Soon after Arielle Zionts, a rural health reporter for Kaiser Health News, read a press release about telehealth services for sexual assault survivors living in the rural U.S, she was inspired to pursue a story about it. Her article, published in January 2023, also addresses the shortage of sexual assault nurse examiners, also known as SANEs, in those parts of the country.
In this “How I Did It”, Zionts explains how she found the sources for her story, some of the challenges she faced in her reporting and shares story ideas.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
How did you hear about these services?
The way I found it is a way that I probably do not get most of my stories, and that reporters often ignore, which is a press release. You get so many press releases that have nothing to do with your beat, or if they are [about] health care, it’s pushing a product or if it is about an issue, it’s just very general. But then I read it and it was specifically about it being used for SANE. And that’s where it stood out to me.
Had you heard of sexual assault nurse examiners before you worked on the story?
So, I knew what telehealth was, right? And I know that’s a hot topic. I know what SANE nurses are, and I knew that there was a shortage, but I had not heard of telehealth being used to address that shortage.
Who’s the first source you called?
I started with the lady who sent that email, and she set up an interview with the person in charge of their teleSANE services. She is a certified SANE provider herself who offers the teleSANE services. So that interview explained to me the very basics.
How did you find the other sources that you interviewed?
One easy one to find was a national expert. She’s the CEO of the International Association of Forensic Nurses. I believe they just had their media people contact various hospitals. So that’s how that worked. Then Amanda Shelley [a nurse Zionts interviewed] is the one who connected me with Ada Sapp [the sexual assault survivor Zionts interviewed].
The Office for Victims of Crimes, an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, has resources for medical institutions that want to have a sexual assault nurse examiner program. Source: Office of Victims of Crimes.
Had you interviewed sexual assault survivors before this story?
First, I’ll say I thought it was really important to have a survivor in the story, right? I think if you’re writing a story about an issue, you need to have — or should try your absolute hardest — to have someone who it’s directly about … someone who can personally discuss how it impacts them.
I sent so many emails to domestic violence shelters, to prevention groups in South Dakota and I wasn’t having any luck there. And I think it might be because we’re just such a small state that there’s just not … like other states may have organizations that are completely led by survivors. But I wasn’t seeing a lot of that here.
I believe this was my first time speaking with someone about this topic.
During the interview, did you ask about the sexual assault incident?
In all of the emails I sent out, I made it very clear that we do not need to talk at all about that, because that’s not the point. The point is what happened when they tried to seek care. But she [a sexual assault survivor] did share some details — and I didn’t need to include them in the story — but it related to the process of her seeking help.
How long did you have to write this story?
So, I had quite a bit of time. I sent [the first email] in mid-August or early August. It’s not like I was working on it every day because we had Medicaid expansion in South Dakota.
Other than finding the sources, what were some of the challenges you faced in reporting and writing this story?
Part of the story is that there is no official database and accompanying map of certified or trained SANE providers and their locations.
Another challenge was understanding the legal issues. So that was something I spoke with a bunch of the people about. And that’s where reading and finding some studies to understand the legal aspects [comes in].
Another challenging part is deciding what I can’t include because of space, and focusing it. There’s this whole other topic … there’s federal and state laws aimed at helping people pay for their exams, but that doesn’t always happen. And that is an entirely separate story.
Our readers include reporters who cover national and local issues. What are three story ideas that you would suggest a local reporter work on?
Look at state laws and programs related to providing the service, increasing the number of providers and the funding [used] to help pay for the cost for survivors.
