Posted on February 27, 2015
Source: Tinuade Okoro
Hello! I am a physician and a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. I work at the Johns Hopkins Emergency Department(ED), helping to develop and run its new Hepatitis C (HCV) testing and linkage to care program. The ED is a site with a rapid turnover of clients and presents a significant opportunity to reach, test and link to care. It feels wonderful to be a bearer of the news of HCV’s curability and to be instrumental in connecting clients to needed care.
My work in West Africa was a daily experience in the care of HIV infected persons, and I have stood witness to the harrows of the disease, as well as the difference testing and linkage to care can make. Generation Tomorrow presented me with a priceless opportunity to put my 2 cents into the fight against HIV, and develop skills in HCV testing and care connections which I previously had little experience with.
A most insightful experience I have had was on the Vaccine is Prevention HCV testing van on the streets of Baltimore, which happened to be running at the same location and time as the needle exchange van. Watching the exchanges and the number of people who kept trooping in even in the bitter cold, asking for information was a very moving experience. It helped me appreciate the enormity of the HCV risk in the injection drug use population in Baltimore, how much harm is potentially averted by testing and needle exchanges and the need that this population has for help. Counselling individuals unearthed several social issues surrounding drug use and reminded me of the need for a holistic approach to public health, a mindset which I believe will inform my practice and health advocacy going forward.
