LAKE HELEN 53A — Time to end the stigma.
The Red Rock Indian Band and Elevate NWO are hosting an HIV and HVC Testing Day at the Lake Helen Resource Centre on Tuesday, July 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Dougall Media spoke with Elevate NWO’s director of clinical services, Veronica Proper, about the need for outreach and education in more rural communities.
“We know that testing for HIV and Hep C are things that don’t necessarily get done regularly in smaller communities and suspect that there’s a high level of stigma in some of the small communities – which has been our experience. Some people are really reluctant to even go for testing because they don’t feel confident that their privacy will be ensured,” she said.
Proper said the team at Elevate NWO is dedicated to maintaining individuals’ privacy with the utmost discretion, with a multitude of strategies to achieve that.
She added ending the stigma around blood-borne infections like Hepatitis C and HIV is a large part of Elevate NWO’s work — hence why information-sharing is an important piece of the process.
“Lots of people don’t know they could be at risk for Hepatitis C or HIV. Sometimes, people can go for many years and not have symptoms. The only way to know for sure is to get tested,” she said.
“People also don’t realize that – for example, in the case of Hepatitis C, it is a curable infection. It’s not just an infection that we suppress and you have to take medication for a long time, you can actually cure it. My off the cuff thing that I always say is, ‘don’t keep Hep C around so long it becomes a pet because it’s not a good pet to have, eventually it’s going to cause problems with your liver.’”
She said some Hep C symptoms can take decades to fully manifest and compared putting off treatment of the infection to someone having a cancerous growth identified by medical professionals but choosing to put off treatment until it becomes more of a problem.
This is an especially silly approach, Proper said, considering vast medical advancements have made treatment of Hep C a fairly painless process.
“We have really good medications that don’t cause a lot of side effects and are super effective. If you had to go through Hep C treatment, it’s really the best time to do it because the medications are so good,” she said.
In terms of HIV, Proper said the stigma is even more palpable and that some of the clients she’s seen have been asked to leave their home communities simply due to their diagnosis.
Proper noted the reality is HIV does not equal a death sentence.
“You’re going to live a long, healthy life if you keep taking your medication – for most people,” she said.
“I describe it as a life-altering diagnosis but not a life-threatening diagnosis.”
Proper said Testing Day at the Lake Helen Resource Centre is just as much about respect as it is providing information.
“As a primarily non-Indigenous organization at Elevate, being invited into a First Nations community we’re trying to lead with building a relationship first and wanting to set this relationship up in a good way. We want to be generous with our resources in the interest of building a good relationship and trying to build a lasting relationship,” she said.
From $25 grocery and gas gift cards, $5 for simply getting tested, a free sub for anyone who attends and wants to learn more about Elevate NWO’s services, and trivia for a chance to win a door prize, there’s plenty of incentive for local Red Rock Indian Band members to take advantage of this opportunity and be informed.
She said Elevate NWO has found success with a similar approach when it comes to their operation in Thunder Bay.
“Many of the people we’re testing – not all – but many are part of marginalized groups in our community and they’re often very busy trying to cobble together enough resources just to survive. They don’t necessarily have the time and priority to seek medical testing for a whole variety of things. They’re just trying to get through the day and meet their basic needs.
“So, this is a way for us to try to get people more comfortable with the idea of getting testing done – also, respecting the fact that I’m asking a person to give me something from their body. It’s a very small amount of blood but this is trying to honour, again, that relationship and build in some reciprocity where we give people something for them giving us some of their time.
“If someone felt really uncomfortable and they didn’t want to have it done, no problem – you don’t necessarily have to participate but you definitely can if you want and if you choose to partake then we’re happy to provide you with an incentive to say thank you,” she said.
