There have been more than 500 rapes reported in New York City already in 2020. That’s evidence of the overwhelming job facing the NYPD’s Special Victims Division. It’s a job some survivors and advocates say they’re not doing very well, as overwhelmed detectives struggle under around 62 cases each, at any given time. Doreen Lesane knows the trauma of rape well, as she is a survivor-turned advocate. She tells her harrowing story that started in 1977 when she was just 16. She was raped, but too traumatized and confused to report it to police. She’s carried that trauma with her ever since. Now, she’s channeled it into helping others as part of the Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART) in nearly all the city’s hospitals. She is with victims moments after they arrive at a hospital, and stays with them as they are examined by medical personnel and until the police arrive. She talks about those truly traumatic first hours after a rape, and what women go through as they decide whether to report it to police or stay silent, and why the right interaction with SVD is so critical. In her view, they’re doing a great job despite too-small budgets and under-staffing. And she talks about why she believes reporting rape is so important.