Hi Squeeky!
Thanks for your call the other day. Just wanted you to know and please pass it on to all the others in the Newsletter production staff, that the recent pamphlet enclosure GIVE LIFE: BC TRANSPLANT SOCIETY was a great idea! For years I’ve assumed I could never again be an organ donor because of my HCV infection, just as after years of blood donation, that is also no longer an option.
After reading the enclosed pamphlet, however, I phoned the toll free number and talked at length with a woman there who said that yes, indeed, we could still be on the organ registry, and seemed surprised when I mentioned that many HCV people had the same thoughts as myself. I also let her know that if not for the enclosure in our hepc.bull, I still would be under this wrongly assumed notion. So, after filling out the Organ Donor Registry Card and mailing it to BCTS, my day was ended on an even better feeling of perhaps making a difference.
Again, thanks!
Sheila Evanson
Note from squeek: It was Joan’s idea
#2
I have been a member of the Hepatitis C Society of Canada, Victoria Chapter, for about one year. I was looking forward to travelling to Toronto for our conference this Summer, as I have become rather disillusioned with the head office due to lack of info, lack of support, and no communication. I was completely dismayed when I received my proxy package in the mail. It arrived on May 13th, demanding a reply, along with a $20.00 registration fee, directions for hotel reservations—Days Inn for example ($135.00 plus tax per night)—leaving virtually no time to prepare to travel. A plane ticket with Westjet was going to set me back another $479.00 plus tax, which, because I’m on a pension like so many others, made it impossible to attend. Voting by proxy for people I’ve never met is out of the question. How is this going to help me deal with hep C?
Thanks a lot, Toronto. Some day I’ll figure out just what it is you do. You certainly haven’t helped me.
Disillusioned in Sooke,
Ken Crews
Educating the Workforce By Frank Darlington.
On Tuesday, June 8, 1999, Ron Thiel, co-chair of the Victoria Chapter, Hepatitis C Society of Canada, met with Ernie Iwasco of the Telecommunications Workers Union (Victoria Local 2). Ron was accompanied by Chuck Stark and Frank Darlington, who are life members of the union and are both victims of hepatitis C, as is Ron.
Ernie Iwasco is the current serving officer on the Health and Safety Committee of the union. The TWU has become involved in the safety of its members working in the high-risk area of Vancouver’s skid row, installing equipment and collecting coins from pay phones.
Protection from contracting hepatitis C was the primary topic of this meeting. The TWU representatives will be attending a province wide safety/health seminar with BC Tel management to express concerns. They will be demanding that all TWU members be made aware of the dangers of blood to blood contact and that the employer (BC Tel) will make available Hepatitis A & B inoculations and provide safety products (gloves, etc.) and information about hepatitis C.
The Telecommunication Workers Union is one of the largest in BC, with approximately 10,000 members. This health and safety meeting will provide a wonderful opportunity to educate the union members, and most important of all, will continue to open doors and save lives.
The downtown Eastside Hep C Support Group will be meeting on Wednesdays, 7:30-9:30 PM, at Carnegie Centre, 401 Main St. in Vancouver, BC—yes, the notorious corner of Main and Hastings, so come on down and visit us. Actually we have some wonderful spots down here. We are not far from Aun Yat Sen gardens, Gastown, and the 2nd largest Chinatown in North America. Our community centre is one of 2400 that Andrew Carnegie built in North America, and we have one. It is a beautiful old building, and we have a lot of programs, including low cost lunches, several support groups: diabetic, AIDS, drug and alcohol, seniors program, plus tai chi, a pool room, library, TV room, theatre, the best staff (most of them) and me !!! :-)
Carolyn
HEP C SUPPORT GROUP
CARNEGIE CENTRE 401
Russell Gates, died August 7, 98. He was 69. He is survived by his wife, a sister and a brother.\
The Hepatitis C Education and Prevention Society
Hepatitis C Support Group Members:
We are pleased to announce the incorporation of HepC BC - The Hepatitis C Education and Prevention Society. Please let me introduce the founding members of this group: Joan King-Diemecke is Editor-in-Chief of the hepc.bull newsletter, past chair of HeCSC, Victoria, and founding member of the Hepatitis C Clinical Trials Research Group (HepCTRG). C.D. Mazoff, PhD. (Squeeky) is currently co-chair of HeCSC, Victoria, co-editor of the hepc.bull, webmaster of Hepcvic, Victoria’s HCV link to the internet, founding member of HepCTRG and co-list moderator of HepCAN, an online support group for HCV. Darlene Nicolaas is past co-chair of the HCV Vancouver Support Group. Ronald E. Thiel is current co-chair of HeCSC, Victoria. Darlene Morrow is webmaster of HepC BC, co-editor of the hepc.bull, co-list moderator of HepCAN and founding member of the HepCTRG.
We are in the process of forming the medical advisory board and wish to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Martin Schechter, National Director of the Canadian HIV Trials Network, Dr. Mel Krajden, Associate Director of the BC Centre of Disease Control Laboratory, and Dr. Frank Anderson and Natalie Rock from Vancouver General.
HepC BC is a legally incorporated not-for-profit voluntary association formed, in part, to increase our fundraising capabilities. It is our desire to join all the support groups within BC so as to provide increased support and networking. We would like to do the following:
Provide computers to support groups so that everyone will have access to the Internet.
Provide province-wide Internet service so that everyone can keep abreast of news and developments as they happen.
Provide support for the computers so that all documents and programs are compatible.
Provide the hepc.bull monthly along with your support group info as part of that newsletter.
Provide FAQs (Peppermint Patti's frequently asked questions) to all newly diagnosed people.
Provide the pamphlet series that we have developed to help you promote HCV awareness in your area.
Act as a central organisation to help with Disability and other Advocacy issues such as Patients’ Rights.
Organise a fully co-ordinated provincial team to increase our effectiveness by avoiding duplication of efforts and providing common goals and focuses.
To aid us in this organisation of efforts, we would like to form executive committees made up of elected representatives from each support group. This will happen immediately for the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. These executive committees would meet on a monthly basis so that everyone can keep in touch with what is going on, brainstorm, re-energise and problem solve any concerns within the local support groups and plan the agenda for the upcoming month. The meeting will take place electronically, in person or by any means necessary so as not to exclude anyone.
These meetings will take place in the Lower Mainland at the CDC Building at 12th Ave and Ash (next door to the Cambie City Square Mall) beginning in September. Please email us (hepcbc@home.com or djnicol@ibm.net ) if you are interested in taking part or call 685-3813 or 987-7378. Those on the Island, please contact squeeky@pacificcoast.net or call 388-4311.
We invite your ideas and participation and look forward to energising our efforts through the continued support of all people with hepatitis C.
Sincerely,
Darlene Morrow
HepCBC at http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/5670
HepCTRG at http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Falls/1148/
A note of appreciation this month to Lou at J & L Copy Plus 777 Fort Street in Victoria, for giving us a SUPER DEAL on Fun Run posters.
Tel: 386-3333
Fax: 286-3312
MID ISLAND HEPATITIS C SOCIETY
Our great news is we should soon have a downtown office in Nanaimo. We’re proud to announce that Gary Korpan (Nanaimo’s Mayor) and Reid Elley (our Reform MP) have joined our board of directors. Our NDP provincial MLA, Dale Lovick, has promised me he’ll try to arrange for us to have a meeting with Penny Priddy to discuss our concerns. We are looking forward to that and hope he is successful, but he told me she and he are pretty busy, right now. Heh hrrmmm? I told him we only need a little time, while we are living, please. We certainly do appreciate the fact that he is going to try ...
We are in the process of planning a ‘fun’ fund raising project that will be sure to attract the press and the public ... will keep you informed.
We had a wonderful time and the group truly enjoyed Joan, Squeeky and the Reaper at our last meeting. They brought a lot of information about Hep C and related health issues to our attention, and I just wish we could @copy and @paste all of their information about the disease into our own brains. Thank you, guys, for coming up and sharing. We’re planning more meetings with knowledgeable guest speakers for the upcoming meetings.
Thank you, Peter and Pat Dolan, from Tim Horton’s Donuts on Bowen Rd., Nanaimo. They quietly and faithfully supply donuts for every monthly meeting. They’ve never asked for recognition, nor do they know our members; they just do this out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s people such as Peter and Pat that give us faith in this world and our fellow humans.
Meetings 2nd Thursday of every month at 7 PM at the Health Unit-Central Vancouver Island, 1665 Grant St. Nanaimo. Next meeting July 8th. Contact Susan: 245-7654
We have an email address now too! Contact Susan: hepc@nanaimo.ark.com
This column is a response to requests for a personal classified section in our news bulletin. Here is how it works
To place an ad Write it up! Max. 50 words. Deadline is the 15th of each month and the ad will run for two months. We'd like a $10 donation, if you can afford it. Send cheques payable to HeCSC Victoria Chapter, and mail to HeCSC, Attn. Squeeky, 926 View St., Victoria, BC V8V 3L5. Give us your name, tel. no., and address.
To respond to an ad Place your written response in a separate, sealed envelope with nothing on it but the number from the top left corner of the ad to which you are responding. Put that envelope inside a second one, along with your cheque for a donation of $2, if you can afford it. Mail to the address above.
Disclaimer The hepc.bull and/or HeCSC cannot be held responsible for any interaction between parties brought about by this column.
Ad No. 10
Respectful, respectable man (49) but looks younger who is very active and loves life. I'm 6' tall, 210 lbs. and considered nice looking, emotionally and financially secure and non-symptomatic. I won't let Hep C rule my life and am looking for a positive female to share a long-term happy life together. Vancouver area.
Ad No. 11
Would like very much to begin a new friendship via letters, or in person, with an HCV positive man. I am an upbeat, kind-hearted, enthusiastic female, late 40's who delights in seaside walks and derives great pleasure in nature's endless array of offerings! A good sense of humour a definite plus. BC please.
Ad No. 12
Male, artist, musician, age 48, Hep-C pos., seeking woman who is open to the
future and believes it still holds the seeds of mystery. Preference given to fringe dwellers and musicians. Working with kids has been my chosen profession. I'm great with kids, but poison to the parental ego.