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ACCESS Baker Overcomes Access Barrier for Liver TransplantFifty-four-year-old Spencer Baker is battling hepatitis C. And now with a new liver, he’s got a fighting chance. Diagnosed with hepatitis C and terminal liver disease in 2004, Baker completed a rehabilitation course on the island of Maui where he lived. Then at the urging of his providers, he moved to the mainland to seek further treatment. Baker arrived in Sacramento in 2006 to find that both UCSF and UC Davis were “hotbeds for transplants.” But he ran into a wall. His physicians weren’t forthcoming with information or help about a needed liver transplant, Baker said. He sensed a lack of support for treating recovering alcoholics and drug addicts—he felt the slap of stigma. Everything changed when he met Leslie Benson, CalHEP chair and founder and executive director of Education for Healthy Choices, which provides evidence-based education on viral hepatitis in the Sacramento area. She referred Baker to UC Davis. Within two years, he became one of the last people to have a liver transplant there before the medical center stopped performing them. “There I was knowing nobody in Sacramento, and then I was talking to the head of hepatology at UC Davis,” Baker recalled. “And I’m going ‘Yeehaw!’ ” Four and a half months into treatment for hepatitis C, Baker’s doctors at UC Davis discovered cancer in his liver. That moved him to the head of the transplant list, and he received a new liver this past January. |
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Volume 4, Issue 4 October 19, 2009 |
UPCOMING EVENTSCalHEP Sponsors 7th Annual Hepatitis C Summit, Nov. 19More than 300 health care providers and consumers in viral hepatitis will attend the Seventh Annual Hepatitis C Summit for Los Angeles County, the largest annual gathering of people affected by viral hepatitis in Southern California. This year, event sponsors the Hepatitis C Task Force for Los Angeles County, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), and CalHEP are proud to have Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), a national hepatitis advocate and chronic carrier of hepatitis B, agree to deliver the opening remarks. The catered, daylong educational program features leading clinicians, policymakers, public health officials, and consumer advocates in viral hepatitis, addressing the latest in viral hepatitis treatment, prevention and policy issues facing Los Angeles County and California. Click here for more information as it becomes available. Learn what drives Ma’s advocacy for hepatitis awareness and education by reading her story on page 38 of California Healthcare Institute’s 2009 California Biomedical Industry Report. |
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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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Advocacy. Awareness. Access. |
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california hepatitis alliance |
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Click here for a printable version of this newsletter. |
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ADVOCACY CalHEP Catalyzes Syringe Exchange Access EffortsIf Senate Bill 1159 is allowed to sunset at the end of 2010, it will again be illegal in California for an adult to purchase or possess syringes without a prescription. “In terms of stemming the tide of hepatitis and HIV, this would be a terrible step backward,” said Glenn Backes, CalHEP’s public policy consultant. “CalHEP is catalyzing a major advocacy effort in 2010 on syringe access.” Backes worked closely with Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose) from 2001 to 2004 to pass SB 1159 giving pharmacists discretion to sell 10 or fewer sterile syringes to an adult without a prescription in cities and counties that authorize the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project. Backes expects an evaluation of the pilot program to be published by the State Office of AIDS in January and that the evaluation will “provide strong evidence that California is like every other state or country that has removed statutory barriers to accessing syringes, in that we saw a reduction in syringe sharing and no negative effects in terms of crime, drug use, or unsafe discard of syringes.” With funding from The Tides Foundation Syringe Access Fund, CalHEP is working to research and draft model legislation to improve access to sterile syringes as a key prevention policy for the control of viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and other blood-borne infections. CalHEP is also working with the Drug Policy Alliance and the Harm Reduction Coalition on these efforts, as well as meeting with representatives from major liver health and AIDS service organizations, and associations that represent pharmacists, health officers, physicians, and nurses in California to catalyze efforts to prevent the sunsetting of SB 1159 next year. Read up on SB 1159 at www.syringeaccess.com. CalHEP continues its work to ensure that federal health insurance reforms include provisions to prevent denial of insurance to persons with pre-existing conditions and that all Americans have access to affordable health care. CalHEP is also studying options to fight for increased viral hepatitis testing and treatment dollars in 2010. Stay tuned. |
Hep B Foundation Publishes RecommendationsCalHEP member, Hepatitis B Foundation, recently convened an expert panel of recognized pediatric liver specialists to address the lack of clear guidance for the care of affected children. The panel’s recommendations for pediatricians and other primary care practitioners stress the need for routine monitoring of children with chronic hepatitis B infections and timely consultation with a pediatric liver specialist. The report, “Recommendations for Screening, Monitoring and Referral of Children with Chronic Hepatitis B in North America: Report of a Workshop,” was published online in Pediatrics on October 5. |
IN THE SPOTLIGHTSCAP Joins CalHEPCalHEP welcomes the Santa Cruz AIDS Project as its newest member. SCAP provides comprehensive syringe-exchange and harm-reduction programs in Santa Cruz County. Founded in 1985 to lead a community response to the ever-changing HIV/AIDS pandemic, SCAP is dedicated to reducing the adverse health, social, and economic costs of high-risk behaviors through a wide variety of outreach, education, referrals, and services. Visit SCAP’s website. |
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JOIN CalHEP |
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Assemblywoman Fiona Ma to deliver opening remarks at CalHEP’s Fall Meeting in Los Angeles. |
CalHEP Representatives Attend CAADAC ConferenceCalHEP Chair Leslie Benson, CalHEP policy consultant Glenn Backes, and C.N. Gordon from HELP & Education for Liver Patients (HELP!), a CalHEP member, represented CalHEP at the annual conference of the California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors’ (CAADAC) held October 1-4, at the Rancho Cordova Marriott near Sacramento. The conference theme, “Moving Beyond Tolerance: Creating a Multiculturally Competent Addiction Workforce,” parallels CalHEP’s recognition of the need to competently address cultural diversity among those affected by viral hepatitis. Feedback from attendees unanimously favored CalHEP’s presence at the conference. |
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AWARENESS |
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Leslie Benson, CalHEP chair (left), and Rosie Sanchez, a volunteer, staff the CalHEP booth at the annual conference of the California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors held in October near Sacramento. |
CalHEP Urges Congress to Support $20 Million forViral Hepatitis PreventionCalHEP joined organizations from throughout California and across the country in urging Congress to support $20.1 million in funding for viral hepatitis prevention in the FY2010 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill. In letters to leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate, the 120-plus signatories acknowledged that the $20.1 million falls short of the $50 million need identified by the viral hepatitis community. They argued, however, that it represents an important first step in restoring the CDC’s viral hepatitis program to its FY2001 funding level of $25 million. View the letters to Senate and House leaders. |
Liver Awareness Month: ALF Launches
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