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<\/p>\nWhen a young woman comes to an emergency room carrying an expensive designer purse and wearing high-end jewelry, medical personnel should take note.<\/p>\n
The high-priced trappings may mean nothing, but it could also be a sign the woman is being trafficked, Wyoming County District Attorney Joe Peters told senior nursing students at the University of Scranton recently.<\/p>\n
Those moments in the emergency room, when a victim of human trafficking can be separated from her traffickers, can be life changing, Faculty Specialist Anna Grippi said.<\/p>\n
Grippi, who coordinates the program\u2019s clinical rotation, worked with the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking to bring an hour-long training to senior students soon to start their careers.<\/p>\n
Grippi said senior students typically conclude the year going out to various sites in the community related to community and public heath.<\/p>\n
But, with human trafficking becoming an increasingly pervasive problem, she believes it was important for students to learn about it before graduation.<\/p>\n
Peters and Michele Minor Wolf, co-chairman of the task force, led the workshop, encouraged by the students\u2019 interest and response to the issue of human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Wolf, CEO of the Victims Resource Center, said the training helps nurses to recognize red flags, including controlling companion, branding tattoos and signs of abuse.<\/p>\n
It equips the student nurses with strategies such as separating a patient from a controlling companion and asking open-ended questions rather than posing question after question, she said.<\/p>\n
Should a nurse suspect a patient is being trafficked, they can contact Victims Resource Center or the police, she said.<\/p>\n
Peters pointed out that, after the hour-long training, students remained for over 30 minutes, asking additional questions, showing deep interest in the topic.<\/p>\n
Peters and Wolf provided students with specific situations which surprised some of them.<\/p>\n
No one scenario fits all victims, they told students. For example, some victims still live at home.<\/p>\n
A 12-year-old, for example, might meet a trafficker online or even at a school event. She might originally consider the trafficker a boyfriend and accept gifts from him.<\/p>\n
He then might ask if she would pose for some sexually-themed photos, which she had not previously been comfortable with.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, every night, she\u2019s still going back home,\u201d Wolf said.<\/p>\n
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Last week Wyoming County District Attorney Joe Peters conducted a training program with classes from the University of Scranton\u2019s Nursing program and in conjunction with the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking. (SUBMITTED)\n<\/p>\n
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Last week Wyoming County District Attorney Joe Peters conducted a training program with classes from the University of Scranton\u2019s Nursing program and in conjunction with the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking. Left to right: Clinical coordinator for community health clinical rotation Anna Grippi; Michelle Van Pelt, director of nursing clinical operations; Michele Minor Wolf, co-chair of NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking and Wyoming County District Attorney Joe Peters . (SUBMITTED)\n<\/p>\n
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Last week Wyoming County District Attorney Joe Peters conducted a training program with classes from the University of Scranton\u2019s Nursing program and in conjunction with the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking. (SUBMITTED)\n<\/p>\n