A team at the Timmins and District Hospital is working to eliminate hepatitis C by 2023 through testing, treating and potentially saving lives.
The Liver Health Team is working to treat people who have the virus and may not know it.
“We don’t want anyone to suffer needlessly,” Patrick Nowak, said program manager of outpatient mental health and addiction services at the hospital.
“Hepatitis C is now very treatable. We want to get that treatment to everyone who needs it and to stop the spread.”
According to Public Health Ontario, hepatitis C is caused by a virus that attacks the liver.
“It is transmitted primarily through blood-to-blood contact with an infected person, including through sharing needles or other drug-related equipment and from mother to baby at birth,” Public Health Ontario states on its website.
Public Health Ontario said the highest rates of hepatitis C in Ontario were reported by three public health units: Northwestern Health Unit, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Northeastern Public Health (formally known as the Porcupine Health Unit), which covers the Timmins area.
The statistics show Public Health Sudbury and Districts reported the lowest rate per 100,000 population, but has the second highest rate of newly acquired infections.
‘No wrong door approach’
Nowak said a lot of people who have hepatitis C are unaware.
“So when people are initially infected, the symptoms are often milder, ” he said.
“There might be none. So a lot of people living with it simply don’t know that they have it.”
To offer testing, Nowak said his team is working with different groups in its outreach.
“Working with partners, we’ve taken a ‘no wrong door’ approach,” he said. “That means that a person could call any partner agency and be connected to the Liver Health Team.”
The hospital’s Liver Health Team is made up of an outreach worker, a registered nurse and clerical support. Hepatitis C can be treated through a course of treatment that is estimated to b 95 per cent effective.
