Cordero gets tested for hepatitis C by Irma Williams, MSW, in honor of his father, a retired Vietnam veteran.
Enhanced Hep C & HIV Awareness Services for the Bronx
By BOOM! Health / Nov 5, 2013
Bronx, New York – BOOM!Health, a recent merger of Bronx AIDS Services and CitiWide Harm Reduction, announce a major expansion of comprehensive programs to enhance its prevention, awareness, health and wellness services for youth, women of color, people moving towards recovery from drug use, people living with and at risk for HIV, as well as baby boomers and military veterans at risk for hepatitis C in the Bronx.
Candia Richards-Clark, BOOM!Health’s senior vice president for resource development, says, “These new public and private grants are a diversified investment totaling $1.2M to directly improve the overall health and wellness of the Bronx and beyond. We are grateful to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), MAC AIDS Fund, Drug Policy Alliance, Gilead Foundation and ViiV Healthcare for their strong support of our mission and service model.”
“As we prepare to recognize our military veterans on November 11th, we also want to raise awareness that baby boomers like me who were born between 1945-1965 are at elevated risk for viral hepatitis infection.”
Jose Davila, BOOM!Health’s president and chief administrative officer
The Gilead Foundation has provided a generous one-time grant to support scaled up hepatitis C testing and linkage to medical care for over 800 vets and baby boomers throughout the Bronx, including a hard-hitting social marketing campaign on MTA buses and subway stations. “These ads encourage Bronxites to get tested and to seek treatment for hepatitis C, which is curable for many with current medications,” explains Bobby Rallakis, Supervising Pharmacist with Evers Pharmacy at BOOM!Health’s Harm Reduction Center.
US military veterans of the baby-boom generation form a population at higher-than-average risk of hepatitis C. Hepatitis C prevalence is higher in adults born between 1945 and 1965 due to higher levels of injecting drug use and greater lifetime risk of exposure to blood transfusions containing hepatitis C compared to those born after 1965.
According to research that was presented this week at the 64th meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (the Liver Meeting) in Washington DC, veterans may be at especially high risk of hepatitis C infection due to high levels of injecting drug use among the population that served during the Vietnam War era and blood exposure in battle or medical settings. Tattooing and transmission through use of air guns for vaccination during military service are difficult to quantify as sources of infection, but many veterans – particularly those who did not see active service in Vietnam – believe these routes explain their infection with hepatitis C. Furthermore, the Veteran’s Health Administration (VA) medical system may have an especially high prevalence of hepatitis C among its patient population because it has tended to retain in care veterans who have sought treatment for substance abuse through the VA system.
Robert Cordero, BOOM!Health’s president and chief program officer, whose father is a baby boomer and Vietnam veteran, took a 20 minute rapid hepatitis C test in advance of Veteran’s Day in honor of his father, Roberto Sr., who is retired in Puerto Rico. The intent is to encourage all veterans to know their HCV status. “The first step in combating hepatitis C in our community is to get tested and spread the word that treatment is available,” states Cordero.
