Hospital Project: Crossroads

Partnering Against Domestic Violence
North Shore Medical Center and HAWC

A collaboration of the North Shore Medical Center and HAWC, Crossroads is designed to provide access to services for female patients and employees experiencing domestic violence.

Crossroads services are free, voluntary and confidential.

Crossroads is staffed by two full-time Advocates who provide crisis intervention to patients and staff, as well as training throughout North Shore Medical Center (NSMC). 

Advocates are hospital-based. If a woman wants to talk with an advocate she can do so while she is at a NSMC site or meet an advocate after she has been discharged.

Hospital advocacy is a critical opportunity for intervention for many of our patients. A woman who might not identify herself as battered may respond to questions about her safety posed by health care providers.

Crossroads Services

  • Crisis intervention to patients and staff
  • Safety planning
  • Weekly support group - Union Hospital
  • Staff training - All NSMC sites
  • Legal advocacy
  • Links to community based services
  • Services in Spanish
  • Community education
  • Teen outreach
 Why Screen Patients for Domestic Violence?
  • Prevalence rates are high
  • 1 in 3 women experience abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime. (JAMA, May 1998)
  • Signs of abuse may not be visible
  • Domestic violence not only takes the form of physical harm but also emotional, verbal
  • Economic and sexual abuse
  • The health effects of violence vary from serious injury to eating or sleeping disorders or chronic pain
  • Some patients may not fit the stereotype of a battered woman
    Studies consistently indicate that women from all races, age groups and income levels are subject to domestic violence. 
  • Routine screening insures that all women have access to the information and services they may need.
  • Domestic violence undermines compliance with medical care
  • Batterers become threatened when a woman is receiving additional medical care (pregnancy is a common example) and may attempt to exert more control to further isolate the woman
  • Isolation perpetuates the abuse - screening breaks this isolation and informs the patient that there is help available
  • Concerned health care providers send an important message of hope

See also information about HAWC's Emergency Advocacy Response Team (HEART).