Avalon Healing Center’s New Advanced Practice Provider Fills Need to Conduct Crucial Follow-Up Appointments with Survivors of Sexual Assault
Jake Newby
| 5 min read
Survivors of sexual assault and trafficking in Wayne County have counted on the Avalon Healing Center to assist them during their darkest moments for more than 20 years. Tens of thousands of survivors have entered the center’s Detroit clinic since 2004 to have sexual assault forensic exams performed, evidence collected and initial prophylactic medications ordered.
While these services are critical, Avalon strives to do more for survivors, specifically to address their mental health and any trauma they may experience after the assault. But the nonprofit organization hasn’t always had the resources to conduct the kind of thorough follow-up appointments that it desires, and that patient feedback has identified as a need.
With help from a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Foundation $50,000 Community Health Matching Grant, Avalon hired an on-site advanced practice provider (APP) in 2024 whose primary job responsibilities revolve around that follow-up component. Avalon’s goal is to help every survivor it serves to heal and overcome, a process that requires access to tailored, culturally humble and trauma-informed holistic care.
“The role has been filled and we’ve been seeing patients actively,” Avalon Founder and CEO Kimberly Hurst shared. “It’s a challenging population to reengage, as you might imagine, because of that trauma, but we’re finding a lot of success in the way in which we’re reaching out and getting people to come back for these kind of follow-up services … it’s been going really well.”
Patient-centered care that meets survivors where they are is something Avalon is more capable of doing today than it was in the past.
“The needs of this particular population are going to be very varied; they are going to be complex,” Hurst said. “And so, the training in which we have our team undergo to be prepared to handle that and be prepared to provide the support these people need, these are components that helped us figure out what needs to be happening.”
Avalon’s new advanced practice provider in action: A real-life success story
One of the roles of Avalon’s APP is to bring patients back after their initial visit – not only for sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment – but for photo documentation, progression of injuries and thorough revaluation of patients who experience non-fatal strangulation as a part of their assault.
“This happens not only in cases of sexual assault, but also, so, so often in domestic violence and interpersonal violence relationships. It’s very often a form of control for the perpetrator,” Hurst explained. “The problem with the non-fatal strangulation component is that it’s a very lethal component of the assault and it needs to be evaluated within a short period of time because symptoms can occur where patients may not realize that what they’re experiencing is something that’s life-threatening.”
Recently, a patient returned to Avalon’s clinic for a follow-up meeting three to four days after being initially seen. The symptoms the patient shared with the APP was cause for a second revaluation, which revealed concerning symptoms not originally identified.
“We conveyed the patient to one of our ERs here who did some imaging and found that there was a vascular injury that was life-threatening,” Hurst said. “She was admitted, specialists were involved and ultimately there were some interventions. If she had not been seen by us, she would have died. And it likely would have been within days of when we saw her again.
“The work this clinic is able to provide truly is potentially lifesaving in these instances,” Hurst added.
Additionally, BCBSM Foundation funding helped bolster Avalon’s EMR (Electronic Medical Record) system, which is a software program that is integral in creating, storing and charting documentation on patients the organization serves.
“We know that survivors of sexual assault are at an increased risk of developing behavioral health injuries after a physical assault, which makes services provided by the Avalon Healing Center so crucial in our communities,” said Audrey Harvey, executive director and chief executive officer of BCBSM Foundation. “Avalon’s initiative to make follow-up evaluations more of a standard practice is one we are proud to support as it deepens the support for a Blue Cross initiative, addressing an individual’s whole person health.”
As a sexual assault survivor herself, Hurst said she feels immense gratitude every time the center makes a difference in the life of someone experiencing such a traumatic event.
“Personally, for me, also as a survivor, I did not report my assault,” Hurst shared. “I did not receive medical care or services, and that was before I was introduced to this work … I just have a lot of gratitude to be a part of these patients’ hopeful healing process. Because it wasn’t something I knew about or thought I would have access to. That’s another reason why being acknowledged in a space where we’re receiving funding and also being able to get the word out about Avalon is so important because most of the time, people don’t know about us until they need us … and so we want people to know what we are, we want people to know who we are and what we do, rather than having to look for us in a time of crisis.”
If you are interested in applying for a grant, visit the BCBSM Foundation website at this link.
Read more Foundation stories:
- Coffective Expands Warm Referral Network, Provides Crucial Maternal Support with Help from BCBSM Foundation
- ‘Breaking the Cycle:’ Four Upper Peninsula Organizations Use Grant Funds to Help Their Communities Recover from Substance Use Disorder
- Port Huron Odyssey House Expands Substance Use Treatment Services for Pregnant and Postpartum Women with Help from the BCBSM Foundation
Photo credit: Avalon Healing Center
