Court Employees Overwhelmingly Respond to Help Rape Victims

Contact:  Ed Ferenc, Public Information Officer                                   
Cleveland Municipal Court
216 664 6787 / 216 789 2597
ference@cmcoh.org     www.cmcoh.org 

By Ed “Flash” Ferenc

(Cleveland)—Friday, May 15^th turned out to be a very special and emotional day for nurses at MetroHealth Medical Center. As the result of a recent article by Plain Dealer Columnist Regina Brett, Caring Closets for Rape Victims, Cleveland Municipal Court and Shaker Heights Municipal Court teamed up and donated over a half dozen containers of new clothing and cash to the Level 1 Trauma Unit.

You see, most of the clothing worn into the emergency room is taken for evidence in sexual assault cases and many of the victims don’t have someone to call to bring them new clothing, or they just aren’t ready to tell someone why they need the clothes.

Liz Booth, the forensic nursing coordinator at Metro plans to work with SANE nurses at Hillcrest, Fairview and University Hospitals to spread the donations where they are needed most.  SANE is an acronym for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.  These women are truly angels who do everything possible to help solve a horrible crime and at the same time prepare the victim for the rest of her life. As you can see in this photo, Liz was quite taken by the outpouring of support.

​Project Manager Aretha Johnson directed the program on behalf of the court.  “A special thanks to the employees in all divisions for their generosity in helping us meet this challenge.  $1400 was donated, which allowed us to purchase 28 fifty dollar gift cards from Target and Walmart.  Nicole Sforzo and the Probation Team collected over half of that amount,” said Johnson.
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From Left to Right, Shaker Heights Municipal Judge K.J. Montgomery, her Personal Bailiff Tina Kastanis, SANE Nurses Liz Booth, Kathleen Hackett and Laura Gaertner, Maria Rodriguez, Nicole Sforzo and Aretha Johnson