Care House staff members win state award

FLORENCE — Helping abused and neglected children on their path to lead normal lives has been been something Kathy Saunders, a nurse practitioner for the CARE House of the Pee Dee, had been adamant about doing for the past 13 years.

Saunders, along with Dr. W. Dean Banks and others, were instrumental in starting the CARE House, a nonprofit organization that administers care to children who have been physically or sexually abused, three years ago.

Banks and Saunders were honored in April by the S.C. Professional Society on the Abuse of Children or, SCPSAC, for their work in treating the children the CARE House serves.

Saunders, who received the SCPSAC Professional Service award, said she was honored by the recognition, but the real reward is her work.

“It has to be something you have a passion for and you have to have a commitment to these children,” she said.

Caring for suspected victims of sexual and physical abuse can be emotionally taxing and so it’s a challenge to keep your own feelings from becoming overwhelming, she said.

“I could have burned out a long time ago,” she said. “But what I try to do is bring the compassionate aspect (of myself) to the children. It does become very emotional, but you have those coping skills in place so you can continue to go on.”

Saunders said she had a pioneering role in nursing in forensic medicine in South Carolina and was the only nurse practitioner in the state performing forensic exams on children from 1995 until 1999.

Banks received the SCPSAC Corporate Service Award for his role at the child advocacy center.

Banks, president of First Choice Heathcare in Florence, is chairman of CARE House’s board of directors.

“I want to tell him ‘thank you’ but it seems like ‘thank you’ isn’t enough,” Saunders said. “The CARE House is a heartfelt project for Dr. Banks because he wanted to make difference.”

SCPSAC is a regional chapter of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. The agency’s goal is to promote effective interdisciplinary coordination and practice among the social workers, medical staff, law enforcement officers, and other professionals who respond to child maltreatment.

CARE House, whose name stands for child abuse resource and evaluation, is a nonprofit child advocacy center that administers care to children who have been physically or sexually abused. Children usually are referred to CARE House by the state Department of Social Services or law enforcement agencies. It serves Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Sumter and Williamsburg counties and offers after-hours emergency services.

CARE House began seeing patients in October 2005 in the First Choice Healthcare clinic. Today, CARE House is located at 1500 Patton Drive in Florence in a renovated home donated by Banks.

For more details about the CARE House and its child abuse prevention and educational programs, call (843) 629-0236.