Hospital-based intimate partner violence (IPV) programs face a unique challenge in response to the surge of domestic and sexual violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Project EMPOWER, an integrated hospital/trauma center program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), combines a hospital- and wrap-around community-based services to survivors and leverages telemedicine to provide (1) in-depth follow-up and case management, (2) crisis and counseling support, and (3) extensive trauma-related screening and triaging to account for a myriad of changing needs during this unprecedented time.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, urban trauma centers have seen steady increases in violence-related injuries. With hospital restrictions in place, Project EMPOWER- a hospital-based community-linked trauma center program specific to sexual, domestic, and IPV, needed to adapt to meet patients’ needs. This study highlights the impact of the pandemic on EMPOWER and the effect of a hospital-based/community-linked adaptation.
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