She strongly believes that healthcare needs to change to benefit the patient and has traveled, lived, and volunteered medically in over 40 countries, equipping her to offer culturally competent care to all ethnic backgrounds. She has led multiple medical volunteer trips internationally and embarked on the World Race before medical school and works part-time for an anti-sex trafficking agency. She has also participated in additional training in healthcare related to LGBTQI needs and gladly accepts patients from any walk of life. In the future, she wishes to offer counseling and therapy to her patients. In her free time, Dr. Kelvas practices yoga, mindfulness meditation, and travels. She owns a medical writing company and is currently writing a book on PTSD in healthcare providers.
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The average age a child is taken in the United States hovers around 10 years old. Sexually trafficked patients can be seen up to 13 times in the ER before ever being recognized – how can this be?
ST patients often cannot speak for themselves and have a “guardian” or “chaperone” that answers most questions from healthcare providers; in the United States, this perpetrator is called a “John”. They’ll typically pose as the boyfriend, mother, or father. You’ll get a sense in the room that the patient has little to no autonomy, cannot make decisions for themselves, and are never left alone from the perpetrator.
Unfortunately, health care providers feel pressure from administration to go faster, leaving little time to establish rapport necessary to gain a patient’s trust. More often than not, the patient feels ashamed, embarrassed, and often frightened at the idea of asking for help. As sex trafficking has become quite the norm in the states, more physicians keep ST on their differential, and are learning to ask directly. Aside from obvious signs of abuse, noting if the patient cannot speak English and for signs of drug addiction can also provide clues. If John’s know that a particular hospital or provider keenly screen patients, they will take their prisoners to other less ambiguous hospitals, making the screening process tricky.
Healing can only happen naturally, in the quiet space created when you listen to a patient. Slower is faster. Protocols, screenings, charts, and lab values can never replace sitting alone in full focus with your patient. A doctor’s responsibility is to do no harm, but also to listen. The best advice ever given to me in medical school was that patients will tell you their diagnosis if you listen hard enough.
If you think someone is being sexually trafficked, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline 1 (888) 373-7888.
