SafeHaven of Tarrant County announced on Monday that it will be collaborating with Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth to create a Strangulation Response Team.
Hoping to reduce the number of murders between intimate partners, the new team will consist of SafeHaven’s High Risk Team case managers and will be available to talk with victims of strangulation 24/7. Managers will meet with victims at Texas Health Fort Worth to provide them with information about SafeHaven resources.
The Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention says that strangulation is one of the top predictors of future homicide, as victims of strangulation are 800 times more likely to be murdered by their abuser, according to a press release from SafeHaven.
Cindy Burnette, director of Texas Health’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program, said that strangulation is one of the most dangerous forms of abuse but also one of the hardest to detect.
She stated that these attacks are often overlooked because less than 50% of victims display visible marks.
Metro Nashville Office of Family Safety’s Heather Herrmann said roughly 50% of victims experiencing domestic violence have been strangled, and there are many risks associated with being strangled.
“Strangulation can cause strokes; strangulation can cause miscarriages. It can cause brain damage if you lose consciousness,” said Herrmann, according to the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention.
The highest number of domestic homicides in Tarrant County came in 2016 when 16 people were murdered by their intimate partners. With the exception of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, that number has continued to decrease, and just seven domestic homicides were reported in 2021, per CBS Texas.
Kathryn Jacob, president and CEO of SafeHaven, said there is a lack of knowledge regarding available resources for victims.
“Our local fatality review team meets regularly to discuss the previous year’s domestic violence homicides, and the ones that stick out the most for me are the victims who did not know SafeHaven’s life-saving resources were there for them, local and free of charge,” Jacob said in the press release.
Burnette stressed the importance of informing victims about available resources.
“But beyond the immediate medical care, we know the importance of connecting victims to community resources available to help protect their physical and emotional health and safety. With SafeHaven providing face-to-face advocacy in real time, I believe victims will be much more open to accepting help to get in a safe place,” she said in the release.
Burnette added that employees at Texas Health Fort Worth have been trained to look for signs of domestic abuse and provide any necessary care.
“Texas Health’s team of forensic nurses have received specialized strangulation training to assess and identify hard to detect injuries and then collaborate with our other medical professionals to provide the appropriate medical interventions,” she said.
The program is expected to begin expanding to other hospitals within the next few months.