As many as 80% of U.S. hospitals don’t have sexual assault nurse examiners, often because they either can’t find them or can’t afford them. A program in Glendive stopped taking patients for examinations this spring. It didn’t have enough nurses to respond to cases. The next closest option is 75 miles away in Miles City, adding at least an hour to the travel time for patients, some of whom already had to travel hours to reach Glendive.Missoula has one of the few full-time sexual assault response programs in Montana.
