Immediate Help
The First Things You Should Do
If the Assault Happened in the Last 72 Hours…
- Go to a safe place
- Ask a friend, a campus advocate, a family member or someone else you trust to stay with you.
- To minimize harm to your body, please go to a hospital emergency room. The Mitchell Emergency Room ( U. of C. Hospitals ), is located at 901 East 58th Street , 773-702-6250 . Even if you don't have visible injuries, you should still have a medical examination and discuss with a health care provider the risk of exposure to sexually transmitted infections and the possibility of pregnancy resulting from the sexual assault. You will not be required to report the sexual assault to the police in order to receive medical care at the Emergency Room.
- Medical advocacy resources will provide someone to accompany you to the hospital, help you through the medical exam, or give you more information. A good campus resource is the Sexual Assault Dean-on-Call (link to description under resources), whom you can reach at 773-834-HELP. You can also ask at the hospital for a non-university Sexual Assault Survivor Advocate.
- While your first impulse after an assault may be to bathe, this destroys evidence that will be important if you decide to press charges even at a much later date. Avoid showering, bathing, douching, changing clothes, or brushing your teeth. If you do want to change clothes, save all of the clothing you were wearing at the time of the assault. Place each item of clothing in a separate paper bag. Do not use plastic bags. If you arrive at the hospital in the clothes you were wearing at the time of the assault, they will keep those clothes and give you something else to wear. Avoid disturbing anything in the area where the assault occurred.
- If you want to report the assault, notify the University of Chicago police (UCPD) or the Chicago Police Department immediately. The UCPD can be reached by dialing 123 on a campus phone or by calling 702-8181 or 911. The Chicago Police can be reached by calling 911.
- If you suspect that you may have been given a rape drug, go to the hospital immediately and ask the doctor or nurse to take a urine sample, which will be preserved as evidence. Rape drugs can only be detected for a limited time and are more likely to be detected in urine than in blood.
- Write down as much as you can remember about the circumstances of the assault, including a description of the assailant. This may be difficult, but it will be very helpful in getting proper medical attention and, if you want, in filing complaints within the University of Chicago, or taking legal action outside the University.
- Talk with a counselor, who is trained to help rape survivors deal with the emotional and physical impact of assault.
- For more information on University policy, talking to the police, the legal procedure, and what to expect in emergency treatment, please follow these links.
- For more on-campus and off-campus resources please see Resources and Services.
If the Assault Happened a Long Time Ago >>
