A specialized training session to help healthcare providers identify and treat victims of human trafficking will be held in Tustin on Saturday.
“This training is really important because there’s about 1.1 million trafficking survivors in the United States, and they're not recognized very well in the emergency departments,” said Dr. Adrienne Schlatter, a child abuse pediatrician and co-chair of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force Healthcare Subcommittee.
State legislation signed by Governor Newsom last year requires emergency departments to screen for human trafficking victims, but Schlatter said there’s still a lack of effective screening happening.
“We know, based on our existing data, that 50 to 80% of trafficking victims do see some kind of a healthcare provider, and there is a huge opportunity there to be able to identify and connect with patients at that time and see what resources, services, or other needs they might have,” said trauma surgeon Dr. Sigrid Burruss, who co-chairs the OCHTTF Healthcare Subcommittee.
The training will help hospitals create trauma-informed policies and practices to better recognize and treat survivors. Burruss said that could include implementing a standardized format for screening tools and teaching physicians and nurses how to screen patients “in an empathetic manner that develops a trusting relationship.”
Burruss gave the example of a young woman who recently came into the hospital after jumping out of a moving car. The staff assumed it was a suicide attempt until later in her hospital stay, when she revealed she was trying to escape her trafficker.
“That was only through taking the time and asking the right questions in the right setting without others in that room, so that she can really answer the questions honestly and receive the support that she really wanted,” she said.
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Michelle Heater, a program director with Waymakers, said trafficking survivors often consider healthcare professionals to be people they can trust, which is why it’s crucial for doctors and nurses to know how to help them.
“The hopes are that this is either an ongoing event or this becomes organically ingrained in healthcare settings,” she said.
The free training will last from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. this Saturday at the Salvation Army Tustin Ranch. Healthcare professionals can sign up for the training here.
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