ADVOCACY

CalHEP, NVHR Urge Congress to Pass Hepatitis Act

CalHEP staffers teamed up with representatives from the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) on Sept. 8, to urge California representatives to support the Viral Hepatitis and Liver Cancer Control and Prevention Act, which is expected to be introduced in the House this October by Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA) and Charlie Dent ( R-PA). The Act calls for amending the Public Health Service Act to establish, promote, and support a comprehensive prevention, research, and medical management referral program for chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C virus infection. CalHEP visited Reps. Howard  Berman (D-San Fernando), Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento), and Zoe Lofgren  (D-Santa Clara), as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  (D-San Francisco). Click here to read a summary of the Act’s key provisions.

Experts Coordinate National Response to Hepatitis

CalHEP staff and consultants joined viral hepatitis experts from across the country on Sept. 10 and 11 at a  national forum convened in Washington, DC, to develop a coordinated national response to chronic viral hepatitis through improved prevention, detection, and patient care. “The Dawn of a New Era: Transforming Our Domestic Response to Hepatitis B&C” brought representatives from the entire spectrum of constituencies involved in the prevention of infection and the care of patients with viral hepatitis in order to articulate the need for a coordinated national strategic plan for chronic hepatitis B & C. “The conference provided a unique opportunity for the advocacy, scientific, and patient care worlds to come together to develop an effective strategy for combating the viral hepatitis epidemics ,” said Michele Peterson, CalHEP project manager and associate director of community health programs for the Center for Health Improvement. CalHEP will make available an executive summary and other meeting materials to members when conference organizers release them in the next couple of weeks.

AWARENESS

Patient Guide on HCV Available

The Hepatitis C Support Project recently released Understanding HCV:  A
Patient Pocket Guide . This comprehensive 60-page guide is designed  to help people make informed choices about various aspects of living with hepatitis C. Starting with basic information on hepatitis C prevention, disease progression, and  management, this resource goes further to  provide tools  to help people advocate for the best possible medical care. Click here to download it,  or visit  the HCV Advocate website to order a hard copy. While you are there, check out the other materials available from this website.

NPIN Website Offers Wealth of Info on Viral Hepatitis

Check out the National Prevention Information Network (NPIN) website, which offers an overview of viral hepatitis; links to editions of the MMWR containing surveillance statistics, prevention information, and more;  resources that include prevention programs, posters, brochures, fact sheets, and CME; NPIN databases to search for information on hepatitis service providers, news on viral hepatitis, funding opportunities, and other useful resources; and other materials on viral hepatitis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Click here to see what is available.

ACCESS

Know Someone  Who’s Overcome a Barrier to Access?

We still want to honor someone who has overcome a barrier to access to health care in an upcoming issue of CalHEP’s newsletter. If you have a story you would like featured, please contact Vickie Regnart.

Volume 4, Issue 3

September 22, 2009

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

CalHEP Member Organization Presents at DC Conference

Stanford University’s Asian Liver Center stepped into the national spotlight earlier this month at the Washington, DC, conference: “The Dawn of a New Era: Transforming Our Domestic Response to Hepatitis B&C.” The Asian Liver Center’s founder and director, Samuel So, MD, FACS, discussed model programs, such as the Jade Ribbon Campaign, for routinely screening foreign-born Asians and Pacific Islanders for hepatitis B infection. Dr. So is the Lui Hac Minh Professor in the School of Medicine and Surgery at Stanford and a former CalHEP board member, Learn more about the Jade Ribbon Campaign.

UPCOMING EVENTS

CAADAC Conference:

Multicultural Workforce

The California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors’ (CAADAC) Annual conference, “Moving Beyond Tolerance: Creating a Multiculturally Competent Addiction Workforce,” will be held October 1-4, at the Rancho Cordova Marriott near Sacramento. For information, visit the website. CalHEP will have an exhibit at this event.

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Questions or comments? Contact Michele Peterson, associate director of community health programs for CHI,

at mpeterson@chipolicy.org or 916-930-9200

 

 

CalHEP is a program of the Center for Health Improvement.

1330 21st Street, Suite 100

Sacramento, CA 95811

916-930-9200

www.chipolicy.org

 

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