Youth delegates head to hep C symposium

[Guest guest]

http://www.northernlife.ca/lifestyleArticle.asp?view=80799

Youth delegates head to hep C symposium

BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

heidi@...

Slegers wants everyone to learn about the risks of hepatitis C. The

virus, which is usually transmitted through intravenous drug use or dirty

tattoo needles, can cause serious liver damage.

Slegers (middle), national chair for the hepatitis C Youth Planning

Committee, is going to the national youth symposium on the disease, along

with Renelle Tousignant and Victor Shaganash.

That? why the Slegers, 27, has joined with other youth in organizing the

second annual National Youth Symposium on hepatitis C, which is being

held in Ottawa Feb. 26-27.

He? bringing eight Sudbury-area youth and one university professor along

with him to the government-sponsored conference as delegates, and

hopes they in turn will increase awareness of the disease.

The conference is mostly for youth workers wanting to become informed about

hepatitis C, but youth at risk of contracting the disease will also be

there.

?t is a big problem,?says Slegers, who works for Access AIDS and the Sudbury

Metis Council. ?t? hard to determine how many are infected because we (just)

have the people who have been tested. But a lot of people don? get tested.

In Sudbury rates are high and somewhat alarming.?/div>

In 2004, the Sudbury & District Health Unit reported 115 cases of hepatitis

C, which is probably just a fraction of the actual cases in the community.

Slegers says it? important to learn more about the debilitating disease,

because it can be treated with drugs. However, there is no immunization

against the virus, unlike related hepatitis A and B.

? lot of people when you...start talking about hep C, they say, ? already

have the shot for that.?You can? get a shot for hep C. That? hep A and

hep B...They don? think it? a deadly disease.?/div>

Sympoms of the disease appear slowly after infection, and can include

fatigue, jaundice, and severe cirrhosis of the liver.

Aboriginal people are especially at risk of getting hepatitis C, says

Slegers, because deficiencies in their health care and educational systems

ensure

they don? always get enough public health information.

That? why Sudbury Secondary School student Victor Shaganash, 18, is going to

the conference. He says he wants to learn more about the

disease, and distribute the information among other aboriginal people in his

hometown of Hornepayne.

? myself do not (know anyone with the disease)...but apparently natives have

a high population of hepatitis,?he says.

tian student Adam Koleman, 21, also has personal reason for attending

the conference. One of his family members has hepatitis C.

?t? not just hepatitis C. They also have a lot of other illnesses, so it?

hard to see just what hepatitis C is doing to them,?he says. ?ut just with

the illnesses that they?e dealing with, it? hard for them to hold a job.

They have to go on disability.?/div>

Koleman, who is Metis, thinks he has a responsibility to help other youth

learn about hepatitis C. Youths are more likely to listen to their peers, he

says.

?e?e kind of like leaders to the community. It sounds like a good way of

doing it...You can go back, and if I know someone who uses needles for drug

use...I can shine some light for them to prevent it,?says Koleman.

?hat? the only way a problem like this can be dealt with...Youth on youth is

going to work. Who are youth really going to listen to? They don? really

want to listen to older people.?

Koleman says he? excited about the conference because he?l meet youth from

all over Canada, and get the chance to hear the stories of people who live

with hepatitis C.

Student nurse Raegan Humphrey, 24, says she became interested in the disease

after doing a placement at Access AIDS, where she worked with a hepatitis C

support group under Slegers.

? see, now that I?e been exposed to it through Access AIDS, how many people

it affects in our community,?she says.

? think this is a great educational opportunity to not only inform people in

my immediate surroundings, but also bring that information back to Cambrian

and tian students so they also know more about it.

[Guest guest]

http://www.northernlife.ca/lifestyleArticle.asp?view=80799

Youth delegates head to hep C symposium

BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

heidi@...

Slegers wants everyone to learn about the risks of hepatitis C. The

virus, which is usually transmitted through intravenous drug use or dirty

tattoo needles, can cause serious liver damage.

Slegers (middle), national chair for the hepatitis C Youth Planning

Committee, is going to the national youth symposium on the disease, along

with Renelle Tousignant and Victor Shaganash.

That? why the Slegers, 27, has joined with other youth in organizing the

second annual National Youth Symposium on hepatitis C, which is being

held in Ottawa Feb. 26-27.

He? bringing eight Sudbury-area youth and one university professor along

with him to the government-sponsored conference as delegates, and

hopes they in turn will increase awareness of the disease.

The conference is mostly for youth workers wanting to become informed about

hepatitis C, but youth at risk of contracting the disease will also be

there.

?t is a big problem,?says Slegers, who works for Access AIDS and the Sudbury

Metis Council. ?t? hard to determine how many are infected because we (just)

have the people who have been tested. But a lot of people don? get tested.

In Sudbury rates are high and somewhat alarming.?/div>

In 2004, the Sudbury & District Health Unit reported 115 cases of hepatitis

C, which is probably just a fraction of the actual cases in the community.

Slegers says it? important to learn more about the debilitating disease,

because it can be treated with drugs. However, there is no immunization

against the virus, unlike related hepatitis A and B.

? lot of people when you...start talking about hep C, they say, ? already

have the shot for that.?You can? get a shot for hep C. That? hep A and

hep B...They don? think it? a deadly disease.?/div>

Sympoms of the disease appear slowly after infection, and can include

fatigue, jaundice, and severe cirrhosis of the liver.

Aboriginal people are especially at risk of getting hepatitis C, says

Slegers, because deficiencies in their health care and educational systems

ensure

they don? always get enough public health information.

That? why Sudbury Secondary School student Victor Shaganash, 18, is going to

the conference. He says he wants to learn more about the

disease, and distribute the information among other aboriginal people in his

hometown of Hornepayne.

? myself do not (know anyone with the disease)...but apparently natives have

a high population of hepatitis,?he says.

tian student Adam Koleman, 21, also has personal reason for attending

the conference. One of his family members has hepatitis C.

?t? not just hepatitis C. They also have a lot of other illnesses, so it?

hard to see just what hepatitis C is doing to them,?he says. ?ut just with

the illnesses that they?e dealing with, it? hard for them to hold a job.

They have to go on disability.?/div>

Koleman, who is Metis, thinks he has a responsibility to help other youth

learn about hepatitis C. Youths are more likely to listen to their peers, he

says.

?e?e kind of like leaders to the community. It sounds like a good way of

doing it...You can go back, and if I know someone who uses needles for drug

use...I can shine some light for them to prevent it,?says Koleman.

?hat? the only way a problem like this can be dealt with...Youth on youth is

going to work. Who are youth really going to listen to? They don? really

want to listen to older people.?

Koleman says he? excited about the conference because he?l meet youth from

all over Canada, and get the chance to hear the stories of people who live

with hepatitis C.

Student nurse Raegan Humphrey, 24, says she became interested in the disease

after doing a placement at Access AIDS, where she worked with a hepatitis C

support group under Slegers.

? see, now that I?e been exposed to it through Access AIDS, how many people

it affects in our community,?she says.

? think this is a great educational opportunity to not only inform people in

my immediate surroundings, but also bring that information back to Cambrian

and tian students so they also know more about it.