In the past five years, 153 out of 307 hospital calls responding to victims of sexual assault in the Barren River Development District were in Bowling Green.

Greenview Regional Hospital is taking steps to help combat that problem by training registered nurses to become S.A.N.E. nurses, which stands for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.

The S.A.N.E. program was created to promote a sensitive response to victims in the aftermath of the assault, provide increased system flexibility by expanding the pool of professionals, and ensure that forensic exams are conducted by trained professionals.

Greenview Regional Hospital will start off with three sexual assault nurse examiners but hope to train more. Nurses say the advanced training that members receive improves the quality of evidence collected, which strengthens evidence admissibility in court.

The Sexual Assault Nurse Examine (S.A.N.E.) program was created in 1996 as a result of legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly.