Human trafficking forum set

BAR HARBOR The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, Mount Desert Island Hospital and Healthy Acadia are hosting an educational program on human trafficking on Monday, June 23.

The session will present information to business owners and community members who wish to learn about the issue of human trafficking close to home. This event will be offered twice at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Conference Center. The first session will run from 10 a.m.-noon, and the second will run that evening from 5-7 p.m. The program is free to attend and open to the public.

Every day, local businesses and other people encounter human trafficking victims without realizing their situation, organizers note.

Vicki Eaton, an emergency department nurse and sexual forensic examiner from MDI Hospital, has been a passionate force behind this event from the beginning.

Eaton helped initiate the program in the hopes of spreading awareness. My goal for this class is to give the public a greater understanding of what human trafficking is, where it's occurring, the signs to watch for and who it affects, she said.

Our business owners and employees may encounter victims without recognizing the situation, said Jennifer Wright of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

In recent years, calls to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline from Maine have increased more than fifty percent.

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Human trafficking forum set