We're pleased to announce that Christina Cercy, RN, will be speaking on Thursday of the 2018 Michigan Nursing Summit, October 18-19. Cercy will be one of three expert panelists for Human Trafficking: What Nurses Need to Know.
Christina Cercy is a Registered Nurse at Troy Beaumont Hospital on the Maternal Child Health Unit. She primarily cares for postpartum patients and their newborns. Most of her nursing career has been at St. John's Hospital in Detroit. She has been an RN since 2004 and has worked in many different areas of nursing such as ER, med/surg, Women's Health, and Corrections.
Cercy became interested in learning more about human trafficking when she worked as a corrections nurse at a county jail. She found the victims stories and experiences to be heartbreaking and therefore, wanted to learn and do more. She has completed a 7.5 week course on human trafficking thru Eastern Michigan University, and has also volunteered with different organizations that help victims on the streets by providing goodie bags with basic hygiene essentials and providing prayer. “I feel that we need to educate everyone on this topic not just health care providers. Looking back, I know that I have come across a victim but did nothing for them due to my lack of knowledge at that time. I am hoping that by educating and speaking about human trafficking, individuals will step up and help rather than judge and dismiss these victims.”
Panelists include Sarah Berry, Christina Cercy, and Cynthia Weintraub. All three are members of the Beaumont Human Trafficking Task Force (HTTF). The HTTF provides survivor-centered, comprehensive interdisciplinary care and support through education and promoting awareness to Beaumont Health and the communities it serves. The HTTF strives to be the leading healthcare organization in providing high quality, compassionate care to Human Trafficking survivors, while simultaneously advancing awareness, understanding and education through community collaborations. HTTF will embrace the values of compassion, respect, integrity, teamwork, and excellence as a guiding framework to cultivate an empowering, survivor-centered, trauma-informed, interdisciplinary treatment approach.