SOMETIMES THE CAUSE FINDS YOU RATHER THAN THE OTHER WAY ROUND
For many people, the intensity of need or the pain of injustice means that the cause chooses you because you can’t walk away or ignore it. That’s how it was for Dr. Astrid Heger.
It may seem unthinkable today, but in 1983, when Heger, a pediatrician, volunteered to work at Los Angeles County Hospital + USC Medical Center, she learned that children who had been sexually abused were physically examined not once but over and over again so that experts could testify about the injuries at multiple court hearings. Heger was outraged by the unnecessary and added trauma. She was incensed by how often such cases were lost anyway because the “evidence” was so subjective.
“At the time, people didn’t want to believe sexual abuse was happening, and many cases weren’t prosecuted,” says Heger, whose cool blonde looks belie her fiery determination. “There was no science or documentation. Anybody could say anything.” In reaction, Heger pioneered the use of photographic documentation and rigorous methods of evaluation so that kids would be physically examined only once.
In 1984, her efforts paid off, setting a legal precedent in California and, over time, creating new standards in state after state, across the country. “Scientific documentation brought authenticity to the investigation and allowed cases to go forward,” she says. From there, with only a trickle of funding and no salary or staff, Heger began treating vulnerable children in a temporary clinic, an abandoned trailer located on the medical center’s parking lot. Authorities kept warning her off.
“One administrator told me to cease and desist because building programs to deliver services for women and children was not a priority.” Heger’s soft voice gets even quieter. “It amused me to drive my truck around that guy,” she says triumphantly.
Over the years, social workers, counselors, and police officers kept bringing her more and more victims of family violence. There was nowhere else to go. “Against all odds,” says Heger, “I decided to methodically build a system that would deliver quality care, and demonstrate to bureaucrats that keeping families together instead of in jails could create an economic model that would save money for the system.”