News & Media
Michigan Medical Community Takes Stand Against Human Trafficking
Human trafficking itself is widening its reach -- this is not just a problem for metropolitan areas. Communities across the country, and throughout Michigan, have begun to confront the burgeoning issue.
With Michigan ranking second in the human trafficking trade nationwide, behind only Nevada, Governor Rick Snyder, Attorney General Bill Schuette, along with a variety of state legislators, sought a solution to this gruesome criminal trend. In 2013, Snyder's administration created the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission, a group dedicated to reducing the amount of human trafficking in Michigan, while connecting victims with advocacy groups and resources.
One professional group has largely stepped up to battle human trafficking and provide care to its victims alongside Michigan's politicians -- the Michigan medical community.
Early on in the counter movement, the Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan and its foundation, the Oakland County Medical Society and the Macomb County Medical Society partnered to create a physician education program, focusing on the identification of victims who seek physician care as a result of violence associated with human trafficking.
For Genesee County Medical Society Executive Director Peter Levine and his team, physician awareness and education were top priority. With a growing human trafficking trend arising in the Flint area, GCMS acted quickly, setting out its plan for a human trafficking "toolkit" almost two years ago.
GCMS worked tirelessly to create their toolkit, engaging local physicians, as well as working cohesively with the Genesee County Department of Mental Health and the Greater Flint Health Coalition, among other local health and human services agencies. Together, the medical society and its counterparts created a twenty-four-page toolkit to aid physicians in identifying human trafficking victims, and the steps to complete after identification.
"Basically, we took the documents that had been done in several tertiary care centers and massaged them, boiled them, repackaged them, reworded them, redid them completely, while taking the best parts of each to take a tertiary concept to a community concept," Levine said. "We were careful to design it so that it was clear, concise, brief and made an impact."
The toolkit outlines the risk factors involved with human trafficking, while delving deeply into the warning signs physicians should recognize, such as branding tattoos and other adults being in the room to answer patient questions.
What was GCMS' main goal in the completion of the toolkit? For physicians statewide to use their literature and replicate their efforts.
"I hope it raises awareness so when cases do present themselves in a health care or social service setting, people know what they're seeing and they report it. It's only by reporting it that people will begin to understand the scope of this issue," Levine said. "Physicians who have seen the toolkit have said they've seen some of the warning signs, but only after they realize what they're seeing. Being aware is the only way to get someone care and out of their situation."
In alignment with the work from medical societies across the state like GCMS, the Michigan State Medical Society itself adopted a resolution seeking to add to the fight against human trafficking. Resolution 41-14 states:
That MSMS support efforts to increase health care provider awareness of the prevalence, symptoms and signs of human trafficking in Michigan; and be it further
That MSMS support legislation providing access to, and payment for, health care services for victims of human trafficking regardless of their citizenship status.
With the issue of human trafficking now splashed across newspaper and television headlines, the Michigan medical community continues to lead the way in human trafficking legislation and advocacy. The Michigan State Medical Society stands in unity with medical societies across the state that are working tirelessly to reduce ongoing violence and make Michigan a safe haven.