Carthage Area Hospital Teams Up with Victim’s Assistance Center of Jefferson County
Carthage Area Hospital and the Victim’s Assistance Center of Jefferson County are teaming up to offer a free two-part training dedicated to raising awareness of youth sex trafficking on Tuesday, April 23rd from 10am-2:30pm at the Carthage Elks Lodge, 511 Fulton St., Carthage. This newly added program is part of Carthage Area Hospital’s Community Engagement Series, a free education series available to the public regarding a variety of health care topics.
Part one of the training focuses on awareness, while part two delves into knowledge and skills. This training is open to the public. Those in the health care field and anyone who works closely with children are strongly encouraged to attend.
“Children are easily manipulated, especially by adults. It’s important to recognize the signs and to recognize that potentially we are speaking to a victim. We have to be cognizant of those signs so we can properly identify and help them,” said Dave Gunderson, Care Management Program Manager and event organizer.
According to Missingkids.com, child sex trafficking is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, or advertising of a minor child for the purpose of a commercial sex act, which involves the exchange of anything of value – such as money, drugs or a place to stay – for sexual activity.”
“Child sex trafficking is prevalent in rural locations like Jefferson County. Areas such as Fort Drum attract traffickers from all over the country and bring a ‘big city problem’ to our back door. Sex trafficking is present in our schools, entertainment events and is infiltrating our homes through the internet,” said Kiley Hilyer, Lead Advocate, Child Advocacy Center of NNY.
A light lunch will be served that day and participants will receive a certificate after completion of the training. To RSVP online, visit www.carthagehospital.com/traffickingtraining or contact Dave Gunderson at 315-519-5214 or by email at dgunderson@cahny.org.
Register HERE