Peninnah Kako has spent her career improving nursing care for people at their most challenging moments in life. That focus drew her to her current work training Wisconsin nurses to care for sexual-assault victims with compassion.
“We train nurses on how to care for people based on how they present culturally and whether they’ve been traumatized before,” said Kako, a professor of nursing who joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Nursing as a faculty member in 2008. “The nurses take the time to understand those dynamics.”
That training has taken the form of a program for sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE), developed by Kako and launched in 2021. These registered nurses receive specialized education in working with patients who have experienced sexual assault, abuse or incest. SANEs are in short supply, both in Wisconsin and nationwide.
Two hometowns, one mission
Kako arrived in Milwaukee as a young student from her native Kenya in the late 1980s. She earned her undergraduate nursing degree from UWM, as well as her master’s in nursing and a graduate certificate as a family nurse practitioner. She also worked in the field as a nurse serving Milwaukee County jail inmates for a decade.
Kako strove to expand her impact from working as a nurse to leading research that would improve the skills and knowledge of nurses working both locally and across the globe. She returned to UWM for a PhD in the early 2000s and quickly dove into research close to her heart.
“I chose to have my study focused on the people who were most vulnerable at that time, who were women living in sub-Saharan Africa who had been diagnosed with HIV,” she said.
That work spawned dozens of research publications and Kenya-based research projects that continue today, exploring the difficulties women with HIV face in accessing quality health care and battling HIV-related stigmas. Her work also aims to address those stigmas and connect patients to financial self-sufficiency. For example, some have started small businesses selling homemade soap and crafts such as baskets to help support their families.
To connect more UWM students to her work abroad, Kako biannually guides a study abroad course, Community Health in Kenya, for students in health sciences.
Knowing cultural nuances builds trust
Kako, assisted by her colleagues, won a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant to develop the SANE training program. The first of its kind in an academic setting in Wisconsin, it teaches nurses evidence-based care and practical skills, like the mechanics of collecting evidence after a sexual assault. Just as importantly, the program teaches nurses how to provide trauma-informed care and the unique cultural challenges faced by certain victims of violence.
For example, the nurses receive training on refugee women and the practical reality that some may have previously suffered genital mutilation. Beyond that, Black and immigrant victims may have good reason to be wary of law enforcement and need counseling on navigating the legal system. Where possible, members of marginalized communities deliver the lessons.
“The light bulbs go off for these nurses,” Kako said. “We’ve heard words like, ‘Oh, I never knew that’ and, ‘Oh, my life has changed because of this program.’”
Kako and her colleagues started with an initial cohort of 10 registered nurses in the state. To date, they’ve trained 140 nurses.
“I learned a lot about bias in this field. I got to learn about the different populations that we serve,” said Ciera Harris, a registered nurse at Froedtert Health who completed the SANE training program. “I feel like I learned more about myself than anything else. That’s really important. You take that self-reflection and build.”
