NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Office of Viral Hepatitis Coordination March 2010 ~ NYC Viral Hepatitis Newsletter

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

Office of Viral Hepatitis Coordination

March 2010 ~ NYC Viral Hepatitis Newsletter

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Contents

Upcoming Events

Advocacy ' Awareness

Funding $ Jobs

News

New Resources, Education & Training

Hepatitis B & C Coalitions, Task Forces & Patient Groups


Upcoming Events

Local

§ March 3rd HCV Advocacy Trip to Albany! With Shari Foster of Status C Unknown. Trip is open to all types of HCV advocates. Transportation to and from Manhattan provided and training will be provided on the bus. There are a few spots left! Register online.

§ Hepatitis B Coalition Meeting. March 11th (3 – 5:30). Korean Community Services of NY. 149 West 24th St. 6th Floor, New York , NY 10011 . All HBV service providers are welcome.

§ NYC HCV Task Force Advocacy Committee Meeting. March 11th (10 AM – 12). Harm Reduction Coalition ( 22 W. 27th Street , 5th Floor, New York , NY 10001 ). All are welcome to join.

§ New York State Department of Health 2010 Hepatitis C Conference. Includes HBV sessions. March 16th (8AM – 4PM). City University of New York Graduate Center , 365 Fifth Avenue , Manhattan . Scholarships are available. Register now!

§ Queens Hepatitis C Task Force Meeting now a sub-group of the monthly Queens Consortium on Substance Abuse & Alcoholism Committee. March17th (3-5). Queens Borough Hall 120-55 Queens Blvd , Queens , NY 11415 ~ Room 213.

§ Syringe Access Services & Law Enforcement Training. Harm Reduction Coalition, with Narelle Ellendon , HRC & Emma Roberts, FROSTD. March 26th (10 – 5 PM). Free. Register Online.

§ Group Structure Workshop. Citizen’s Committee for NYC, Neighborhood Leadership Institute. Saturday, March 20, (11am-1pm). 305 Seventh Avenue , 15th Fl. Manhattan. Free. Build and maintain an effective neighborhood association or community group! Workshop Covers: - Democratic Process, By-Laws and Committees. Space is limited! RSVP to Nathan Cole at (212) 822-9564 or ncole@citizensnyc.org.

§ Navigating Medicaid & Medicare: Hepatitis B & C Special Issues 2 Part Training: 2nd day is April 12th. 26 Federal Plaza, Manhattan , 10278. HCV Task Force & HBV Coalition Project in partnership with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). View first day training slides 1-7. To register for the 2nd day contact: Frank.Winter@cms.hhs.gov.

§ 1st Annual Peer Delivered Syringe Exchange Worker Conference. Planned for April, 2010. Open to Harm Reduction focused Peer Health Educators. Purpose: Networking, sharing best practices, improving work conditions and reducing risk, education, empowerment and mobilization. For more information: asiegler@health.nyc.gov or ellendon@harmreduction.org.

§ May is Viral Hepatitis Awareness Month! Plan an awareness event at your organization!

§ World Hepatitis Day! May 19th 2010. 1 in 12 people in the world is living with hepatitis B or C.

§ Save the Date! May 20th Mid-morning Viral Hepatitis Awareness Legislative Breakfast

§ Liver Life Walk. American Liver Foundation. June 6th, Battery Park City . This is a beautiful event to participate in together as a group in order to generate awareness and celebrate our work! Join the NYC Viral Hepatitis Task Force Team!

Out of NY

§ 25th Annual New Treatments in Chronic Liver Disease conference. March 27th-28th, San Diego .

§ Preventing Hepatitis and STDs in MSM Communities Training. New Jersey Department of Health. April 27, 2010 (8:30am-4pm) Voorhees , NJ or May 26, 2010 (8:30am-4pm) Livingston , NJ .

§ 6th International HIV and Hepatitis Co-infection Workshop. May 31st – June 2nd. Tel Aviv , Israel . Virology Education.

§ 5th International Workshop on Hepatitis C, Resistance and New Compounds. June 24-25th, 2010. Boston .

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Advocacy & Awareness ~ now is the time to get involved

' By March 5th!! Call your member of the House Representatives to sign on to the Dear Colleague Letter authored by Reps. Johnson and Dent that calls for increased funding for viral hepatitis programs at the CDC in the Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations bill. See full information and call script. To find out who your representative is and how to call, go to: www.house.gov.

' Viral Hepatitis and Liver Cancer Control and Prevention Act of 2009. Call your member of Congress to sign on to this bill to increase national support and funding for Viral Hepatitis. To find out who your member of congress is and how to call, go to: www.Congress.org.Thank NY Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and Congressman Ed Towns for co-sponsoring the bill.

' Syringe Access Bill 5620--A. Call your Senator to support the bill. To find out who your senator is and how to call, go to: www.senate.gov.

- Report - Stuck in the System: Expanding Syringe Access by Reconciling the Penal Code with the Public Health Law. Developed by NYCAHN's Voices of Community Advocates & Leaders (VOCAL) drug user union with research support from the Urban Justice Center's Community Development Project. Documents research findings based on surveys and one-on-one interviews with participants in syringe access programs. VOCAL found that the harassment, arrest and incarceration of people carrying sterile and used syringes discourages participation in syringe access programs, which then increases the risk of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C transmission in low-income communities. It also increases the risk of needle-stick injuries for law enforcement and fails to reduce drug use or other illegal activities.

§ Join the American Liver Foundation Adopt a Doctor Initiative. Help increase awareness! ALF will send you brochures on the liver and viral hepatitis if you commit to bringing them to medical offices. To join, contact: TMerlau@liverfoundation.org.

§ NYC & NYS Hepatitis C Surveillance/Legislative Maps. Created by Mike Duncan, PA. These maps are tools that can be used to show elected officials how many HCV cases were reported in their district. To see the maps, go to the HCV Task Force Google Group and look under Files.

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Funding

$ Grants for Community Improvement Projects. Citizen’s Committee for NYC. $500 to $3,000 to grassroots community groups. March 14 deadline.

$ Workforce Development to Increase Access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Services among Minority Populations. SAMHSA, TI-10-014. Deadline: 04/02/2010.

$ Knowledge Dissemination Conference Grants Program Announcement. SAMHSA, OA-08-002. Deadline: 03/31/2010.

$ Alliance Healthcare Foundation: General Fund Announcement. Funds the development and implementation of projects that: address significant health problems of a specific, uninsured or under-insured, medically underserved population; include strategies that will have an impact on the problems addressed; have the potential to become self-sustaining or institutionalized; and build on existing community resources. Priority areas are: restricted access to healthcare; substance abuse; communicable diseases, including HIV, STDs, and tuberculosis (TB); violence; mental health; and environmental and community health problems. No deadline.

$ Drug Policy Foundation: General Fund Announcement. Grants are made to organizations and individuals to support harm reduction programs, advocacy efforts that support drug policy reform, and public education on drug policy reform issues. Under harm reduction, supporting the efforts of needle exchange programs (NEPs) is among the highest priorities of the DPF's grant program.

$ Faith in Action: Replication of the Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers Program. Funds to develop Interfaith Volunteer Caregiver (IVC) coalitions of faith congregations to serve people with chronic health conditions. No deadline.

$ J.M. Kaplan Fund: General Fund Announcement. Emphasis on NYC: city life (support for basic human services and HIV/AIDS related programs such as food banks, services for the homeless, youth programs, and employment services); environment and sustainability; exploration and new technologies; human rights; and research and public policy.

$ Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Memorial Fund: General Fund Announcement. For piloting or expansion of new, innovative programs of organizations operating in, or within close proximity to, New York City . Social Welfare or Research. No deadline.

$ Frank E. Payne and Seba B. Payne Foundation: General Fund Announcement. The Payne Foundation provides support for education, hospitals, and cultural programs (HIV Coinfection). No deadline.

$ Merck Family Fund: General Fund Announcement. Focus on addressing the root causes of problems faced by socially and economically disadvantaged people, urban community-building and meeting the needs of disadvantaged youth. Past fundees have included substance abuse programs and HIV/AIDS projects. No deadline.

$ Hoffmann-La Roche Funding Opportunities. No deadline.

$ NYS Recovery Funding Handbook

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Viral Hepatitis Related Jobs

§ www.idealist.org ~ Search for: New York Key word: Hepatitis. Will send daily emails with open jobs.

- Harm Reduction Counselor/ Outreach Worker. Foundation for Research on STD's.

- Harm Reduction Outreach Worker. LESHRC.

- CBA Specialist (Capacity Building Assistance for Communities). Harm Reduction Coalition.

- REGISTERED NURSE (Aids Services). Services for the Underserved.

- National Organizing and Field Director. Drug Policy Alliance - New York.

- Counselor/Outstationed Services (Female). Exponents, Inc.

- Harm Reduction Counselor. Iris House, Inc.

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News

Research News

§ Transplants That Do Their Job, Then Fade Away Thanks to the liver's ability to regenerate, a small number of children in the United States have undergone an unusual type of surgery that offers a normal life.

§ Short Needle May Short HBV Protection for Obese (CME/CE). Obese adolescents and young adults may not generate an adequate immune response to hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine because the needles used to vaccinate them are too short, a randomized study suggests.

§ CROI: HCV Spread Abetted by Needle Type (CME/CE). Among injection drug users, the type of needle used and the temperature it's stored at can substantially affect the risk of transmitting hepatitis C virus (HCV), researchers found.

§ CROI: HCV Therapy Response Predicts Outcome in Co-Infected Patients (CME/CE). For people with both HIV and Hepatitis C, a poor response to hepatitis therapy markedly increased the risk of HIV progression and death.

§ Liver fibrosis progression after acute HCV infection (AHC) in HIV-positive individuals. 17th Conference on Retroviruses & Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2010).

World News

§ Vaccine Preventable Pediatric Infectious Diseases: A Global Dialogue. Boston University and Med Learning Group. Review the epidemiology, transmission and vaccine options for preventable pediatric infectious diseases.

§ Poor Sanitation in Haiti’s Tent Camps Adds to Risk of Disease. Public health specialists consider the diseases stemming from the buildup of human waste in tent camps as possibly the most pressing health threat in the ravaged country. [Hepatitis A]

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New Resources

§ www.KnowHepatitis.org. Funded by the CDC. Features a webinar discussion by Dr. John Ward, director of CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis, on the IOM report recommendations and a Viral Hepatitis 101 webinar.

§ Strategic Plan for 2010-2015. CDC: National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP). Articulates NCHHSTP’s vision, overarching goals and strategies to guide and enhance prevention programs.

§ New York State Department of Health Viral Hepatitis Strategic Plan (2010 – 2015)

§ Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C. IOM Report 2010.

§ 2006 – 2007 New York City Hepatitis A, B & C Surveillance Report. Please complete brief online survey after reviewing the surveillance report

§ Pregnancy & Baby Care website. NYC DOHMH. Designed to give New Yorkers ready access to an array of pregnancy-related information and services. HBV Prevention tool.

§ List of Celebrities with Hepatitis C
Education & Training

§ Advanced Certificate Program V: Bridging Cultural Differences to Improve HBV Treatment in Asian and Other Diverse Communities. Projects In Knowledge. The fifth year of this free program offers 17 new and engaging, multiple-format courses, developed by prominent hepatology experts. Gain clarity and guidance on key issues and practice challenges, including HBV screening and diagnosis, optimal management strategies, and cultural differences in patient communications.

§ Game Changers in Hepatology-Future Challenges in the Treatment of HCV. Projects In Knowledge. This on-demand webcast (taped live in Boston on October 31, 2009) examines a number of current changes in the practice and business of medicine and how these changes will affect the future treatment of patients with HCV. Chair Ira Jacobson, MD, and the expert faculty also review current HCV treatment options and discuss how increasingly complex emerging therapeutic regimens fit within the new healthcare paradigm.

§ Clinical Care Options – Online Education HBV & HCV (CME)

§ Webinar: Media 101 - How to Tell Your Story Effectively - and Enjoy Doing It. National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) & NASTAD. Strategies for developing effective media messaging and working with the media.

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Hepatitis B & C Coalitions, Task Forces & Patient Groups

The NYC Viral Hepatitis B & C Coalitions, Task Forces & Patient Groups provide an opportunity to get involved locally to create positive change with people who care about viral hepatitis as much as you do.



Hepatitis B Coalition Meetings ~ NYC Hepatitis B Coalition Website

§ Next Meeting: March 11th (3 – 5:30). Korean Community Services of NY. 149 West 24th St. 6th Floor, New York , NY 10011.To join invitation list email: njohnso2@health.nyc.gov



Hepatitis C Task Force Meetings

§ Queens Hepatitis C Task Force Meeting now a sub-group of the monthly Queens Consortium on Substance Abuse & Alcoholism Committee. Next Meeting: March 17th (3-5). Queens Borough Hall 120-55 Queens Blvd , Queens , NY 11415 ~ Room 213.

§ Brooklyn, Harlem and Bronx HCV Task Force meetings are on hiatus because of the major citywide HCV task force events occurring through March. Sign up for invitations to future meetings: njohnso2@health.nyc.gov

§ Please attend:

- NYC HCV Task Force Advocacy Committee Meeting. March 11th (10 AM – 12) @ Harm Reduction Coalition ( 22 W. 27th Street , 5th Floor, New York , NY 10001 ). * All are welcome to join

- New York State Department of Health 2010 Hepatitis C Conference. Includes HBV sessions. March 16th (8AM – 4PM). City University of New York Graduate Center , 365 Fifth Avenue , Manhattan . Scholarships are available. Register now!

- Navigating Medicaid & Medicare: Hepatitis B & C Special Issues 2 Part Training: 2nd day April 12th. 26 Federal Plaza, Manhattan , 10278. HCV Task Force & HBV Coalition Project in partnership with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). To register: Frank.Winter@cms.hhs.gov.

- 1st Annual Peer Delivered Syringe Exchange Worker Conference. Planned for April, 2010. Open to Harm Reduction focused Peer Health Educators. Purpose: Networking, sharing best practices, improving work conditions and reducing risk, education, empowerment and mobilization. For more information: asiegler@health.nyc.gov or ellendon@harmreduction.org.



Patient Support Groups ~ Hepatitis B & C

§ See Online Listing ~ Groups listed throughout five boroughs, as well as computer and telephone groups.

§ Patient Education:

- www.cdc.gov/hepatitis

- www.LiverFoundation.org

- www.hcv.advocate.org

- www.hebp.org

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Contact: Nirah Johnson , LMSW ~ Community Projects Specialist, Office of Viral Hepatitis Coordination ~ NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene ~ 125 Worth Street , Room 326. New York , NY 10013 ~ (212) 341-0432 ~ njohnso2@health.nyc.gov ~ Office of Viral Hepatitis Coordination Website