A Sacramento, California, mom who was being trafficked for sex escaped the abuse due largely to the intervention of a staff member of the Dignity Health Medical Safe Haven clinic, part of CommonSpirit Health. Since then, the woman has helped secure her abuser's conviction, and she is rebuilding her life with her two small children.
Courtney Martin is deputy district attorney with the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, which gave the clinic staffer, Gigi Barrios, an award earlier this year for her actions. Martin credits the trafficker's conviction to how well Barrios and the Medical Safe Haven, along with law enforcement and the court system, worked together.
That successful collaboration, Martin says, "is reflected in the relationships that Gigi builds with human trafficking victims and with the organizations that help them. The victim knew Gigi and trusted her, and she knew Gigi was safe."
The trafficking survivor is named Precious. Senior caseworker Vanessa Velarde says the Medical Safe Haven collaboration and Barrios' expertise were key to Precious getting to safety. "It's about Gigi knowing who to call — it's much more than just a referral," Velarde says.
'I wanted to give back'
Barrios has been helping vulnerable women and their families since college. "I wanted to give back," she says.
During college, Barrios interned at City of Refuge Sacramento, a community-based social services organization, and took a job there after graduation. The nonprofit is based near "The Blade," a high-crime area in Sacramento where human traffickers operate. Barrios was among the caseworkers helping extract women from sex trafficking and into City of Refuge's shelter. "I loved doing that work," she says.
She was one of many frontline professionals who Dignity Health Methodist Hospital of Sacramento consulted about a decade ago as it was developing its pioneering Medical Safe Haven, a clinic that provides trauma-informed medical care to identified victims and survivors of human trafficking. Barrios says that until she heard Dignity Health's ideas for the clinic, she'd never considered the importance of having preventive care tailored to traumatized people. She and the other professionals involved in the discussions enthusiastically supported the establishment of the clinic, which opened around 2016.
The facility, which operates under a family medicine residency, trains clinicians to provide care in a way that is particularly compassionate and gentle for traumatized people.
Barrios became a familiar face at the Medical Safe Haven as she accompanied City of Refuge clients to the clinic. Five years ago, when the Medical Safe Haven was recruiting a senior program coordinator, she was a natural fit. In this role, Barrios supports the growing network of Medical Safe Haven clinics, which now are at five Dignity Health campuses in California.
'Something wasn't right'
Barrios regularly scans the Medical Safe Haven clinics' patient schedules for familiar names, so she can catch up with past clients. On Nov. 18, 2022, she spotted her former City of Refuge client Precious on the schedule and saw a note in the medical record that she had been struggling. Barrios decided to meet with Precious in the clinic's waiting room to help her prepare mentally for her first trimester prenatal exam.
Barrios recalls that while chatting, she saw Precious become agitated and increasingly fearful as texts popped up on her phone. "I picked up that something wasn't right. … Because we had that past relationship, I was able to ask her, 'Tell me, how are you really doing?'"
Precious broke down and confided that Dominick Roberson — her boyfriend and the father of the baby she was carrying — was in the parking lot, armed with a gun and threatening her via texts. She revealed that during the couple of months she'd been with Roberson, he'd assaulted her, repeatedly said he would hurt her and her year-old son if she did not do as he said, and forced her into prostitution.
"I said to her, 'Are you ready to get help?'" Barrios recalls.
Safe exit
Precious' assent set Barrios into motion. Barrios reached out to her contacts in law enforcement to get Precious' son to a safe location and to have Roberson apprehended at the clinic. She coordinated with other contacts to ensure Precious and her son could enter a safe house network and have all their basic needs met while there.
With the support of clinic management, police safely detained Roberson.
Since then, the collaborative — including Barrios and her Medical Safe Haven colleagues, law enforcement, the Sacramento County attorney's office and a network of social service providers — have accompanied Precious along a fraught process. She gave her statement and provided evidence at the clinic, then cooperated during Roberson's July 2023 criminal trial, where Barrios testified.
Roberson was convicted and sentenced to 71 years to life and is now in prison.
Velarde was among those who helped Precious and her son — and, in time, her infant daughter — move through the safe house network and begin to build a new life. Though Velarde now is with a different nonprofit that helps trafficking victims, she remains in touch with Precious. Velarde reports that Precious "is doing very well, working on getting her education and pursuing stable housing" for herself and her two children. She is leaning on her faith.
Velarde calls Precious "a strong, amazing survivor who made her voice heard very loudly" in seeking justice.
'In a healthier place'
In April, Barrios received an Outstanding Citizen Award. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office annually bestows the honor on "victims and witnesses who have shown uncommon courage by participating in the criminal justice process under extraordinarily challenging circumstances," according to the office's website.
Precious attended the ceremony. Barrios says of her, "she looks good, she's doing well, and she's in a healthier place."
Velarde says it's because Barrios invested the time throughout her career to learn how best to help vulnerable people and because she was compassionate and intentional when talking to Precious at that clinic appointment that she was able to intervene in such an impactful way.
Martin agrees. "Gigi was able to read the signs that something was wrong because she had a relationship with Precious, and building that type of relationship takes passion, empathy and thoughtfulness, and that is who Gigi has been all along," she says.
Barrios defers credit. "I identified the issue, but it took a village to get Precious safe," she says.