Deputy Sheriff’s Association makes a surprise gift

Surprises at a hospital are usually not a good thing, especially at VMC, home to one of the Santa ClaraCounty’s top trauma centers and a focal point for emergency medical services and disaster response.

But thanks to the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Santa Clara County, the surprise was a good one at VMC on Thursday, June 24, 2010. The DSA joined the VMC Foundation for a special event to announce a donation to the VMC Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). SART provides victims of sexual assault with a specially trained team of doctors, nurses, social workers and other staff, and assists law enforcement in the collection of forensic evidence. It isCalifornia’s oldest, continually running program of its kind.

The DSA has been a long-time supporter of SART, donating needed money and equipment to keep the program going. Their members know first hand how traumatic a sexual assault can be, and are dedicated to putting the guilty behind bars. Their most recent gift, announced on June 24^th, was a specially configured, high-resolution digital camera that SART nurses will use to photograph patient injuries. Those photographs are critical to prosecutors and often used as evidence against sexual predators. The new camera package was assembled by Sheriff’s Deputies using the same equipment to photograph crime scenes. The previous camera used by SART was over 10 years old.

SART staff knew they would be receiving a donation, but the DSA has a surprise in store. Watch the video to see their reaction.