It seems to be the case with most support centers. The money is not there to help those who really need it. In Hawaii, the problem is magnified by the smaller populations.
During the early morning hours of a summer day in 2001, a Honolulu woman was raped by a man she knew.
Still in shock, she took a shower and went to work. All the while, confusion filled her mind of what had just happened to her hours earlier.
At lunch the woman, who requested to remain anonymous, called the Sex Abuse Treatment Center at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children for help.
A crisis worker advised her to undergo an examination at the hospital and guided her through the intake process. "It was almost like she was this angel. I went to work and felt like I was out of my body. ... She was like an anchor," she said.
This is the kind of feedback that keeps staff members at the Sex Abuse Treatment Center going. But they also know that they are not reaching everyone who needs help.
That is why the center, which provides services to sex assault victims statewide, plans to request more funding from lawmakers next year to provide better service and outreach to victims.
Executive Director Adriana Ramelli said she plans to ask lawmakers for $2 million in state general funds for fiscal year 2006-2007, a 54 percent increase from $923,783, the amount the center has received from the state annually since 1996.
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