Founder's Journal: An Introduction

Why I'm starting this journal

My name is Drew. I'm the founder and CEO of HealEx, and for most of the last decade, I've been caring for people at the intersection of exploitation and healing.

Most of that work happens in a mobile clinic. I've cleaned and stitched wounds, listened to people describe lives shaped by poverty, addiction, violence, and trafficking, and helped people learn to trust again. Those moments taught me something I didn't learn in any classroom: people rarely heal because someone rescues them. They heal because someone keeps showing up.

How HealEx began

HealEx grew slowly and on purpose. My career began in Haiti, doing community health work and running mobile clinics. Over the next several years, that work took me to the United States, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Dominican Republic. Everything I learned along the way shaped HealEx into a model built for people who are actively being exploited, people who often avoid traditional healthcare because it has hurt or judged them before.

Our flagship program in Salt Lake City launched in 2018. Our team meets people where they are: on the street, in online escorting, in strip clubs. We provide trauma-focused medical and mental healthcare, visit after visit, until people feel safe enough to talk about what is really happening.

In 2022 we returned to the Dominican Republic, this time to the largest red-light district in the Caribbean, where many of our patients are Haitian refugees. We've also helped partners build care programs for exploited women in India, and trained healthcare workers across Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.

One of the moments that stays with me happened in India's Sundarbans. I sat on a bed in a dimly lit hut in a remote marshland, caring for women who earn a living wading through muddy rivers. I was reminded how the will to survive can leave people vulnerable to exploitation. And I was reminded that much of this work is simply sitting with someone and listening.

What the Founder's Journal is

This journal is where I'll share those moments. Each entry starts with a photograph from the field, asks a question it raised for me, and offers a short reflection.

Some questions will be clinical. Some will be about trauma, addiction, displacement or global health. Many won't have neat answers. That's the point. The intersection of exploitation and healing is complicated, and I'd rather think through it honestly with you than pretend it's simple.

Who this is for

I'm writing for people working against trafficking, people working in healthcare, and anyone in the social impact space trying to do good work well. I'm also writing for anyone who simply wants to understand this world a little better.

If something here gives you a new way of seeing exploitation and healing, I hope you'll stay with us. Read along, share what resonates, and if you want to go further, come find out how you can be part of HealEx.

Thanks for being here.

Drew