News, Events and Information from PCAR
Local improv comedy group, Don’t Break the Streak, will be hosting a charity event on Thursday November 12, 2009 at 7 PM.The show will be held at the Harrisburg Comedy Zone at Doc Holliday’s 110 Limekiln Road, New Cumberland.
Tickets are $15 and all proceeds go toward Vision of Hope.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lauren Sogor – National Sexual Violence Resource Center (717) 909-0710 x 118.
Enola, PA.- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape $1.5 million dollars per year for three years to continue funding its National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC).
The CDC has funded the NSVRC since 2000 to serve as the nation’s principle center for communicating, organizing, creating, and sharing information and resources about all forms of sexual violence and its prevention.
Delilah Rumburg, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, reflects on what the resource center has meant to the field: “It’s exciting to note that next year we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the NSVRC. The NSVRC staff excels at providing information and resources to support advocates and allied professionals nationwide in the prevention of sexual violence.”
According to Karen Baker, NSVRC Director, “It’s obvious from all the recent high-profile stories in the news that we have a long way to go before rape, incest, and other forms of sexualized trauma are no longer tolerated or excused. We are delighted to continue our collaboration with the CDC and our many other partners to strengthen effective prevention strategies that will make our communities safer.”
A woman loses her health insurance while taking prescribed anti-HIV drugs after she was raped. Her insurance company tells her she has to prove that she is HIV free for two years and cannot be undergoing any counseling in order for her coverage to be reinstated.
Women’s group revises HUP petition
The Penn Consortium for Undergraduate Women is “refocusing efforts” on its push for a center to help rape victims, according to College junior and PCUW vice chairwoman for University relations Kaneesha Parsard.
After urging that the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania become rape-designated — a legal distinction that allows hospitals to treat and examine victims of sexual assault — PCUW is now advocating for a specialized center to serve rape victims in the Penn and West Philadelphia communities.
Since HUP is a trauma center, Parsard explained, patients come for treatment on a range of medical issues — meaning longer wait times in the emergency room for rape victims. A center specifically for rape victims would help alleviate these wait times, she said.
The change in tactics comes after PCUW leadership met with members of the Division of Public Safety on Friday, Parsard said.
PCUW released a petition last Tuesday urging HUP become rape-designated in light of the rapes on campus last month.
The petition had gathered 1,453 signatures as of Sunday night, which Parsard called “a manifestation of students’ support on campus.”
The idea of a specialized center that provides medical and forensic examinations for rape victims is not new, she explained. Several years ago, the Elwyn Institute — located at 4040 Market St. — was a candidate to become one of these centers, but failed because it lacked adequate square footage, Parsard said. Read the rest of this entry »
October 21st – Today, Pennsylvania advocates affirmed a national call to action intended to raise awareness about and a greater commitment to reducing the number of children and youth who experience child abuse and neglect drawing particular attention to the fifty Pennsylvania children who died in 2008 as a result of child abuse.
“The death of any child as a result of child abuse is too many,” said Cathleen Palm of the Protect Our Children Committee. “The collective loss of life should move us from tragic reflection to unified alarm renewing our commitment to protect every child, to strengthen every family.”
The number of Pennsylvania children who died as a result of abuse in 2008 was the highest number of deaths since 2002.
Last year, ninety-percent of the children who died as a result of child abuse were four or younger – forty percent of all deaths claimed the lives of children under the age of one.
“Too many children have paid too high a price as a result of child abuse and neglect,” said Diane Moyer of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. “It is the responsibility of government to protect children but that duty also extends beyond government and rests with each of us to work for intentional strategies prioritizing prevention”
