Episode 3: Training Nurses to Spot Human Trafficking

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:40.692)
Okay, sounds good. But you know what? Things that happen and start this way, they usually make for the best product, the best outcome. So it's going, we're gonna rock it. Let's go.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:51.979)
for sure, for sure. All right. And, and we're actually, because you came early, you came into the studio early, we got, you know, we got all of our stuff figured out and fixed. And it's even two minutes, two minutes early. Look at that. Look at that.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (02:09.998)
See, it's more nurses. This is how we roll. And we are awesome troubleshooters.

Cara Lunsford, RN (02:14.485)
That's right. We anticipate things going south is what it is.

Cara Lunsford, RN (02:22.763)
Well, this is gonna be a really great interview, because I think it's very, well, I mean, I think it's really appropriate for the times that we're in right now, and there's a lot of stuff on the news lately, and talking about human trafficking, and,

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (02:39.747)
Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (02:52.361)
You know, candidly, I did not know that there was a Nurses United Against Human Trafficking organization. I didn't even know that. So but you are the co-founder and president of such. And so I'm excited to have you here. And I would love for you to just tell us a little bit about Francine. Tell us about yourself. You know.

nursing you can tell us a little bit about your nursing career but then how did you get into this area?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (03:26.798)
Absolutely. Absolutely, Karen. Thank you so much for asking. So I have been a proud member of the nursing profession now for 33 years. That number just gets longer.

Cara Lunsford, RN (03:39.583)
That's not possible. First of all, I'm just gonna say, I know this is a podcast and a lot of people can't see you because they're listening to this. She's lying. There is no way that Francine has been part of this profession for 33 years. You look amazing. I don't know what you do, but you look amazing. Okay, so just keep going, keep going.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (03:54.028)
Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (03:57.777)
goodness!

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (04:03.598)
You're so kind. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. So yes, I earned my bachelor's of science in nursing in 1992. I was born and raised in New York. My accent is still incredibly thick. I recognize it. If anyone needs translation services, I'm happy to oblige. But I currently live in Florida. I moved down in 2021.

I ended up going back, getting my masters, became a pediatric nurse practitioner. The torture wasn't enough, so I went back and got my PhD. But no, all joking aside, it truly is a blessing and an honor to have the doctorate. It's something that I remember when I was going through my doctoral studies that one of my professors said, right now, this is very selfish ambition.

She said, however, once you cross that stage at graduation, it's no longer about you. It's about what you can do with your research, with your studies. What are you doing to change? Be that change agent. We're not looking at the individual approach, that one-on-one type of approach, or even systems approach in different facilities.

you're taking that 30,000 foot viewpoint, that vantage point, and you are impacting it at that level. And so humbly, this is what we are doing with Nurses United Against Human Trafficking. Like I said, I've been a proud member of the nursing profession now for 33 years, registered nurse, became a pediatric nurse practitioner. I'm a trained sexual assault nurse examiner.

And I will humbly say that I, and it's something that still impacts me deeply on a daily basis, how I entered the anti-trafficking space is in the fall of 2018, I still am an academic nurse educator, but at the time I was working as a clinical instructor for a very prominent pre-licensure baccalaureate program on Long Island, New York.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (06:25.266)
And so we were in the clinical setting, being that I am a pediatric nurse practitioner and very well versed in PEDs, I would take those pre-licensure nursing students into the clinical setting for their pediatric rotation. And so we were at a level one trauma center teaching hospital, right? And I had my eight students with me and we had gotten a call from the ED saying that there was a 16 year old who needed to be admitted, very significant cellulitis.

requiring IV antibiotic therapy. She was dehydrated. And so I had assigned one of my students to shadow the nurse who was taking the admission. There were a couple of other students who weren't busy. So I said, this is a great learning opportunity. We'll see the admission process students. Let's go in. And I'm a very hands-on clinical instructor. So I had gone in and I could not believe the condition of the 16-year-old.

She had lice, intratregionist infections, very poor hygiene, including dental, IV drug marks.

sexually transmitted infections, UTI, self-inflicted mutilation marks on her arms, her urine was positive for polysubstances, her cellulitis was so significant. It was borderline sepsis at this point and I'm thinking, she's 16. How does this happen? And we were again in a very affluent area of Long Island and

There was a gentleman who was sitting in the visitor's chair and he was the complete opposite of how she presented. He was well dressed, clean cut, well spoken. And I'm thinking, who is this? Like, how does he know her? So very professionally, I walked over to him. I introduced myself. I said, please, we're just taking the admission history. If you could just tell us who you are, the nature of your relationship. And he says, sure.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (08:38.154)
She's a very good friend of mine. I'm worried about her. I care about her and I just want to make sure she's okay. You know, poker face. I'm completely professional but I'm thinking, really? Like, how does that work? How is that happening that you're doing that for her? I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what it was. Fast forward to the following year.

At the time, I was serving on the board of directors for the American Nurses Association for the state of New York. So we were in Washington, DC for membership assembly national, right, for ANA. And who is now my dear colleague and co-founder, Tammy Toni Butler. She was selected to present at membership assembly and she's presenting on human trafficking. Kara, it was as though she was doing a case study.

on this 16 year old and I'm thinking, oh no, no, no, no, no.

Cara Lunsford, RN (09:44.21)
I just got chills. Ugh. This is so...

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (09:45.12)
It was, yeah, it was so overwhelming to me. I literally felt like I was hit by a Mack truck during her presentation. And I'm thinking, my gosh, I failed as a mandated reporter. Every single one of us did. Not a single one of us recognized it. She was brought into the ED. She was seen by the attendings, the residents, the nurses brought up to the floor, seen by all of us. And I'm thinking,

How did I not know? How did none of us know?

I was so overwhelmed and...

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (10:28.346)
I needed a minute to collect myself and just really regain my composure. And so I had gone outside, just was taking some nice deep breaths and walked back in after I regained my composure. And I ran into Tammy in the lobby of the venue. And I said, please, I need to speak to you because I literally was hit by an 18-wheeler during your presentation. And so she says, sure.

So I shared the details with her that I just shared with all of you. And she looked at me so matter of factly and she said she absolutely was being trafficked and her trafficker was sitting right there. I handed her my business card. said, I don't know how to help you, but please let me help you. And that literally was the birth of Nurses United Against Human Trafficking. There was a fire literally that was lit inside of me.

that I said I am going to do everything in my power to never have an individual who is being exploited and trafficked be failed by another healthcare professional again, because it's a matter of being properly educated. And so I would speak to some of my colleagues after that experience, I spoke to some of my colleagues in academia and I said, listen, are you teaching on human trafficking? Do you know about human trafficking?

yeah, we're teaching on it. I'm like, really? That's fantastic. What are you teaching? there's, you know, a slide or two in one lesson. And I'm thinking, okay, we're not really educating on it. And so I know that when I was going through all of my academic preparation, I was never taught on it. wasn't something that was mandated that we needed to maintain this for professional development, licensure renewal.

It's not. And I will tell you that currently, you know, the TVPA or the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which is really that piece of legislation that defines human trafficking, what it is, how it happens, the elements of the crime, et cetera, that was put out and signed into law, I should say, in October of 2000.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (12:56.206)
Here we are, 2025, and there are only about 15 states that actually mandate continuing education for healthcare professionals on anti-trafficking measures. And when we look at nurses, right, we comprise the largest portion of healthcare professionals, not only in this country, but globally. We are strategically and ideally situated

working in all facets of care along the healthcare continuum. We are an army waiting to be deployed, but we are going into this battle defenseless because we do not have this information. We do not have this knowledge. We don't know how to promptly identify, if at all. We don't know how to appropriately respond, and we are literally failing this entire population.

Cara Lunsford, RN (13:50.527)
Wow. Well, for sure, we should turn this podcast into a CE accredited podcast and we should make sure that it is shared across the masses of people. I don't know how we do that, but we can figure it out. Because you're right. I've never had it be, you know, in 18 years, I've never had it be part of my training.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (14:04.899)
Thank you.

Cara Lunsford, RN (14:20.225)
I could very easily have ended up in a similar situation to you. I worked in children's hospital. I worked in pediatrics for a very long time. Did oncology. And in certain situations, you know, people come in and are admitted and you your gut instinct says something's not right. Something doesn't feel right here.

Sometimes it's abuse, neglect, a variety of different things. But we're not, I think we're trained to identify certain things like abuse or potentially neglect, but we're not trained to see the warning signs.

of human trafficking. And I would venture to say that people could fall into implicit bias and you just, what a junkie. Look at this girl, 17 or something. What a junkie. that's probably her, her guy out there, you know, and

maybe they're assuming that she's a prostitute or that she and there's not maybe the compassion that should be there or the curiosity and the questioning. Is there any? I mean, I know that when you have underage, when you have minors,

It can be complicated sometimes, like because there's an age range where you can ask them certain questions about being sexually active. And if they feel safe at home, if they thought of hurting themselves, have they, you know, those questions, right? Is there a way to make sure that the questionnaire is inclusive of some things that maybe would alert?

Cara Lunsford, RN (16:33.505)
practitioners to possible human trafficking?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (16:38.124)
Yes, so I am going to give you major kudos because you hit so many things spot on. Spot on. First and foremost, there definitely is implicit bias. We have our own preconceived notions, prejudices, biases. We also do not understand

the numerous nuances and subtleties that are very apparent once you are properly educated on how to identify. The common denominator of all individuals who are being trafficked, who are being exploited, it's a vulnerability. And let's face it, as human beings, every single one of us has a vulnerability.

It's a matter of whether or not we have the self-preservation or the self-modulation control to regulate that, that it can't be exploited. But when we look at those who are being trafficked, it could be substance use, right? That could be the vulnerability that makes him

He or she, because let's break some stereotypes here and dispel some of the myths, it's not always a female victim with a domineering older male trafficker. We have boys that are being trafficked, men that are being trafficked. We also have female traffickers. There is such a thing as familial sex trafficking, where we have family members that are trafficking and selling their own children.

Parents grandparents siblings, right? So that ten-year-old boy who's coming into the ED with somatic complaints of chronic stomachache chronic headache We're thinking Johnny just doesn't want to go to school today or he's trying to get out of taking his test right? Look at the school nurses that we have these kids that are coming in being seen being just dismissed no, you know

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (19:02.836)
Sally doesn't want to sit in class today. Are we looking beyond that and saying, well, what's happening here? Is something going on at the home? We have these children that are running away, right? These missing, endangered, runaway youth. Have we ever stopped to ask, what are you running from? There could be abuse going on in the home. Or what are you running to?

Someone on the other end of the device now, I know that there is no video but I'm holding up my cell phone This you know, we used to be taught to fear the white van. This is the white van Because everybody is online How many social media platforms gaming apps I know that we not only are healthcare professionals, but we're parents we're aunts were uncles You know, we have younger siblings

You give a child a device or allow them on social media or these gaming platforms. You literally are giving access of our children to these predators and they are manipulating them. They are grooming them. They are becoming their friend. They're developing trust. At one point, that child who is missing, say for instance, support or love

from a family member or perhaps there's low self-esteem and that person on the other end of the device is saying, you're beautiful. I would never treat you like that. I can't believe your father spoke to you that way. And they start to plant these seeds and ultimately these kids end up running away if they are manipulated enough and that is is posed to them, right?

Cara Lunsford, RN (21:00.639)
It's terrifying. It's terrifying.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (21:02.062)
It absolutely is, but this is the reality. People think it's, again, the white van or the abductions at Walmart or it's the ropes and the chains and the... It is psychological manipulation. It is this exploitation of vulnerabilities with promises of a better life or, again, that substance use. Don't worry. Here's your fix.

I'll take care of you. I'll give you a place to stay. I'll give you a warm meal." And eventually, that trafficker uses that dependency and holds it over that individual and says, listen, you go do X, Y, and Z today, and then I'll give you your fix. Or it is that comfort-seeking measure because this individual cannot take another minute in the life.

So again, going back to what you said, you know, and I hate the term frequent flyers like that superutilizer, right? But we know what that means. How many times has George come in with a near overdose or Beth and we're saying, here she is again, here he is again. The suicidality.

Cara Lunsford, RN (22:09.525)
Yeah.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (22:30.478)
She attempted it again. Are we stopping and saying what is happening or are we exercising our implicit biases thinking this is some throwaway youth or someone who's strung out on drugs? Are we looking beyond that? Are we seeing what they are non-verbally saying to us?

verbally saying to us? Are their physical findings inconsistent with the history? You know, a lot of the trainings that are out there, although some of them are very good, I'm not saying that they're not, but they are very short in length. And so some of them, in order to cover the content, they're providing information

as though it's someone who's very demure, someone who's not making eye contact, very timid, very fearful. Yes, that's possible. But we need to recognize that these individuals are being seasoned, and I put that in air quotes. They are, and I'm trigger warning here, I'm going to be speaking of very uncomfortable content, but they are beaten, they're gang raped, their IDs are taken from them.

Their cars are wrecked so that they completely become dependent on this trafficker, right? It gets to the point then that perhaps you have the other end of the spectrum where they are combative, they are aggressive, they are in your face, and you're thinking, okay, well, supposedly it's someone who's very timid and demure. And so again, human trafficking isn't even on the radar. If in fact,

Cara Lunsford, RN (24:17.995)
But they might be detoxing. They might literally be detoxing off of like medications and be in severe withdrawal. And so that could explain that aggressive behavior. The looks like they seem like med seekers. And so it's it's so important to

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (24:26.05)
Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (24:35.394)
Yes!

Cara Lunsford, RN (24:40.809)
to understand what you're saying is that it is not a one size fits all. I learned a little bit about this when I went to a cast meeting and in that cast meeting, they were talking about some of these things as well. And that is...

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (24:47.106)
No.

Cara Lunsford, RN (25:07.815)
That's something that is just really, really important. And again, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for us to check in with our own bias all the time about everything, being self-aware and saying, I being judgmental in this situation? Am I making certain assumptions that maybe I shouldn't be making? Have I not asked enough questions? Have I not gotten curious enough about this patient?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (25:18.574)
Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (25:26.818)
Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (25:31.682)
Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (25:37.681)
Am I filling in the blanks with my own preconceived ideas?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (25:40.066)
Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (25:46.001)
about who this person is and why they have why they've ended up here. Because like I'll tell you Francine, I've actually had a couple of instances when I was really young, about 19 years old, I lived in a mobile home park and and I was visiting a neighbor and he was an older gentleman and there was this young Burmese girl.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (25:48.45)
Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (26:14.517)
that was there kind of hanging out with him. And I met her and I said, where do you live? And she said, I live in the house next to you. And I was like, you do? I've never seen you before. And it comes to, I came to find out that she had been brought over by a man.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (26:32.59)
Yeah.

Cara Lunsford, RN (26:43.841)
from Thailand actually, where she had been gang-raped, where she had been and pretty much was like sold by her own family and brought over on a fiance visa, and I use air quotes there, and then pretty much just sold into trafficking here. And...

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (26:55.256)
Yes, yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (27:10.645)
this and it was a woman who lived next door to me that was trafficking this young Burmese girl. And there were men coming in and out of this house. And eventually I took her and she came and she lived with me for about a year.

And she, and like I put her into school and she went to occupational fair, like occupational school. it's a very long story about this young girl, but randomly, and this is so weird, I had lost touch with her and I was on a cruise ship in the middle of Mexico and I hear.

She used to call me honey baby. It's the weirdest thing, but she would call it. And I heard honey baby and I turned around and I saw her and she was there on her honeymoon.

Cara Lunsford, RN (28:15.425)
But here's the funny part of this story is that I said, where did you meet him? And she said, he works at the 7-Eleven. And I said, oh.

So you met him at 7-Eleven and she said, yes. She goes, well, I had to trust him. I had to test him out to make sure that he was a trustworthy person. So I let him stay in my house for like a month while she had traveled back to see her mother. And she said, I showed him, I was showing him where everything was and I let it slip that I had a bunch of money in a drawer.

and she on purpose like kind of let him see that there was money in this drawer. When she came back a month later the money was still there and so she said well this is the guy I should marry.

That was how she gauged it. And I was like, you know, you're not wrong.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (29:20.302)
That's such a great story! I love this!

Cara Lunsford, RN (29:23.873)
you're not wrong. I was like, well, I'm like, you know, that's how she she had been raised and grew up in a very different way. And and so the way she had to figure out how to trust people.

She had become very creative in her ways of figuring out who was trustworthy and who wasn't. She was like, well, I'm going to let this guy house it for me, and I'm going to kind of show him where my money is. And if it's all still there, I guess he's a like an up and up guy. And I'm going to marry him. And she did. And so so I have I have that that story in my in my background.

But also when I was 17 and I was on my senior trip, I was lured into a car and I was very trusting. I kind of grew up a little sheltered. This guy who was this, I was in Mexico, but the guy was some white guy from Nevada in a blazer and.

He said, you look lost. I said, well, I'm actually just looking for a place to exchange my money. And he said, it's just up here. I'll take you. And he took me. And he kept driving and driving and driving until he finally turned a corner, went down an alleyway. And fortunately,

I managed to get away from him, but he attempted to rape me. But I was able to run and get away. And I always look back and I think, man, I wonder if I could have ended up one of these girls, where I went off on my senior holiday and they were like.

Cara Lunsford, RN (31:26.495)
We never heard from her again, or we don't know what happened to her. it's so, I think people don't realize it's so easy. It can happen so easily. You think it's not gonna happen to you, you think it's not gonna happen to your kids. But, you know, my mom, my parents warned me. My dad was in law enforcement. I was warned, but in the moment,

Guy seemed like a nice guy. Seemed like he was just trying to help me.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (32:02.552)
Kara, first and foremost, thank you for your transparency. Thank you for sharing that story. That's a very personal story. And I thank you for obviously sharing it with me that we were one-on-one, but obviously with this podcast and there will be a number of listeners. So thank you for that.

There are so many things that you brought up that I would love to touch on. One is that it's literally happening in our neighborhoods, in our backyards, in our communities, in our schools, in our churches, synagogues, whatever, you know, religious background. Like it's happening everywhere. But it is hidden, and I'm putting that in quotes, air quotes, right? Hidden in plain sight.

I am so grateful for you and your servant's heart for bringing her into your home and helping to rear her and break that cycle because, Kara, you changed the trajectory of her life. That is profound, and I thank you for your selflessness.

Cara Lunsford, RN (33:16.875)
Thank you. I mean, it's, I think back on it with very, you know, obviously fond memories of being able to.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (33:17.432)
So.

Cara Lunsford, RN (33:28.009)
I think for years I wondered what happened to her. You you hope for the best and I just got so, I was so blessed to have had the universe provide me with kind of an end to that story and I'm super grateful for it because I think that there's not always so many happy endings. But it's a testament to the fact that we have opportunities to step in.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (33:57.506)
Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (33:57.875)
and to help and to provide a haven for people.

And I'm not saying that every person should just go and bring someone into their home. I'm sure there's some risk involved there. But I would say, what are some of the things that, so if somebody wants to help, right? A lot of times I think we think, my gosh, are we putting this person at more risk? Am I at risk? What are some things that people can do?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (34:22.402)
Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (34:35.37)
Absolutely. And everybody can do something. Right. And I will definitely give you some of those actionable steps. But I just wanted to to go back to a couple of things that you did say, because it's so important and I'm so glad that you brought it up. A lot of people think that those who are being trafficked are foreign born nationals. Right. No, it's happening to our own citizens. Smuggling.

People think that smuggling is trafficking, that these terms are interchangeable and they are not. Smuggling is the voluntary wish to come into a country specifically evading those laws that are in place. It is a transportation-based crime against the borders of a country. Trafficking, on the other hand, is an exploitation-based crime against an individual.

Can smuggling turn into trafficking? Absolutely. But not everyone who is being trafficked in this country was smuggled in, right? So the other thing is that also in the TVPA that gives us the definition at the federal level, anyone under the age of 18 involved in a commercial sex act, it is trafficking. It is a crime.

and we do not need to prove force, fraud, or coercion. Now, going back to healthcare professionals, teachers, law enforcement, it falls under mandatory reporting guidelines. We, as mandated reporters, right, teachers, need to, nurses for us, we need to report these things. So people who call these minors, right,

that they're saying, they're child prostitutes. No, there's no such thing. A child cannot consent, right? Okay. So that was one of the other things that I wanted to address. Also, there are so many different forms of trafficking. Sex trafficking gets most of the exposure and the hype and is sort of out there all over the place, probably because it has the word sex in it, right? But there are so many other forms of trafficking. There's labor trafficking.

Cara Lunsford, RN (36:32.545)
There's no such thing.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (36:58.306)
There's organ trafficking. There's domestic servitude. There's forced surrogacy. There's forced criminality, right? I have worked with lived experience experts who were given the option of either selling themselves 20 times in one day to meet their quota, because they're given quotas that they have to meet, or go use the stolen credit card.

I'm here. It says new recording track created.

Cara Lunsford, RN (37:28.021)
Good. Hold on one second.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (37:34.513)
I don't know what happened. My camera's still here. I don't know. Can you hear me?

Cara Lunsford, RN (37:36.383)
It's okay. It's a, I can, yes. And I think they, don't, it said just heads up, recording will continue on a new track. The participant is still being recorded with the new inputs. That's fine. But for some reason I can't see your face, but.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (37:49.488)
Okay.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (37:56.515)
No, I know my camera's not, it's, this can't be changed while recording. I don't know what happened. Clearly this needs to be cut, but.

Cara Lunsford, RN (38:05.845)
Well, of course, yeah, no, we will, we'll cut this, but like what we can do is, cause this is all a track. If you want to, well, okay, let me let you finish your, finish what you were saying because I can still hear you and you're still being recorded. So let's just keep going and then we'll see if something happens.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (38:13.777)
Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (38:27.631)
Okay.

Okay, so I'm going to start over so that it's a seamless kind of story then, right? As opposed to, So again, so there is forced criminality where we actually have lived experience experts that those that I have worked with and have a very close rapport with where they have been offered the opportunity, offered again in air quotes, you go meet your quota.

Cara Lunsford, RN (38:37.087)
Yes, yep, that's perfect.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (38:59.971)
and service X number of johns for the day so that you can bring me my money. Or you can use these stolen credit cards and go buy radios or go to the ATM or whatever, withdraw money. And so again, there's forced criminality. Now that leads down an entire rabbit hole, so to speak, where now we have these individuals that have criminal records.

There are expungement issues, right? I know it's, you know, I'm so glad that just seeing your facial reaction because they are being forced, coerced, manipulated. They are victims themselves. That's like someone breaking into your house and you getting arrested for it, right? It is all part of the trafficking where they are being exploited. They are being manipulated. They are being forced.

again coerced. And so, but now they have these criminal records. And you know, when we look at them trying to exit the life, trying to reintegrate into society, first and foremost, the trauma that they are experiencing, the amount of services that are required, not only where there was the chemical dependence that they need,

those support services. But we need healthcare, right? We need legal services for, again, expungement of these records. We need some stable housing, transportation. Some of them are recruited, again, as minors. They don't know even how to fill out a job application. Some of them don't have education.

They have no life skills that they, if it's a familial sex trafficking, that they have been trafficked and sold from the time that they're in kindergarten. And so cognitively, mentally, they are at a much younger age than chronologically that they are. And when we look at the number of victims, I mean, you know,

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (41:22.961)
Here in Florida and and just I will say that Florida is ranked third in the number of calls placed into the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and I'm going to give kudos to Tipster and Bright out of USF under the bill SB 7064. It is in statute that data needs to be reported pertaining to human trafficking to USF through Tipster.

which is the trafficking in persons state repository. They literally just put out their report. Approximately 200,000 are estimated victims of sex trafficking. Approximately 540,000 are estimated victims of labor exploitation trafficking. 581,000 victims of cyber exploitation.

Now, when we look at, again, there are no more geographical boundaries. We have the internet with digital communication, social media, et cetera. They have an infinite number of victims at their fingertips. And there is something that is increasingly becoming more prominent, which is something called sextortion, that they are targeting teenage boys that

through Instagram, through Facebook, or some sort of social media app where this young girl is engaging with this boy, possibly saying that she knows his friends and whatever. They go off to a video chat or they start exchanging sexually explicit images, content. Once that chat is over or once that image is sent,

All of a sudden they get a message. You need to send X, Y, and Z. You need to, you know, finance, financial compensation, more images, image-based sexual assaults where they have to engage with another perhaps adolescent that they are literally being forced, coerced, manipulated into doing these things that now we have so many children who have

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (43:49.531)
taking their own lives. mean, trafficking is this umbrella term and there are so many different forms of trafficking. And so I'm just so grateful to have this platform to really share some of this information. But going back to one of the questions that you had asked about how are we screening? There are definitely tools that have been validated.

There is the human trafficking screening tool. There is the QYIT, the RAFT. We as Nurses United, just to give a little plug to what we do, so as Nurses United Against Human Trafficking, we specifically educate, equip, and empower healthcare professionals on human trafficking and anti-trafficking measures.

how to identify it in the clinical setting, how to appropriately respond. The standard of care is very different for this population. Again, based on the level of trauma that they are experiencing, the needs that they have, we need to recognize what are some of the risk factors? What are some of those vulnerabilities? Adverse childhood experiences, age, you had mentioned about

how you were so trusting and that you were willing to go with this person because you felt that this is a safe place, that it's going to be okay. But our prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until we're in our mid-20s. It was not your fault. You did not have the capability of processing it because, again, your prefrontal cortex was not fully developed. And when

You know, we have our family members or kids that they're coming in. You know, the first response is, how could you? Why did you do that? You know it's wrong. Their prefrontal cortex is not saying it. No, it's not their fault. We need to have that non-judgmental milieu that we need to establish, not only with our family members, if this is something that's in our home that we are now recognizing, but...

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (46:07.267)
Again, with our patients, are we providing that non-judgmental environment where we're meeting them where they are, saying, you can say anything to me, there will be no judgment, there is only acceptance and there is only concern. So, I know that I was kind of jumping around, it's just you just had so many gems that you brought up. I just wanted to touch on.

Cara Lunsford, RN (46:30.602)
No,

I know you're not jumping around at all. feel like you're, you know, you're so passionate about this and you have such a wealth of information. I'm so happy that the listeners are going to be able to take advantage of this and check in with themselves and, you know, ask the right questions and

I think shame is a big thing. I know that for me at 17, I felt so ashamed. I thought I should have known better. My parents are going to be so angry. They're going to blame me. How on earth could you have done that? And how would you put yourself in that position? And these are all things I'm saying to myself.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (47:04.593)
Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (47:30.283)
judging and shaming myself. So it's very, very difficult when you are talking to people who already have a lot of judgment towards themselves around how they may have gotten into that situation. One of the things I was gonna ask you that I started to think about every time I'm in the bathroom in the airport, right?

there's a sign on the inside of the women's restroom, like inside your door. And it's about trafficking. Like if you're being held against your will, if you're being forced to do things against your will, if you're with somebody and you feel unsafe. And it tells you to call a phone number. And I thought to myself, well,

they're probably not being given a phone when they're in this restroom or even at all that they have access to a phone. So I thought it would be so much better if there was some sort of button that they could push or something and it would alert the security within the airport.

that someone in this stall, in this place had been, I mean, our technology is so much better than it used to be that discreetly someone could press the button and someone could come into the bathroom and know that they're like in that stall. Have you ever had any of these thoughts when you see these signs inside the bathroom? Because I know I'm like, how are they going to get access to a phone?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (49:13.147)
Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (49:25.209)
Yeah, so that is a great question and I'm so glad that you raised this because as much as I fully value and appreciate that it is really putting the raising the awareness, I should say, right? Putting it front and center where there is this out, so to speak. There are

As beneficial as these signs are, there are also detriments and a lack of benefit, let's put it that way. Most of the time, I can't make the blanket statement in saying all of the time, but a majority of the time, these individuals do not even realize that they're being trafficked. They don't know what trafficking is per se, right? They do not self...

identify as a victim of human trafficking. Again, it could be a parent figure. It could be a spouse. It could be a boyfriend or girlfriend. No, this person loves me. We just have to make ends meet. He or she is taking care of me. So they are not self identifying as victims. You know, another thing when when you mention about the airports, you know, they'll have these announcements.

about, know, if you suspect human trafficking, you know, cold blood, okay, well, do we know what the signs look like? You're saying to report it. Okay, well, what does it look like? You know, and again, there are so many stereotypes and myths that are out there that hidden in plain sight, again, bringing that expression back, but it is so completely spot on and accurate.

The other thing is when we have these individuals, they, a lot of them, this is all they know. And so the thought of even exiting the life is incredibly petrifying. They fear not only for themselves, for their loved ones, because again, they will threaten not only

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (51:48.987)
violence and and you know all sorts of heinous egregious acts I won't even get into them because I don't want to really you know Go too graphic with our listeners, but it's the purest form of evil that there is and So they start to think about well what will happen? What are the ramifications again not knowing any other life some of them that to escape?

They don't even know what to do, how to manage, how to navigate. And even with resources and support systems that are in place in the anti-trafficking space, sometimes they will still revert back because they're living in survival mode. They still have their bottom heavy trauma brain that has become a part of who they are and how they think.

Again, it's not their fault. This is what happens. Devices, absolutely they have devices. Sometimes they have numerous devices and that's one of the red flag indicators. However, those devices are being monitored or they themselves, meaning these individuals who are being trafficked, they are being monitored through the devices. So there are other mechanisms.

that are out there. QR codes are becoming more prominent, where it's a quick scan as opposed to the call. There are resources and hotlines services that are text capable. So it's not necessarily the phone call per se. There are shoe cards that are available that can be ripped off or...

you know, just like distributed at the clinics, at the hospitals, et cetera, so that they can actually put it in their shoe until they have the opportunity to have that conversation or that two-minute call if they even given that. It looks like I froze. Did I freeze? Okay. I'm sorry. So yeah, we might have to modify that, but there are...

Cara Lunsford, RN (54:02.679)
Nope, I can still hear you.

No, it's okay. That's okay.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (54:09.305)
you know, where they will have the opportunity at a more discreet time where they can have that conversation, even if it's just to put a call into the National Human Trafficking Hotline 911. Florida, again, here in Florida, we do have the Florida SAFE. It's FLA SAFE, which is our the statewide human trafficking hotline.

There is the National Human Trafficking Hotline that is run by Polaris. So I know I again started going off on a tangent, but I just wanted to touch on a lot of things and sort of circle back then to your question.

Cara Lunsford, RN (54:44.319)
No, not at all.

Cara Lunsford, RN (54:50.357)
Yeah, so if you were to say, I'm thinking to myself, if I wanted to be able to encapsulate something into like a sentence, basically where A, I wanted to be able to communicate with a patient.

in a way that maybe they can understand that they are a victim of trafficking. If they don't, maybe they don't realize that they're a victim of trafficking. And is there something just around, hey, have you been, you know, have you been asked to do criminal activity?

Have you been asked to engage in sex acts? Have you been asked in exchange for something else? Because there's usually something, right? There's either like, we'll give you drugs because we've hooked you on drugs. We'll give you food because otherwise you don't have access to food unless you do these things.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (55:52.976)
Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (56:01.989)
Yes, yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (56:11.473)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (56:13.409)
Is there a way that if we're talking to someone, can say to them, hey, are you having to engage in a variety of different activities in exchange for these things, one of these things, several of these things? And if the answer is yes,

then you are a victim of sex trafficking, regardless of who it is that's the trafficker, because maybe it's somebody that, like you said, is a family member, someone that they think that they should trust. I'm hoping that we can define this better, not just for...

for the people who have to be able to identify it, but also for the people who might be listening and saying, my gosh, I think I've been a victim of trafficking and I never realized it.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (57:20.731)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So a couple of things, and again, I love the way that your brain is working and I just, I love how organic this conversation is. One of the things that I will say outright, okay, if there is at any point a safety concern, there is imminent danger to the client, to us as healthcare professionals, even again, in the home, whatever, 911 needs to be called.

Okay, so I'm just, I'm putting that blanket statement out there. However, if it falls under mandatory reporting guidelines, law enforcement needs to be called, you know, we need to escalate social work at the services. If it's the child abuse hotline, you know, BCW or a CPS, whatever the acronym is for your particular geographical location, obviously those steps need to be followed.

When we have someone that we are suspecting is a victim of human trafficking and they are not falling under mandatory reporting guidelines. Language matters, right? And that's something that you specifically stated really even at the beginning of this podcast. just to reiterate that language matters, how we frame it, how we address it, how we ask our questions to dive a little bit deeper.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (58:52.261)
But before that happens and we start having those conversations, we need to ensure that that client is separated from the companion. Again, can be a mother, can be a father, can be a stepfather, can be a family member or non-familial individual. It can be someone who is a spouse perhaps or a boyfriend, girlfriend, etc. We need to separate them.

And some people may be saying, well, okay, how do I separate them? The urine sample, we need to obtain a urine sample. Or if the urine sample was obtained, it's contaminated, we need to do another one. An x-ray was ordered, some type of diagnostic intervention or if, you know, interventional study needs to be done, even though it doesn't need to be done, we can use that excuse.

Cara Lunsford, RN (59:48.416)
Yeah.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (59:50.243)
And again, no, I'm sorry, you can't come in. That's hospital policy. You need to wait here. We will be back with the client or whatever the individual's name is. I'm sorry, but admitting needs more information. They didn't obtain all that they needed. So if you could please go back to admitting and they will, they just need your insurance card, whatever, again, just using that excuse.

First and foremost, separation needs to occur. Their devices need to be shut down and shut off and locked away because that is a way that they are able to eavesdrop and monitor that patient. We need to, again, it may just be a very small window that we have of time. So language matters.

We need to ensure that it is trusting. We need to ensure that even if it isn't necessarily a tool, a screening tool that you have, those questions that you asked are critical. But language matters. I have the definition of safety, right? To me, safety is not being threatened, feeling at peace, tranquil.

that I can be comfortable, that there's no worries or concerns. But we need to recognize that some of these individuals may have been promised safety only to be beaten and gang raped and tortured and tormented and all of these things, right? So safety to him or her are those things. So we need to again ask, do you feel threatened? Are you afraid?

is there something that is worrying you? Just like how you had said, we want to stay away from the word traffic, trafficker. We also want to ensure that we do not speak in any type of negative way about that companion because there is trauma coercive bonding. There is Stockholm syndrome. That person

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:02:07.351)
is in love with that individual, that companion, that trafficker, right, ultimately who that person is. So if we speak in a negative way, that person shutting down and no more conversation is happening. But yes, that was the perfect way to ask not only in exchange for sex, but for some type of goods or service. Was it food? Was it a place to stay? Are you living with this person? Are you free to come and go?

You know, again, simple questions that are open ended but are targeted at the same time. And we need to, as healthcare professionals, understand we can only plant the seeds. Not everyone or, you know, they could take perhaps up to six, seven times before they will say, okay.

Yes, please, I want to be connected or what were you mentioning in the past? We can only empower with resources and choices. And again, speaking with a very trauma informed, person centered approach as opposed to, know, why did you stay? What was it that you couldn't leave? You know, why did you do that? No, it's what happened to you.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:03:29.984)
Right.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:03:34.773)
Yeah, I think asking, I love that you said asking people, you know, are you free to come and go? Are you free to leave? Are you free to be without your phone? You know, because like you said, you're planting those seeds of doubt in their mind of going, huh, maybe I'm not free. Maybe I'm maybe I am stuck.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:03:35.361)
It's a matter of

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:03:42.801)
Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:03:53.104)
Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:03:58.545)
Mm-hmm.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:04:02.217)
You know, and asking, you know, do you, you know, do you feel free to come and go? Do you feel like you can, if we wanted to turn your phone off right now, do you feel like you could do that? Can you turn, can you turn your phone off? And if they, you know, immediately kind of recoil and, have a response, say,

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:04:14.747)
Mm-hmm, exactly.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:04:30.037)
you what would happen if you turned your phone off? And maybe asking some of those questions that it's, you know, if they say, well, my, you know, my friend or my boyfriend would get very angry if I turned off my phone. You know, asking those things like, do you have your own car? Do you have a driver's license?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:04:46.193)
Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:04:57.903)
Right, right, right. Are you in possession of exactly, exactly. Because yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:04:59.425)
These things that equate to freedom versus being imprisoned by someone or people. Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:05:11.441)
Right, figuratively, absolutely. Yes, they are stripped of their rights and their freedoms, 100%. 100%. Now, they can be on public transportation, going to school, you know, working and it's, so again, hidden in plain sight, but it is on us as healthcare professionals to know how to identify it in the clinical setting. And again, not only are we healthcare professionals,

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:05:18.667)
Yes, yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:05:41.167)
We are members of society. Are we seeing it in our own backyards, in our neighborhoods? Is it possibly happening with my niece, my nephew, my child, my grandson? It's just really imperative that we as a society are educated on it. mean, it's our ethical duty as...

human beings in my opinion, right?

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:06:11.221)
Yes, yes. I think your opinion is correct. I mean, I could be biased, but I agree with your opinion.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:06:19.151)
Yes, it's as simple as that, but some people feel it's easier. And I don't want a stereotype like that. It's less taxing maybe to bury my head in the sand, to not lift up the veil, so to speak, or take the blinders off, right? But it's happening all around us. And some of those actionable measures that we had...

that I had said that we would speak on. One, again, is becoming properly educated. If you are a healthcare professional, if you are a nurse, physician, NP, please come to the Nurses United Against Human Trafficking website. You can become a member. You will become educated, equipped, and empowered on human trafficking, anti-trafficking measures.

Our curriculum in total is nine hours in length. It is delivered in an asynchronous manner so the learning can occur on your own time and schedule. It has been approved to award nine nursing contact hours, nine CMEs. We also have CEs for radiology technicians. So if any of your colleagues, yes, because they're getting their CAT scans, they're getting their sonograms, their x-rays, et cetera.

So the more eyes and ears that are on these clients that have this education, the higher the probability of prompt identification with appropriate care and support. So definitely go to our website, but if you want to support perhaps a local resource, 501C3,

And it could be just as simple as maybe going to a thrift shop. Some of the thrift shops are directly funding domestic violence shelters or advocacy centers. And so it doesn't have to be like this grand gesture. We can all do our part to support, to become educated, to share the knowledge, and just to really be proactive.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:08:45.269)
This has been.

This has been amazing. I am so glad that we had you on. I want to make sure that again, anyone who wants more information about Nurses United Against Human Trafficking, can you make sure that the website's available? We're going to make sure that it's on the nurse.podcast, so nurse.com forward slash podcast.

we'll make sure that the landing page for this episode also has the contact information and the website for this organization in the event that you want to learn more about this or become... Do you kind of consider becoming certified in this area when you take these nine hours or?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:09:40.763)
So it is a professional development that again is very focused and is very detailed. There is no certificate at least at this point. So I'm just going to leave it at that. Maybe I'm foreshadowing, maybe I'm not. But yes, it is something that is dire. And just to let you know.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:09:54.783)
That's okay. You don't need a certificate.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:10:06.777)
and I'm glad that we're still sitting because this statistic is not going to shock you, but the reality of it is quite staggering. My colleague and I, Tammy and I, and Tammy, I will say, not only is a sexual assault nurse examiner, ER nurse for over 30 years, Tammy is a lived experience expert. Her mother was her trafficker.

and her trafficking started from the time that she was in kindergarten. So not only is our education that we're providing that of subject matter experts coming from the healthcare professions, but you also have the lived experience and her voice that is threaded throughout the training. And she recounts some of her stories and again, the subtleties and nuances. So the survivor's voice is part of our.

is part of our education. But we're going to have to cut because I lost my train of thought. what was I saying?

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:11:06.643)
No, it's okay. were just saying that the statistic is, we are sitting down and maybe most people that are listening are in their car. hopefully they're sitting down too.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:11:10.952)
yes, okay so.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:11:19.163)
Yes. So, okay, so we'll cut this part. So I'm going to say, so talking about a staggering statistic, Tammy, that I just spoke of, she and I did a nationwide study using the NSNA, the National Student Nurses Association, right? Everybody knows what the NSNA is. Looking at their pre-licensure RN students that are members

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:11:26.39)
Yes.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:11:49.413)
So that included diploma associate as well as baccalaureate degree students. We also included in our inclusion criteria those who had graduated within a year of our survey going out. So we conducted research looking specifically at the level of knowledge as well as the level, the amount of content that was being taught to pre-licensure RN students nationwide.

with human trafficking. We had a total N of 644 after we cleaned the data. Over 91 % reported minimal to zero minutes being taught human trafficking content in their pre-licensure program. Now mind you, a majority of our respondents were fourth year.

Baccalaureate students. So we were not capturing them in growth and development, right? Like in their first year, first semester. Yes, we did have some, but the majority were fourth year Baccalaureate students. We had two outcome variables that we looked to explore. One was their level of confidence in knowing how to identify the red flag indicator, signs and symptoms, clinical presentation of a victim of human trafficking.

With a sliding scale of zero being no confidence, 100 being full confidence, we had less than 1 % reporting full confidence and knowing how to identify with approximately three quarters saying, I'm halfway there, if at all. Now also, please note that our respondents, some of them were already licensed practicing RNs. The other outcome variable was their level and confidence.

level of confidence in knowing how to respond and treat a victim of human trafficking, less than 5 % reported full confidence with again approximately three quarters saying, I'm if I'm at 50 % confident, then I mean, it's just we are failing. We are failing this population severely. And again, only about 15 states mandate this education. So

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:14:07.759)
We know that we're not getting a pre-licensure. So if that RN is not licensed by a state that mandates it, he or she is not getting it at all. And again, that I had spoken about the trainings that they're only one or two hours in length, it's a brush stroke. It's literally, we are just skimming the surface, providing the tip of the iceberg where there is this entire glacier that lies beneath the surface.

that no one is finding out about.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:14:41.537)
Yeah, yeah, it's, we have definitely got to do, we have to do a better job. These numbers are beyond shocking. But also not surprising, because I've learned so much on just this interview. And I felt like someone who,

might be a little bit more aware. And so I imagine that even when people are at, you know, answering these questions, they might think they know what human trafficking is, but.

maybe they really don't. Maybe like you said, this is like tip of the iceberg. And that if they had all of this information, or they were aware of what exactly human trafficking is and what it can look like, they might say, wow, I had even less knowledge than I thought I did. Yeah.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:15:46.737)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:15:54.031)
Right, right. Are we seeing it in our torch, those with torch infections? Are we identifying it with our neonates that are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome? Or are we just stereotyping mom, she just couldn't stop using while she was pregnant? You know, there are so many, so many red flag indicators and again, those subtleties and nuances. And so I invite everyone, please become

educated, equipped, and empowered. It is happening all around you and you're missing it. It's not your fault because you don't know what you don't know. Just like I know that even though I carry it with me that I failed as a mandated reporter, I recognize that I didn't know. But now that I know, Kara, I could tell you that I can go back through all my years and tell you every single one that I missed.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:16:50.087)
that must be so painful. That must be. And I'm glad that now it has kind of put you on this path to...

educate and help all of us to be much more informed so that we can identify and hopefully and hopefully be able to intervene or provide a lifeline to or just help save another person who's a victim of of these these terrible circumstances that is not their fault.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:17:33.499)
Yeah, it's not.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:17:34.197)
and it's not their fault. And if you're listening and you feel like this, you identify with this or you feel unsafe or you feel that you don't wanna use necessarily unsafe, but you feel that you are being, you are in a situation where,

you are having to do things that you don't want to do in exchange for something, whether it be drugs, a roof over your head, food in your stomach, like those things are not, that's not okay. And so I think it's important that people understand that.

And if they feel like they are a victim of human trafficking and they're listening to this and I don't know or they know someone, even a friend or a family member or something, do you just recommend you call 911?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:18:51.461)
So they absolutely can call 911 again if there is imminent danger. The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888. Or you can text INFO, I-N-F-O, or HELP, H-E-L-P, to the number 233733.

So that is the National Human Trafficking Hotline. There are some states where they have a dedicated hotline for human trafficking. That, again, is going to be geographically specific. I know Oklahoma. Like I said, I know Florida. I believe Ohio has as well now. But the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there is someone who can...

Either take the information if you are reporting that you are identifying someone or if you yourself need that assistance. If there is anyone who has any questions, I am so open to having a conversation either one-on-one if you would like a more detailed presentation or help with protocols and policies to implement in your facility.

You know, once we start the screening questions, tools, we need to have a policy in place because we also don't want that healthcare professional to feel helpless. Like, okay, I think I have someone here who is being trafficked. Now what do I do? And that could be very disheartening, very defeating for that individual. So it is imperative.

that the facilities have the policies and protocols in place. So once someone is identified, okay, I need to activate this, I need to call that one, et cetera, and have the multidisciplinary teams responding because it's not a siloed approach. We all need to be on the same page and every single department or discipline has their own roles and we need to stay in our lane, so to speak, but work.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:21:09.573)
complementary in a complementary manner.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:21:12.801)
Yeah, that's the type of information that I really wanted to make sure we had so that anyone that had questions or felt like they needed to contact. I think you said that was text. You can text help or info to 733733. Correct?

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:21:31.195)
Mm-hmm.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:21:36.561)
The text number is 233733. Yes, yes.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:21:38.239)
Yeah, three, three. I'm glad that we went glad we clarified that because I missed the two in there. So that's that's important. Two, three, three, seven, three, Yeah.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:21:46.799)
That's it.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:21:51.409)
That's correct. And likewise, if anyone has any questions, my email is info, I-N-F-O at nuaht.org. It's literally the acronym for Nurses United Against Human Trafficking. Our website is www.nuaht.org.

If there are any other resources that you need, please jump on our website. We have some downloadable content, hotlines that are available. You can see all of those that we are in collaboration with. Our organization and our content has actually been endorsed by the Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering Human Trafficking. We actually have an official Blue Campaign Partnership Agreement. Yes, that was very exciting.

going up to the CCHT in Washington and sitting in that big room signing the official Blue Campaign Partnership Agreement. That was wonderful. Thank you. And our training also, we partnered with Texas A University. We had applied, or I should say we submitted the proposal.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:22:58.529)
That's amazing. Congratulations.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:23:12.645)
to Indian Health Service when they put the call out for the Forensic Nursing Consultation Program. And we ended up winning the contract. And so the Nurses United Against Human Trafficking training is being disseminated across the country for those who work under IHS, either through tribal lands, facilities, et cetera. So yes, just wonderful.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:23:38.401)
That's wonderful. So, so I'm so happy to hear that. That's that's amazing. Well, Francine.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:23:45.755)
Thank you.

Cara Lunsford, RN (01:23:48.307)
I'm so thrilled to have had you. You were such an amazing guest. You're clearly so passionate about this subject and like I said before, a wealth of information. anything that y'all missed while you were listening, maybe in your car or while you're walking your dog or whatever you might've been doing, don't worry. You can go to

and you can check out this episode and we'll make sure in the notes that we put all of this information so that you can go check it out. Francine, thank you.

Francine Bono-Neri (she/her) (01:24:33.553)
Thank you. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Really, thank you.