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Health staff from First Nations communities in the Cariboo Chilcotin have completed a basic training course to help educate community members about hepatitis C.
Last Friday the staff, elders, doctors and presenters gathered for a workshop about the course at the Ramada Inn Convention Centre.
“They’ve gone through the course to raise the general awareness level of Hep C knowledge,” said Dr. Alexandra King who travels to Williams Lake regularly to see hepatitis C patients at a hepatitis C clinic she set up in April 2015 in co-operation with Dr. Jolien Steyl at the Atwood Clinic.
“They are hopefully going to start increasing the testing, awareness and prevention,” King said, noting that combination will hopefully mean less hepatitis C cases.
And for people who have hepatitis C, they will have a better chance of being diagnosed, referred and treated, King added.
“There are a few other communities in Canada that are doing the training, but Williams Lake is at the forefront,” King said. “It’s really quite innovative.”