Forensic nurses play key role in identifying human trafficking

In her role as the director of forensic nursing at Ballad Health, Ashleigh McMahan appreciates every opportunity to educate the public and team members in her own organization on how to spot signs of human trafficking in the real world. McMahan heads up a team that includes nine forensic nurses who are responsible for training team members in Ballad facilities on what to look for and how to respond. Healthcare workers are often in the best position to spot signs of human trafficking and take the initial steps to help people extricate themselves from the nightmare scenario of being a victim of trafficking. "One of the most recent statistics I saw is approximately 80 percent of persons that have been involved in human trafficking encountered a healthcare professional at least one time during their victimization," McMahan said. "We know with statistics, if it's predictable, it's preventable." With that in mind, McMahan and her team train virtually every Ballad team member on how to spot the subtle signs that a patient might be a victim of human trafficking. This training is offered to team members working in environments ranging from primary care facilities, hospitals, labor and delivery units and pediatric practices. "If there's an opportunity for us to have contact even once with them, we need to make sure we're very vigilant, very aware and very educated on what to look for," McMahan said. "And not only what to look for, but how to safely respond, because we know if we respond in a way that isn't helpful or might spook or set off somebody, we might have just lost our opportunity." Ballad's forensic nursing team plays a vital role in providing support for potential victims of human trafficking. The unit is on call 24/7, providing a great asset to anyone at Ballad's 18 facilities who encounters a patient they suspect might be a victim of trafficking, day or night. The most common places for victims of trafficking to show up are in emergency rooms or labor and delivery units. "You can go to any emergency department in the U.S., you can check in and leave, and you can be a one-time encounter," McMahan said. "Our labor and delivery is really important because of kind of the same scenario." Forensic nurses are specialize in building a rapport with victims of trafficking and encouraging them to reach out to law enforcement if the victim is an adult and the case does not fall under mandatory reporting laws. "Hopefully with the training we have, we can build the relationship with this person to be comfortable and feel safe opening up to calling law enforcement," McMahan said. Forensic nurses are the spearhead of a team that has been built to help extricate victims of trafficking from the situation they find themselves in. These nurses are part of coordinated community response teams that include local law enforcement and legal advocates. When trafficking victims are identified by forensic nurses, these nurses serve as the first point of contact with law enforcement. "When we reach out to our law enforcement partners, they already know us as forensic nurses," McMahan said. "We work together often, so we already have that rapport established and they already have the training and understanding of what they're walking into, what they're dealing with and the sensitivity of the matter." The immediate and long-term aftermath of being a victim of trafficking requires a support system, and McMahan said we have a good one in place here in our region. At Ballad, it starts with Woodridge Hospital, which now has a 24/7 walk-in clinic for anyone experiencing an acute mental health situation. The hospital also offers in-person and outpatient services. For those more comfortable seeking community resources, Ballad partners with several organizations, the biggest being Grow Free Tennessee. "They specifically work with human trafficking victims," McMahan said. "They're primarily based out of Knoxville, but they have a satellite location here in the Tri-Cities." McMahan also said we're blessed to have the Johnson City/Washington County Family Justice Center, which takes walk-ins and can help with a lot of different crisis referrals. The center can also help with the coordination of care and counseling referrals, many of with end up going to Frontier Health. "They are also very trained in a variety of settings whether it be human trafficking specifically, or whether you're experiencing domestic violence, intimate partner violence or a sexual assault," McMahan said of Frontier Health.