Quote of note:
Center directors say studies conducted among the 2,000 victims they've treated during the past four years show that people are now far more likely to succeed in tapping into a special state crime victim compensation fund -- 65 percent of those who file with the center's help versus 11 percent who try to endure the laborious paperwork on their own.
According to these same studies, the number of victims who cooperated with authorities to prosecute their attackers was 44 percent higher among those helped by the center as compared with those who weren't.
And the number who felt healthy enough to go back to work within a year of being victimized was 56 percent higher among the center's clients, center directors say.
SAN FRANCISCO
Center aiding victims of violence loses funds
Despite its success, program is facing closure in October
- Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, August 15, 2005
A nationally honored pilot program that treats San Francisco victims of violent crime for psychological trauma has lost its funding, even though there seems no doubt -- even among those who have stopped giving it money -- that it is a solid success.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is pushing a bill to revive funding for the San Francisco Trauma Recovery Center for another year. However, the center's $1.3 million annual grant from the state's Victim Compensation Fund ran out on July 1 -- and unless new money comes in, the operation will have to shut its doors in October.
That would close the book on a first-of-its-kind experiment that already has broken important new ground in the practice and study of helping people who were viciously beaten, shot, stabbed or raped or whose relatives were violently attacked.
The center treats most victims of significant violent crime brought to San Francisco General Hospital, and since it opened in July 2001, its doctors and counselors say they have built an impressive record of helping people recover by more effectively seeking financial compensation, returning to work after being attacked and seeking therapy.
