In the past week, Middle Way House has seen a 77 percent increase in calls from individuals seeking services to address domestic abuse.
The reason for the dramatic rise in calls may not stem from Bloomington, but from an elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On Sept. 8, online Hollywood gossip site TMZ published a video of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching and subsequently knocking his wife, Janay Rice, unconscious. The video was the prequel to footage of the football player dragging his then-fiancee’s unconscious body out of a casino elevator, which was released earlier in February.
“When a celebrity commits domestic violence or sexual assault, it makes the front page for a while, people pay attention,” said Toby Strout, executive director of Middle Way House. “For a while, maybe some additional people get service because it’s out there in the news. Every time that I can think of that that’s come up, we’ve gotten a lot more calls.”
Domestic violence shelters and programs across the state have seen a similar increase, according to Laura Berry, the executive director of the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The ICADM oversees quality assurance standards for Middle Way House and provides some funding. Berry asked employees of other shelters to compare the number of calls they received during the six days prior to Sept. 8, and the six days after the graphic video went viral.
“They’re all saying their numbers are equally representative,” Berry said.
For the past 12 months, Berry has seen shelters exceeding capacity, and even overflow housing in hotels can’t accommodate victims’ needs.
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