NSU Horizons Spring 2016

11 NSU HORIZONS There wasn’t one health care professional,” said Gaillard-Kenney. “So we wanted to do something. We went back to our offices and we looked at all of the catalogues of NSU’s course descriptions for the Health Professions Division, and we took note that there was nothing about human trafficking,” Kent added. “There was something about domestic violence, but nothing that would help health care professionals identify victims.” The professors knew they were on to something. “We’ve learned through our research that, because of the violence associated with human trafficking, victims will, at some point, come in contact with a health professional,” added Kent. “Whether it’s being seen in an emergency room, stopping at a pharmacy for over-the-counter medications or bandages, or trying to locate a dentist or an eye doctor, they are out there. And, without a professional knowing the signs and symptoms, they may just view it as interpersonal violence, but what they are really seeing is slavery right in front of their eyes.” They began a program called projectHEAT (Health Educators Against Trafficking). CREATE was established as an expansion of that project. Partially funded by a private gift administered by the Community Foundation of Broward and two funded research grants, CREATE expands the educational reach with an aim to equip everyone from private citizens to educators to health care professionals with skills to help identify victims of human trafficking and to know which resources are available to help the victims. INVALUABLE MISSION Educating health professionals con- tinues to be primary for CREATE and this mission is invaluable, according to Jumorrow Johnson, former victim advocate of the Plantation Police Department and current vice president of Education and Community Outreach of the Broward County Human Trafficking Coalition, which are community partners with CREATE. “It’s knowing what to ask without raising attention or making the trafficker suspicious,’’ she said. “Also, if professionals don’t know what they are looking for, they don’t know how to address it.” According to an article, “The Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking,” published in the Annals of Health Law , some estimates suggest 87 percent of trafficking victims have had contact with a health care provider while being trafficked. The article stated: “by far the most frequently reported treatment site was an emergency room at 63.3 percent. Prior studies demonstrated that medical care providers are woefully unprepared to identify trafficking victims.” Johnson cautions that there is no spe- cific profile of a victim or of a perpetrator. “As far as victims, anyone can fall prey,” she said. BIG BUSINESS A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime finds human trafficking is surpassing the illegal arms trade as the second largest criminal enterprise in the world. The report predicts it will soon eclipse the drug trade as the No. 1 criminal enterprise “We’ve learned through our research that, because of the violence associated with human trafficking, victims will, at some point, come in contact with a health professional.” —Brianna Black Kent, Ph.D.