APGO

Poster
Sarah, E, Hendrickson, BA

Sonya, S, Erickson, MD

Objective: LEADS is a longitudinal course that assists students in gaining awareness of and underserved populations. It additionally encourages political and social activism within the healthcare field. Survivors of human trafficking are one such underserved population. An estimated 2.5 million people are trafficked annually, with 45,000-50,000 trafficked into the US. Up to 80% of these victims are female. The objectives of this project are to assess provider awareness of human trafficking in the State of Colorado. The information obtained will be used to 1) catalog the most prevalent medical needs of trafficking survivors, and 2) identify and coordinate available services for victims.

Methods: Over the course of 1 year, with the LEADS program, I participated in multiple activities related to social inequalities and media and political advocacy. The following summer, I collaborated with the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking (LCHT) in the collection and analysis of data from community-needs assessments (CNA) of 5 major cities in Colorado. The CNA was distributed to service providers in multiple fields, including law enforcement, medical professionals, and social workers. The survey’s 48 questions were aimed towards understanding provider awareness of human trafficking, availability of services, and awareness of the prevalence of trafficking in the Colorado area. Outcome data also included organizational capacities for providing each of the 7 critical services required by trafficking victims: case management, translation, medical, mental health, legal, housing, and emergency.

Results: At this time, survey data from Denver and Fort Collins have been extensively analyzed. Data from Denver indicates that providers are aware of human trafficking, with 96% of providers indicating some knowledge of this issue and with 66% of providers indicating knowledge of >24 months. 48% of organizations surveyed indicated that they have directly provided services to human trafficking victims. Of these, only 38% could provide medical care and only 31% were capable of providing mental health care. Additionally, of all surveyed organizations only one was able to provide all 7 of the critical services needed by many trafficking victims.

Conclusions: Human trafficking victims are a hidden population that require but do not regularly receive extensive medical and mental health care. Data from Colorado indicates that providers are aware of this population and believe that they may have interacted with trafficking survivors, but these providers are not adequately equipped to provide the necessary care or to identify victims. Data also indicates that these same providers, from multiple fields, are interested in obtaining further education on this matter. It is clear that further programs providing education on human trafficking are needed.