Rape Treatment Center Opens 24-Hour Clinic, Evidence Unit

SANTA MONICA — The Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center opened an emergency care facility Wednesday that will provide free 24-hour medical help. Authorities said the faster medical care, and gathering of evidence, could lead to more successful prosecutions of rape cases.

The Verna Harrah Clinic, which was named after a center board member who helped finance the new facility, will offer the use of advanced forensic equipment and technology for locating evidence, said Gail Abarbanel, founder and director of the center.

“New technologies enable us to document micro-trauma, injuries that wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye but would be detectable with the equipment,” Abarbanel said. In addition, she said, the new equipment will aid with DNA identification of offenders.

Since it opened in 1974, the center has provided such free services as professional counseling, consultation and advocacy. But until its new emergency facility opened Wednesday, it did not provide medical care.

Staffed by nurse practitioners, the clinic will treat assault victims faster than hospital emergency rooms, which usually give priority to life-threatening injuries. A delay in treatment may result in deterioration of evidence in some cases, said a center representative.

The center treats about 1,000 patients a year. In 1997, there were 3,000 reported rapes in Los Angeles County, said Abarbanel.