I just want to acknowledge the care that Lillie gave to one of our teenage patients. She was transferred from Holy Cross for severe anemia and needed a blood transfusion. The story was complicated by the fact that there were suspicions of sex trafficking. The Spanish-speaking teenager had completely shut down, was disheveled, and had expressed thoughts of suicide earlier. She resisted every intervention. Lillie established a rapport with her, and the teen finally opened up and talked to us in private.

She said that this "boy" is posting her "pictures" online for crack. Lillie assisted her in getting cleaned up, facilitated vaginal self-swab for STI testing, and helped her to the bathroom to obtain a urine sample for UDS testing. When she dropped the cup in the toilet, Lillie retrieved it herself, knowing the importance of the test. Through all this, the patient needed labs, a blood transfusion, and multiple medications for empiric STI Rx. She eventually tested positive for cocaine, fentanyl, THC, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and bacterial vaginosis.

We had to coordinate disposition with psychiatry and a medical social worker and speak to the mother, who really wanted her to seek help but felt helpless connecting with her daughter, who had run away several times. To me, Lillie exemplified our core values of being compassionate with this young lady, making a connection when she had refused to talk to anyone, and was committed over an extended period of 4 to 6 hours caring for her. She also exemplified one of our other core values of providing equitable care to our limited English speaking, as well as to a population of vulnerable patients, who could be easily dismissed as being uncooperative.