When Katherine Thompson started college, she was an art major. But today, she is a certified physician assistant, forensic examiner and manager of a new program that will bring needed assault treatment services to the Snoqualmie Valley.

Snoqualmie Valley Health (SVH) has launched Snoqualmie Valley Assault Treatment Services (SVATS), a program available 24/7 to survivors of sexual assault and interpersonal violence.

The program, which began this month, offers forensic medical exams, evidence collection, crisis intervention and connections to advocacy services, according to a news release. These services are available by calling SVH’s Emergency Department, where trained operators will connect callers with the appropriate resources.

The launch is in line with Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month in April, but the program has been in the works for a couple of years. When SVH hired Thompson for its Snoqualmie Ridge Urgent Care, it was decided that she would eventually start this program.

“They ended up writing a little clause into my contract that was about the seed of this idea, which was looking at organizational approaches to victims and trauma-informed care,” she said. “But like any sort of organizational change, we had some hiccups.”

It took some time for SVH to find a place in the budget for Thompson and her program, but Thompson said she finally got a small grant that allowed her to get initial supplies and equipment.

For the last year, one of Thompson’s top priorities has been community outreach. She has trained local law enforcement agencies and Eastside Fire and Rescue. She’s connected with organizations like the Snoqualmie Valley Human Services Coalition, Reclaim housing services and Mamma’s Hands to create a network of advocacy services. She’s worked with the Snoqualmie Tribe and the Snoqualmie Valley School District.

And Thompson is committed to continuing her outreach work as the program is active. She wants to partner with organizations that will help her close care gaps as she finds them.

“We have a policy with the program that every case or potential case that comes in now, I go through … the whole process. I follow them all the way through billing and make sure that we’re patching holes as we go,” she said. “That’s a lot of my outreach right now is continuing to build a strong community presence, but also helping to identify areas of needed resources and providing those resources.”

Thompson has also spent a lot of time training hospital staff on how to care for patients who have experienced assault.

“The research shows that we are not great at this in healthcare, even though we arguably should be,” she said. “If you can provide that kind of opportunity for somebody where they can feel safe and like they’re secure and they’re being treated with confidentiality and respect and compassion and kindness, I think that is an unbelievable step toward healing.”

In all of her training, Thompson has emphasized patient-first care. Patients are in charge of their own treatment, Thompson said — they can stop the process whenever they would like to, and it is entirely up to them what becomes of their forensic evidence, as well as whether law enforcement is involved.

She added that, by Washington state law, patients ages 13 and older can receive SVATS care without the permission or knowledge of a parent or guardian.

“I really want people to know how much work we’ve put into making this a confidential resource, including for teenagers,” she said. “I also want people to know how much work we’ve put into the trauma-informed care aspect of it … making sure that [patients] have the best possible experience on the worst possible day.”

Currently, Thompson is a one-woman show, and she’s dedicated to being available to patients 24/7. She said once she can demonstrate the program’s value, she hopes to hire more staff.

“My goal is to treat [patients] the way they want to be treated,” she said. “If they’re like, I need to come in now and it’s 3 a.m., I will come in and I will do the exam with you.”

This program was a long time coming for Thompson, who recently completed her PhD in forensic psychology and has been working with survivors of interpersonal violence, in some capacity, for about 20 years.

She started as a volunteer rape crisis advocate during her undergraduate years and quickly learned she didn’t want to be an arts major any longer. She ended up in medicine, working as an EMT before becoming a physician assistant and eventually a forensic examiner.

Thompson, seemingly, is made for this work. She said it’s a combination of factors that allow her to succeed.

“I think that I have a way of interacting with people who are experiencing trauma that is special,” she said. “I am able to bring them both compassion and support, but also humor and processing. I have a sort of all around package of interacting with people in a way that’s realistic, but also supportive. And I find that patients respond well to that.”

While the work Thompson does can be heavy, she said she doesn’t see it as difficult. Rather, she sees the good she can do and the help she can provide.

“You’re taking somebody who has, inarguably, had probably one of the worst moments of their life, and you are forming a hinge point for them,” she said. “That then allows the door to swing a different way. And that’s what I think is so powerful for me in this field is you’re opening a different door for them.”

To access Snoqualmie Valley Assault Treatment Services, call 425-831-2300 or visit the Snoqualmie Valley Health hospital at 9801 Frontier Ave. SE. Patients can ask directly for Katherine Thompson.