2014 Health Care Champions Honoree: Lana Martin

Lana Martin’s work is dedicated to a vulnerable patient population.

She’s a sexual assault nurse examiner and the SANE program coordinator for CoxHealth. On any given day, Martin could be responding to a sexual assault emergency call, and the victim is often a child.

“I take night and weekend calls that require I go to the hospital to care for victims of sexual assault as they arrive in the emergency department,” Martin says, noting pediatrics, sexual assault prevention, injury prevention and community education are her personal passions. “I ensure that these patients receive the compassionate and focused care that is much needed during this tragic time in their lives.”

Martin says she was the first certified pediatric emergency nurse at CoxHealth, and she helped build and promote the health care provider’s sexual assault nurse program.

“With so many lives being impacted by trauma and sexual assault, I champion the education for the community through many programs,” she says. “Caregiver education is a large focus of mine.”

She’s also the registered nurse unit educator in the emergency department, responsible for teaching ongoing education in trauma, pediatrics, stroke, sedation and general-use equipment. She helps coordinate for multiple CoxHealth department classes, including procedural sedation and all new hires.

While she’s employed at CoxHealth, her reach extends well beyond the hospital walls.

“I participate in the community Sexual Assault Response Team, which is a group effort to ensure resources are available and care is optimal for this very vulnerable population of patients,” she says. “I am the lead for sexual assault education within community universities and high school systems, as well as the Springfield Police Department.”

In other roles at the hospital, Martin leads the car seat education program, which covers three training events a year and instructs car seat technicians in a 40-hour classroom setting.

“These events allow caregivers to show up to the event to have their car seat checked or installed by a certified car seat technician free of charge,” Martin says. “Education materials are provided and the children in the community can be assured they will be traveling safely in the vehicle.”

Martin says she is planning a pediatric health and safety fair next year that would cover a broad range of topics, including passenger safety checks, water safety, and helmet and bicycle safety.

She’s also involved in industry organizations, serving as co-chair of the Missouri Emergency Nurses Association education and injury prevention committees, as well as secretary/treasurer of the Ozark Chapter of the Emergency Nurses Association, co-chair of Safe Communities of Springfield and a member of the International Association of Forensic Nurses.

In her 18-year health care career, Martin has worked at Mercy Hospital Springfield, Texas Children’s Hospital and Matrix Healthcare Services in Houston, Texas. Her tenure at CoxHealth began in 2009, as an RN unit educator in the emergency department.[[In-content Ad]]