kim is seeing post pandemic & social media, and current friendships 

15:00 - Laws and logic with teens that have legal rights over their bodies 

18 :00 - Natasha explains how SANE conversations can shape forensic interviews

21:00 - How medical professionals handle disclosures & the parents hearing these events for the first time

22:30 - Physical vs sexual assault when you can’t see the injury

24:00 - Educating the public and professionals on current medical data while eliminating medical myths 

27:00 - Accommodating parents during this process

28:15 - The special training Kim provides to spot strangulation

30:00 - The case in New Mexico that led to providing training on this topic via the Strangulation Prevention Institute

31:45 - The symptoms that Kim trains medical professionals to look for 

33:00 - The lethal impact of strangulation and law in New Mexico

35:00 - The testing that needs to take place after an attack to detect long term injury

36 :00 - The specific training SANE have and when they are called in

38:15 - An example of how SANE practitioners can separate abuse concerns from schoolyard injuries

39:15 - Interacting with other medical professionals and how the science has become more advanced to offer less testing

42:00 - Current certifications SANE professionals take

43:00 - What aftercare looks like & the role of advocates in this process

45:00 - We see better outcomes when a child is believed by the parent.