RURAL REPORT Rural education and community development have continued with seminars, group, and individual training sessions in Port Lincoln, Coober Pedy, Oodnadatta, Whyalla, Port Augusta, and Cadell Training Centre. The client base has been broad including nurses, environmental officers, doctors, social workers and students, youth workers, drug and alcohol workers, prisoners, and prison workers, as well as indigenous and general community members. Major Brian Watters, chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs, was present on the Coober Pedy trip and was very interested to learn more about hepatitis C. Further sessions are currently booked for Roxby Downs, Coober Pedy, Port Augusta, and Port Lincoln. The rural education officer, William Donohue, can be contacted on (08) 8362 8443 for health professionals, or 1800 02 11 33 for people affected by hepatitis C, to arrange sessions.
SOUTH AUSSIES SHINE IN BRISBANE Hepatitis C Educators Workshop – Brisbane June 2000 The 2nd National Hepatitis C Educators Conference was held in Brisbane this year and four workers from HCCSA attended. The conference featured key notes speakers such as Greg Dore giving an update on current treatments, Annie Madden on drug law reform issues and Cindy Shannon from the University of QLD spoke about indigenous communities affected by hepatitis C. Iain Henderson from COPE and myself presented our own workshop on the Positive Speakers Forum. Currently no other Hepatitis C Councils in Australia are utilising people living with hep C as educators. The Hepatitis C Council of NSW, since attending our workshop, is interested in setting up their own positive speakers’ forum. The Council produced a video called ‘People Like Us’ which featured speakers from the forum telling their stories about the power of talking to the community about living with hepatitis C and how it helps to breakdown stereotypes and discrimination experienced by people affected by hepatitis C. Another brilliant workshop presented in Brisbane was by Alan Yale, the Hepatitis C Prevention Officer from DASC. Alan presented his Safe Injecting Game which was very well received and I have to say the most beneficial workshop I attended whilst I was there. A highlight of the conference was the launching of the 1st National Strategy on Hepatitis C. Other highlights were the weather (stunning), the food and the people. Personally, I had a great time and this conference was definitely an improvement on the last one. There was a greater sense of people working together from all the various groups which included the Haemophilia Foundation, user groups, government and Hepatitis C Councils. Vanessa Behne Education Officer
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Hep C Community News
Issue 13
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