SAN ANTONIO – It all begins with a name from a Bexar County Sheriff’s deputy at a domestic violence scene, now skilled to make life-saving telephone calls.
“Once everything is calmed down, then they will go ahead and make the call to MEDCOM and ask the 11 questions that are considered the lethality assessment,” stated Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Chief Nancy Sanford.
Those MEDCOM execs take the telephone calls on the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) Command Center. They immediately talk with victims and ask the ones explicit questions that make up a lethality review, figuring out the sufferer’s risk of demise because of domestic violence.
The MEDCOM execs then ship a ranking. Anything over a seven is deemed excessive risk. They relay that ranking to the deputy, who then gives the sufferer useful resource choices.
Those sources get started with the City of San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District, or Metro Health.
“A seven or higher means that we are reaching out to that person inside of an hour, and we will repeatedly try to reach them. They are at risk, not only for experiencing domestic violence but for death,” stated Metro Health Violence Prevention Manager Erica Haller-Stevenson.
Haller-Stevenson stated they get, on reasonable, 120 MEDCOM calls a month, and 25% are high-risk.
A number one distinction with this protocol is that the case staff touch the victims. The victims don’t wish to elevate the difficult burden of attaining out and asking for assist.
“The first thing we do is make sure they’re in a safe place,” she stated.
That might imply staying with circle of relatives, pals, a lodge or the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter, which accepts giant households and pets.
Transportation is supplied to any of those puts.
“After a person is stabilized into a safe place and they have their basic needs met, like food and being able to communicate with family members, we move into case management,” Haller-Stevenson stated.
Those grow to be long-term case managers.
“Do they have children that are with them or that they’re trying to reunite with? Do they have a job or need a job?” Haller-Stevenson stated.
For any products and services Metro Health doesn’t supply, they attach shoppers with different organizations.
“That could be counseling. That can include legal services with the Family Justice Center or with Legal Aid, anything that they need. If we provide it directly, we’ll do that. If we don’t, we help them get that,” Haller-Stevenson stated.
Many occasions, it’s the Center for Healthcare Services that steps in.
“Typically counseling for not only themselves but for the kiddos as well. Then, housing and any other type of service that we can connect them to either in the center or in the community,” stated Center for Health Care Services Crisis Response Director Aimee Hicks.
The pilot program introduced in 2021 with investment from town and county and $500,000 from University Health. That cash from UH price range the MEDCOM and STRAC products and services.
The town investment, which coated the Metro Health products and services, simply expired.
So, in October, the Bexar County Commissioners Court voted to pick out up that investment for $294,000. That will final thru Dec. 31.
“This is a really good example of multiple organizations working together,” Haller-Stevenson stated.
All the organizations concerned agree that the purpose is to make victims notice they may be able to grow to be survivors.
“I think that’s just so important that the victim knows somebody cares, somebody is looking out for them, we’re going to keep them alive,” Sanford stated.
If you or any person you already know is in a bad dating, there may be a lengthy checklist of sources on ’s Domestic Violence page.
If you might be in crisis you’ll:
– name 911
– name the Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233
– name the native Family Violence Prevention Services, which runs the safe haven at 210-799-7233.
– name the Bexar County Family Justice Center at 210-631-0100.
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