By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

Hundreds of people from across the state will be attending the fourth annual “Confronting Violence in Our Community,” Summit and Forensic Symposium Tuesday and Wednesday at Hays Medical Center from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. both days.

The event is co-hosted by Jana’s Campaign, Options Domestic and Sexual Violence and Hays Medical Center.

Day one will explore how gender-based violence and human trafficking are connected. The second day will focus on the forensics protocol when victims of human trafficking and sexual violence seek medical attention.

The annual summit was started by Options and Jana’s Campaign, co-founded by Curt and Christie Brungardt of Hays, whose daughter Jana Mackey was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2008 in Lawrence.

Christie Brungardt said she’d never considered how closely linked gender-based violence and human trafficking are until attending a conference last year in Wichita.

“Even though human trafficking has always been something I thought that happens a long ways away,  as it ends up it is happening right here in Kansas, and in fact, right here in rural Kansas,” Brungardt said.

“It’s just that none of us know what to look for, we don’t know the signs (of human trafficking), we don’t know what that looks like in the community, and we certainly don’t know how to to respond and most of us have never really considered that intersection of gender-based violence and sexual assault,” Brungardt said.

The summit includes speakers from Wichita’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking and the Kansas Attorney General’s office with topics such as spotting the signs of human trafficking,  law enforcement protocol, community outreach services and more.

Brungardt said the summit is for anyone who is interested in preventing gender-based violence and human trafficking such as teachers, parents, healthcare professionals, law enforcement, social workers and counselors.

To register or receive more information call HMC at (785)-623-5500 or visit the website HERE.