Louisville Nurse's Intuition Leads To Human Trafficking Victim's Rescue

A team of nurses and a doctor at the University of Louisville Hospital went above and beyond their job to help a woman who was a human trafficking victim.

When a 20-year-old woman walked into the hospital's emergency room in the middle of the night on March 1, nurses Ashley Huskey and Kalyn Scheidler, and Dr. Emily Thomas knew something was off.

“I knew my gut instinct was always right, but it's never followed me to something this successful,” Huskey told WLKY.

The woman came in alone, had a strange childlike demeanor, and had nurses that she no where to go. After checking on the woman, the ER staff decided not to discharge her.

"I remember talking with Ashley and I think my exact words to her were ‘I’m concerned she could be trafficked,’ not that she was actively being trafficked," said Thomas.

Huskey decided to Google the patient's name and the results included reports about a missing woman from Atlanta. The woman in the ER had been missing since October and her family was desperate to find her.

The team called the authorities and the woman has since returned home to Atlanta. On Wednesday, May 12, the woman's mother called the nurses and doctor to say thank you. The call came as the women were being recognized by hospital for their extraordinary work.

The team hopes they can stay in touch with the woman and her family as she recovers from what she went though.

“The stuff that she went through she needs a support system. We were there for her that night, so we can also be there for her in the future," said Huskey.

Photo: Getty Images