MCAVHN SEEKING HELP DURING COVID
For the first time in 34 years, the Event of the Heart— MCAVNH Care & Prevention Network’s lifeblood—will not take place in February of 2021.
“This is usually the time when we’re connecting with a lot of people, collecting auction items and donations, getting ready for the dinner dance where we raise $50,000 to $60,000, money that pays for our operating expenses for the year,” says Executive Director Libby Guthrie.
MCAVHN is one of the behavior health providers in the county serving the homeless, those with Hepatitis C, individuals with severe and persistent mental health illness, particularly those who have co- occurring disorders of mental illness and chronic and persistent substance disorders all within an integrated model of care and wellness-focused services.
Over the years the agency has treated hundreds of Hep C cases and according to Guthrie the county is rife with the disease.
Funding for outreach services that dried up 12 years has now been restored from two grants received a year and a half ago allowing the agency to offer onsite testing, support and treatment for the viral infection, spread by contaminated blood such as needle sharing, that attacks the liver and can lead to cancer.
After being tested, clients are sent to Ace Barash, volunteer treatment physician, for confirmation and are prescribed a once-a-day oral pill—99 per cent effective on all genotypes—for 8-12 weeks.
“It’s considerably more doable than it was 5 years ago,” says Guthrie. “We want people to understand it’s very treatable; let’s get rid of the virus so people don’t end up with liver cancer.”
Grace Peeler, Operations Manager/ Behavioral Health Case Manager, explains that the agency uniquely offers treatment to people who are still using drugs—those who might be living under a bridge or at a campsite when it is 35 degrees outside or with COPD or with Hep C.
They also work with the incarcerated.
“Our outreach team meets people where they are at, to make it easier to get their bloodwork done, to get their meds. We try to make it easy on our cli
ents; it’s hard when you are living on the street,” she says.
“We want those people to have help and comfort,” says Guthrie.
With their recent funding, their outreach team presently has the capacity to go county
wide, partnering with Native Americans and serving tribal members on the reservations.
“As soon as we got funding for this program, COVID hit,” says Guthrie. “Navigating all of this with COVID has been extremely difficult.”
Their syringe exchange program, ongoing for over 20 years, had previously not had enough money to serve those who came through the door requiring the agency to spend its own funds on syringes in order to meet the