Meridian Health System: Equip and empower nurses to emancipate victims of human trafficking.

Equip and empower nurses to emancipate victims of human trafficking.

Greetings,

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Meridian Health System, Inc..

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Equip and empower nurses to emancipate victims of human trafficking.


We have signed this letter in acknowledgment of our role as health care providers in combating human trafficking and to urge Meridian Health System to generate internal policy and training initiatives to empower their clinicians and staff to address this issue in daily clinical practice. Meridian Health has an extraordinary potential to combat human trafficking in our communities and to be a leader and example in health care to other agencies nationwide.

Nurses know that caring for their clients requires a holistic perspective. They consistently care not only for clients’ physical needs, but for their mental, emotional and spiritual needs as well. While nurses are astute at identifying signs of abuse, many may still miss the less familiar signs that suggest, for example, that the patient in bed 6 needs more than an X-ray and a cast –she needs to literally be freed from slavery.

Human trafficking is modern day slavery (for sexual exploitation and free labor) and enslaves both domestic citizens and foreign nationals. According to the US Department of Health and Human Service’s Rescue and Restore Campaign, human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world, and the fastest growing.1 Although the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 made human trafficking a Federal crime, many health care providers are unaware of this largely ignored epidemic and the important role they have in identifying and aiding victims of human trafficking.

Though their situations are complex, victims of human trafficking show identifiable “signs and symptoms” of their plight in much the same way a patient with an MI presents with chest pain. Still, health care providers are not catching the signs. A 2005 study based out of San Francisco found that 28% of the trafficking survivors surveyed came into contact with a health care provider while they were enslaved.2 Unfortunately, none of the health care providers recognized that they were victims of human trafficking. If the trend is similar in New Jersey, nurses and other health care providers could have the opportunity to help almost one third of trafficking victims get started on the road toward restoration! That is an incredible, untapped potential, and the key lies in equipping and empowering New Jersey’s health care providers –especially nurses, who spend the most time with patients.

In February 2011, the American Journal of Nursing published The Role of the Nurse in Combating Human Trafficking, a very helpful resource for health care professionals trying to learn about human trafficking.3 The Rescue and Restore Campaign developed free resources available online for health care workers. The Polaris Project, one of the largest organizations in the United States fighting human trafficking, not only operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline (which health care providers can call 24/7), but also provides training upon request (and free online interactive trainings and webinars).4 The effort to combat human trafficking is a Federal initiative, but unless action takes place on a grassroots level, even at the bedside, it will not succeed.

As nurses committed to advocating for our clients, we urge you to peruse the literature and connect with knowledgeable experts who can assist you in developing company-wide policies and training initiatives for your clinicians on the front lines of this epidemic. Institute policies based on current research and recommendations from reputable organizations (such as Polaris Project and the USDHHS Rescue and Restore Campaign) that standardize protocol for addressing the needs of potential victims of human trafficking. Train and equip the nurses and doctors in your Emergency Departments, Mother/Baby Units, outpatient clinics, community outreach centers, etc. to recognize potential victims, skillfully assess their situation, and begin to mobilize personnel and resources to help them. Post the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline number where nurses and clients can see it. Invest in training for a Clinical Nurse Educator or Social Worker to be an in-house expert on caring for potential victims of human trafficking and connecting victims to crucial resources and law enforcement personnel to help them escape captivity.

Please, equip your nurses and other health care providers with knowledge and training. Empower them make astute assessments and advocate for their patients. When we are empowered and equipped, we can help emancipate our patients who are caught in the horrors of captivity. Equip. Empower. Emancipate.




1. United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Rescue and Restore Campaign –resources for health care providers: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/index.html, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/campaign_kits/index.html#health
2. Family Violence Prevention Fund. Turning pain into power: trafficking survivors’ perspectives on early intervention strategies. San Francisco; 2005 Oct. http://www.endabuse.org/userfiles/file/ImmigrantWomen/Turning%20Pain%20intoPower.pdf
3. AJN, American Journal of Nursing: February 2011 - Volume 111 - Issue 2 - pp 28-37
http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/2011/02000/The_Role_of_the_Nurse_in_Combating_Human.25.aspx
4. Polaris Project website: http://www.polarisproject.org, Link to online training resources for health care providers: http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/national-human-trafficking-hotline/access-training/online-training. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center toll-free 24 hour hotline number: 1-888-3737-888.

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