In the wake of Sarah Everard's tragic murder in March 2021 (BBC News, 2021), a heightened movement is surging, recognising vulnerability around safety on our streets alongside private thoughts of ‘that could have been me’ as we reflect on and relive our own unpleasant experiences or near misses. Sarah's is now a familiar face for all the wrong reasons. In a YouGov survey for the All Party Parliamentary Group for UN Women (2021), 1000 women highlighted the prevalence of street harassment. Sarah's case exemplifies an extreme example of this statistic. The survey reports that 97* of women aged 18 to 24 had experienced sexual harassment, with 80* saying that this took place in a public space. Sarah's life, so wrongly and prematurely taken when walking home after having dinner with a friend in Clapham, London, illustrates this and also a larger all-pervading picture of violence in the workplace and at home, not only by a ‘stranger’, but commonly by people we know.
The World Health Organization (2021) gave a stark reminder that around 736 million, or one in three, women globally report being subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. Spector et al (2014) found that, worldwide, around a third of nurses were exposed to bullying and physical violence; a third reported injury, and about a quarter experienced sexual harassment, with two-thirds specifying non-physical violence.
Sadness makes me want to do something, anything, to generate some good out of this shocking situation. So, this is a gesture for ‘everyone’—not only young women but anyone completely powerless to remove themselves from a bad situation. Knowing the recognised ‘Signal for Help’ could be a lifeline. This small hand gesture could save the next victim's life.
The ‘Signal for Help’ was introduced by the Canadian Women's Foundation on 14 April 2020 (McGill University, 2020) as a signal for those at home on video calls facing violence and needing help during lockdown. However, it is now spreading as an international sign for needing help. It is a simple single-handed gesture that anyone can use in person or in a video call to discreetly signal that they feel threatened and need help.
To do this, face the palm towards the other person, tuck your thumb inwards, and then cover it with your other fingers (Figure 1) (https://canadianwomen.org/signal-for-help/).
The #SignalforHelp campaign has created clear guidelines and resource kits to teach people how to respond safely and offer help (Women's Funding Network, 2021). A series of illustrations and animations shared on social media also assist with spreading awareness about the campaign. They say these tools are part of a larger effort that can ‘help some people, some of the time’. By raising awareness of domestic violence, the hope is that #SignalforHelp can offer an intervention to survivors during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, online and in person. In addition, anyone in a situation where they feel threatened and need to discreetly ask for help can use the Signal for Help.
Nurses could be viewed as part of the statistics, but, more importantly, as protectors within their healthcare roles, where their sheer numbers enable them to promote the #SignalforHelp to many and diverse groups of people.
Make it your duty to share this signal with as many colleagues and patients as possible in person or virtually (#SignalforHelp) as a lasting legacy of Sarah Everard's life.