LEXINGTON, Ky — Sexual assault survivors in rural parts of the state often have to travel far out of their way to receive care, but a new project in the Bluegrass region will bring help closer to home for many.

Ampersand Sexual Assault Resource Center and Still Waters Medical Center held the ribbon cutting ceremony for their sexual assault response unit on Monday. The converted RV houses a full examination room which is staffed by sexual assault nurse examiners, who've completed specific training to care for survivors.

A look at the exam room inside the mobile response unit. (Spectrum News 1/Mason Brighton)

The mobile unit is ran by Haven Andrews, who also is the founder of Still Waters Medial Center. 

She's also a sexual assault survivor. 

"Going through it from a survivors standpoint and knowing what it was like from a nursing standpoint, my goal is to change the experience for others so that they don’t have to go through that re-traumatization of going to an emergency department where sometimes you are not cared for appropriately,” Andrews said. 

The mobile unit project aims to better support the rural areas they serve, Andrews added. 

“Survivors or victims are driving 30 minutes to an hour to get an exam and sometimes they get to a hospital and there isn’t even a forensically-trained nurse there to complete the exam," she said.

This innovative way of serving sexual assault survivors is fairly new, but those in charge say they are eager to put it to good use. 

“There are very few, probable around five to seven in the United States so it is really groundbreaking for us to be able to do that here in Kentucky and we are so excited to be able to provide that service here," Andrews said.

Leaders who helped make the mobile response unit possible say they expect to be up and running in around a month.