IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF SEXUAL ASSAULT OR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CALL 9-1-1.
If you have questions about this program, please call the Hamilton Medical Center Emergency Department at 706-272-6158.
SERVICES AT HAMILTON’S FORENSIC UNIT

We are here to help.
The Hamilton Forensic Unit is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is one of six hospital-based units in the state of Georgia.
Hamilton Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) meet with victims of sexual assault and abuse, conduct thorough forensic exams, as well as provide expert testimonies in court when needed.
The unit is inside Hamilton Medical Center, adjacent to the Emergency Department, with multiple fully trained sexual assault nurse examiners.
(SANE). The team includes female and male nurses. The unit is housed in a newly renovated space that was designed using a trauma-informed approach. It has state-of-the-art equipment, including a Cortexflo and a Sexual Assault Kit Tracking System (SAKS) that is used in conjunction with the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
Patients have the capability of tracking their sexual assault kits digitally. Sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening and treatment are provided at no charge, and patients are assigned a patient advocate by the Georgia Victim Witness Assistance Program.
WHAT IS SEXUAL ASSAULT ?
Sexual assault is a sexual behavior or acts committed or attempted by another person without the victim’s consent or against someone unable to consent or refuse. (CDC, Basile, 2014)
- One in 4 women reported being a victim of sexual assault in their lifetime.1
- One in 6 women has or will experience sexual coercion in their lifetime.1
- Of the female victims reporting, 43.2% reported that it occurred before age 18.1
- About 1 in 6 men were sexually abused by the age of 18.2
- One in 10 men has experienced sexual coercion at some point in their life.1
WHAT IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?
Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse.
1 Morgan and Oudekerk, 2019. Smith, 2018. Merrick 2018 2 American Journal of Preventive Medicine
3 The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence