Mount Carmel, Ohio AG look to aid human trafficking victims
Health care providers and educators across Ohio will soon have access to new training materials and resources to help identify and help victims of human trafficking.
A partnership between Mount Carmel Health System and the Ohio Attorney General Office’s Human Trafficking Commission, the new training will help health care professionals identify signs of human trafficking and learn how to help victims in a safe and compassionate way, as multiple studies show 88% of trafficking survivors come into contact with health care providers.
“Victims, survivors need to know that when they seek medical help, they’re in a safe place that they can trust, and these trainings are going to help with that,” Attorney General Dave Yost said Wednesday during a news conference at the Mount Carmel Healthy Living Center in Franklinton.
“We are not going to arrest our way out of this human trafficking problem,” he said.
The commission’s Healthcare Subcommittee created videos, filmed at Mount Carmel’s Center for Innovative Learning, that depict real-life scenarios involving victims of sex and labor trafficking, trauma-informed providers and what those interactions should look like, said Heather Wilde, forensic nurse coordinator for Mount Carmel and subcommittee chairperson. They also identify red flags providers should look for, and barriers that prevent victims from coming forward.
The training also includes a debriefing guide that addresses how nurses interact with patients and human trafficking laws, including mandatory reporting, Wilde said.
“We hope that these videos guide health care workers to utilize this approach, meet the patient right where they are and take care of them as they would any other patient in their care,” Wilde said. “These videos and the accompanying guide are a truly important tool for all health care agencies, nursing schools and many others to better understand the patients that they’re looking for.”
Stephanie Rollins, one of 40 subcommittee members and a sex trafficking survivor, said the training and resources will make a world of difference to those dealing with human trafficking.
“Being a survivor of a lot of years, the hospitals were the last places that we’d want to go because we were being judged,” Rollins said. “It’s important for everyone to know that we’re human.
“We’re fragile; we’re broken. We need that compassion and that love and that care — not what we did but (rather) what happened.”
Yost: Deporting human trafficking survivors not anyone’s priority
In response to a question during Wednesday’s news conference about immigrants who might not tell health care workers they are being trafficked because they’re afraid of being deported, Yost said he has “never heard of anybody being turned over to ICE. That’s not what we do; that’s not why we’re doing these things.
“Also, in health care systems, the practitioners are there to serve that patient, and so … I think the reply would be that hospitals are a pretty safe place for you to be. There’s a legal requirement for them to provide treatment,” Yost said.
“Beyond that, the truth of the matter here in America today is that those of us in law enforcement can’t even get felons evicted from the country most of the time,” Yost said. “Somebody who has been a human trafficking survivor, who is a victim … is not going to be anybody’s priority.
“Anyone who hears the sound of my voice … who is concerned about their (immigration) status, please get help; please seek help.” nshuda@dispatch.com @Nathanielshuda