Hospitals Against Violence convening highlights health care leaders’ role in fight against human trafficking

The AHA's Hospitals Against Violence initiative today kicked off the latest convening in a series of events focused on hospitals' and health systems' efforts to identify and prevent human trafficking.

The series is part of ongoing efforts — in conjunction with Jones Day law firm and HEAL Trafficking — to provide resources to health care providers across the nation who are fighting the global scourge of human trafficking.

Mary Beth Kingston, chief nursing officer at Advocate Aurora Health and AHA Board of Trustees member, welcomed more than 150 leaders working to support, implement and amplify strategies to combat human trafficking in the health care system.

Lloyd Dean, CEO at CommonSpirit Health; Brian Gragnolati, CEO at Atlantic Health System; and Claire Zangerle, chief nurse executive at Allegheny Health Network, emphasized the importance of expanding leadership capacity to combat this global issue and encouraged participants to tap into the broad array of resources and tools curated by the AHA, Jones Day and HEAL Trafficking.

Other highlights included sessions on federal efforts to support hospitals in addressing human trafficking; a case study from the Texas Hospital Association outlining work to implement legislation requiring human trafficking identification and response training for providers; and a status report on anti-trafficking efforts in health care.

To learn more about this series and the AHA's ongoing work to combat human trafficking, click here.