6/26/2023 0 Comments Stories from night shift![]() ![]() She grabs her nurse’s badge and drives to First Step Resource Center, a clinic that offers round-the-clock care for people who have been assaulted. Her breath is steady by the time she changes into the clothes she laid out close to her back door before going to bed. Towarnicki tiptoes down the stairs of her home to avoid waking her young son, as her half-asleep husband whispers encouragement into the dark. When her phone rings, it’s typically in the middle of the night. A survivor may need protection against sexually transmitted infections, medicine to avoid getting pregnant, or evidence collected to prosecute their attacker. She’s on call once a week and a weekend a month. These nights on duty are Towarnicki’s second job. “You almost want to curse,” Towarnicki, 38, said. Towarnicki’s breath caught, a familiar feeling after four years of working night shifts as a sexual assault nurse examiner in this northwestern Montana city. She had a new case, a patient covered in bruises who couldn’t remember how the injuries got there. Jacqueline Towarnicki got a text as she finished her day shift at a local clinic. ![]()
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