_{Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose}

A week after allegations came to light that local emergency room doctors were refusing to treat sexual assault victims, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said she and other officials are working with Sutter Coast Hospital to find a resolution.

A resolution may be forthcoming in the form of a memorandum of understanding between the hospital and the North Coast Rape Crisis Team, Starkey said. The MOU may also involve Del Norte County Public Health Officer Dr. Stutz, though it’s still being finalized, Starkey told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.

“I asked for our county counsel to take a look at that (agreement) as well,” she said, adding that another meeting is scheduled for this week. “I don’t know that it’s necessary, but that was my suggestion at the last meeting.”

Starkey said a representative of the North Coast Rape Crisis Team — which provides support to victims of sexual abuse in Del Norte and Humboldt counties — reached out to her and District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson. She set up a meeting with hospital administration and the NCRCT representatives on July 29, the day after Del Norte County Sheriff’s Det. Maia Mello, a member of the Sexual Assault Response Team, or SART, brought her concerns to the Healthcare District Board of Directors.

According to Starkey, the meeting included input from Stutz, Mello, Jennifer Burr, a local sexual assault response nurse and Del Norte County District Attorney Katherine Micks. Undersheriff Devin Perry also attended, Starkey said.

“Everybody agrees that we need to solve whatever concerns there are because these survivors need to have a safe place to be able to be examined so justice could be served on offenders,” Starkey said. “Now it’s a matter of whether Sutter has certain policies they have to follow because of billing for insurance or because of HIPAA violations. There are all these different things that Sutter has to follow and all these things that the detective needs to make a case and all the things the North Coast Rape Crisis Team needs to make sure they have a safe (place) for the survivors. Those are the things that are being worked on.”

When asked for details about the potential MOU between the hospital and the North Coast Rape Crisis Team, Starkey referred Redwood Voice to Rape Crisis Team. However, Executive Director Amanda LeBlanc said she wasn’t ready to comment.

Micks told Redwood Voice on Thursday that she was familiar with the concerns Mello brought to the Healthcare District — sexual assault survivors and their advocates have complained about how they’re treated at the hospital “periodically over the years.” But, after meeting twice with hospital administrators, the North Coast Rape Crisis Team and law enforcement who handle sexual assault cases, Micks said the hospital appears motivated and determined to fix any barriers that exist.

One improvement, according to Micks, has been establishing a dedicated room at the hospital where sexual assault examinations can be conducted. But the SART nurses aren’t employed or paid by the hospital, Micks said. 

“They get paid per exam by the law enforcement agency requesting the exam,” she said. “The person doing the actual exam does it at Sutter in a special room, but it’s not necessarily a Sutter employee or a Sutter doctor.”

Micks and Starkey spoke to Redwood Voice after Del Norte Healthcare District Board Chairman Dr. Kevin Caldwell said the special district planned to address it at its next meeting on Oct. 27.

In a written statement to Redwood Voice, Sutter Coast Hospital CEO Michael Lane said Tuesday that the hospital has been “working closely for years with the community stakeholders involved with the Sexual Assault Response Team needed to support the delivery of this highly sensitive and specialized care.”

“Together we have set and followed enhanced policies and protocols to support survivors of sexual assault,” Lane said. “The collective and cooperative efforts of this working group play a vital role in the support of survivors in the community.”

According to Lane, a recent development has been a reaffirmation of the group’s commitment to improve its collaboration and coordination to best meet the evolving needs of the patient.

Lane attended a Healthcare District Board meeting on July 28 when Mello aired her concerns with the way sexual assault survivors were treated at the hospital. She described two situations when victims of suspected sexual abuse had presented to the hospital emergency room and were discharged without receiving adequate treatment. In one case, Mello said, the doctor told the sexual assault nurse examiner that he, “‘did not want to be subpoenaed and suggest she get an outpatient provider to conduct that follow up.’”

Mello asked the Healthcare District for a letter of encouragement to the hospital asking that it follow “established federal and state law, locally established and agreed upon protocols and the best practices in the treatment of victims of sexual assault.”

According to Mello, the hospital’s “less-than amazing response” to sexual assault victims had been occurring over roughly two years. She said the SART team had been trying to establish a better relationship with the hospital going back to 2025.

Though she declined to speak with Redwood Voice on Monday, LeBlanc outlined her experience with the hospital in a May 14, 2026 email to Micks, Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott, DNSO Capt. Melanie Currie and Del Norte County Chief of Probation Lonnie Reyman.

In the email, which Redwood Voice obtained through a California Public Records Act request to the city, LeBlanc said she and Jennifer Williamson, an investigator in the District Attorney’s Office, had met with Carol Hiner, Sutter Coast Hospital’s chief nurse executive. Following that meeting, LeBlanc said, a process for cleaning the SART room following an examination had been established. And warm blankets were listed as a solution for a room that “remains at 59 degrees,” according to the email.

LeBlanc also brought up a conflict of interest challenge concerning nurses who work for the hospital. In the May 14, 2026 email, LeBlanc said that conflict of interest seems to have de-escalated and that three Sutter Coast Hospital nurses wanted to attend SART training.

Still, because the nurses aren’t working for the hospital when examining and treating sexual assault survivors and because the survivor isn’t checked in as a hospital patient, “it is nearly impossible to get labs run and prescriptions filled,” LeBlanc said. Emergency room staff and physicians don’t follow standard protocol for labs and prescriptions associated for sexual assault survivors, LeBlanc said. They have also challenged “every single ask of the SANE for antibiotics, prophylaxis and the morning after pill.”

The work-around proposed is to have the survivor established as a hospital patient, LeBlanc said. But, she argued, the time in the emergency room adds to an already long day and medical clearance isn’t necessary for a SART examination.

“Perhaps most importantly, the ER visit has never been covered by the SART exam and survivors are already billed for this unneeded service,” LeBlanc said in her email. “Carol has promised that they will just roll the ER clearance into the SART and the survivor will not be billed. Jennifer Williamson and Jennifer Burr (SANE) and I are adamant that training occurs with the ER staff (not just in a memo or SOP) in order to alleviate some of the responses Nurse Jenn has received from the ER staff, which include ‘I don’t do sexual assault, I don’t want to be sued’ and proclaiming that a survivor did not need gonorrhea or syphilis prophylaxis because ‘it is rare that it happens in rape and not a very big problem in Del Norte County.’”

Gonorrhea and syphilis prophylaxis are required to be offered by state law, according to LeBlanc.

In her email, LeBlanc also outlined an instance where a survivor who had experienced long-term strangulation and had symptoms for two days after the assault was turned away from the ER for attention seeking. According to LeBlanc, Burr brought this to the chief medical executive and the chief nurse executive’s attention who were both horrified.

LeBlanc said she accompanied the survivor to the hospital and managed to get a scan. As a result of this incident, LeBlanc said Burr is seeking training opportunities for local healthcare representatives to do strangulation examinations.

“NCRCT would like to discuss a ‘on scene’ response with Advocates to try to increase the number of exams and to enhance the services for (domestic violence) survivors (basic needs assistance, emergency shelter, etc.),” LeBlanc said. “This is not an immediate idea, but as the number of SANE nurses grows, we feel confident that we can begin offering both the exam and the advocacy. Sutter is very excited to discuss this program as well.”

LeBlanc said she and Williamson were going to meet with Public Health but decided to delay those meetings to see if hospital representatives would follow through on their promises and commitments.

“I would argue that the progress is much slower than we would like, and it seems that every case brings up a new, more complicated challenge,” LeBlanc said. “But Carol is willing to listen and change policy (SLOWLY) when these complications arise.”

In a 2024 interview with Redwood Voice Community News, LeBlanc said she had secured a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Office on Violence Against Women. The grant money would be used to recruit nurses into the SART team, which included paying them for their on-call time as well as provide mentorship from the SART team in Humboldt County.

In a conversation with Redwood Voice in August, LeBlanc said that the North Coast Rape Crisis Team would operate its Del Norte office for another year using the Office on Violence Against Women grant.

The Del Norte Healthcare District meets at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 at the Del Norte Wellness Center, 550 E. Washington Boulevard in Crescent City. Agenda information can be found here.