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Home / Resources / STI Updates (Blog) / Program updates / Hepatitis C Community: connect, learn, change.

Hepatitis C Community: connect, learn, change.

Who we are

The Pacific Hepatitis C Network (PHCN) exists to support the community-based response to hepatitis C in the province of British Columbia, the core of which is the voice of people living with and at-risk for hepatitis C.

What we do

PHCNs two core focuses are Network Building and Capacity Building. This is done with members and others across three main communities:

  1. Communities of Experience
  2. Communities of Practice
  3. Communities of Place

Network and Capacity Building

In September 2012, the HIV Program of the Provincial Health Services Authority provided PHCN with seed funds to begin developing Network and Capacity Building services for:

  • People living with and at-risk for hepatitis C, and
  • Practitioners, including health care, mental health and addiction clinicians, and front line and management staff in community-based organizations working in local, regional or provincial services.

Over the next year, from April 2013 to March 2014, the PHCN will hold a number of informative, useful and hopefully inspiring webinars for people living with hepatitis C and a separate set of webinars for practitioners.

Outreach to Influence

The Pacific Hepatitis C Network is currently working with the following organizations as partners in a 3-year project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, called Outreach to Influence (O2I): a community readiness and effective prevention of hepatitis C.

  • Northern Health Authority
  • Vancouver Island Health Authority
  • Warm Zone Women’s Centre, Abbotsford
  • Positive Living Fraser Valley (PL-FV), Abbotsford

This project also relates to the PHCN’s goal of building capacity with communities of place.

Peer Education

The PHCN is also working with the Warm Zone and PL-FV on our pilot HCV Peer Education Training. The goal is to offer this training twice, with evaluation and recommendations for future offerings. This piece relates directly to PHCN’s goal of capacity building with people living with hepatitis C. A report, recommendations and basic peer training resource will be available in 2013.

For more information

Please contact Deb (deb(at)pacifichepc.org) or Katie (Katie(at)pacifichepc.org) with your questions or comments, or visit us at www.pacifichepc.org.