When Embrace Clinic opened in 2015 it had a small, dedicated team but lacked a home base, instead relying on formal and informal partnerships with community organizations such as Surrey Women’s Centre, Surrey Memorial Hospital Youth Clinic, Sources, Alouette Addictions Services, Alisa’s Wish, and The Warm Zone.
Now, a decade later, this special team and their clinic have a home on the Surrey Memorial Hospital campus, and have supported more than 5,000 referrals for patients who have experienced intimate partner violence.
“We used to see primarily women with injuries sustained as a result of sexual assault and now we’re seeing more cases of severe domestic violence including fractures, strangulations and head injuries and also sexual assault,” says Nurse Practitioner Hannah Varto, co-founder of Embrace Clinic.
According to Statistics Canada, from 2018 to 2023, police-reported violent crime in Canada increased 20 per cent. Over the same period, overall rates of family violence rose 17 per cent and intimate partner violence increased 13 per cent. Many cases of intimate partner violence go unreported.
Bearing witness to such traumas takes a special skillset and expertise – it’s not for everyone.
“Our team is dedicated to providing expert comprehensive patient- focused care for survivors of violence” says NP Varto.
Reflecting upon the last 10 years at Embrace Clinic, she says the key successes were moving from a mobile program to a permanent space in 2021; launching a strangulation clinic in 2022; and partnering with stakeholders on research to further awareness, education and treatment of intimate partner violence.
Embrace Clinic is currently providing clinical data as part of a $3.4 million U.S. Department of Defence study aimed at improving diagnosis of brain injury by way of a blood test in survivors of intimate partners violence. The research will also explore possible connections to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Conducting research and expanding programs would not be possible without the support of the larger Forensic Nursing Services team at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
“We really are a strong, dynamic team,” says NP Jennifer Bellefontaine. “Embrace Clinic has become a home for staff collaboration and cooperation, and a place where patients feel safe and supported.”
Embrace Clinic has been nurse-practitioner-led since its inception. Services provided at Embrace Clinic typically include medical care and follow-up of injuries; focused forensic examination; screening and treatment for infections; emergency contraception (including IUD insertions); pregnancy testing; vaccinations; blood and urine tests; prescriptions; and referrals to specialists and community resources as needed.
Patients seen by forensic nurse examiners in the Emergency Department of Surrey Memorial Hospital and Abbotsford Regional Hospital receive follow-up by phone or through in-person appointments with nurse practitioners at Embrace Clinic.
Assisting the nurse practitioners is Levi, an accredited Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS) facility dog who helps patients through some of their darkest days in a way only a dog can.
