Episode 36 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner-Forensic Nurse Deborah Wetherelt

Years of Service: 1977-Present

Deb began her nursing career in 1977, and for 42 years delivered babies and worked in nursing leadership roles in the maternal-child area. After her husband passed away, Deb was trying to decide what the next chapter of her life would look like and learned about a new program with the Idaho State Police. ISP was looking for a nurse to develop a state-wide role to teach nurses how to perform the medical forensic examination after sexual assault. Deb was hired as the coordinator and became a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner where she now teaches about sexual assault, strangulation, trauma response, and how it affects behavior for nurses, law enforcement, and Sexual Assault Response Teams in the state. Since beginning her role, Idaho has increased the sexual assault collection sites from 3 to 32 with the goal of ensuring there is a site in every part of Idaho.