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Episode 7 | Harm Reduction

With guest Jess Lamb

In this episode, we talk harm reduction as it relates to people who use drugs with Jessica Lamb, a peer worker based in Kimberley, BC.  What is harm reduction? How do peers provide support in terms of harm reduction? Where can people find resources, services, and supplies–and how might that look different in the context of COVID-19? Daryl and Kerri from Pacific Hep C discuss these things, and more, with Jess.

 

Have questions about hep C prevention, or hep C in general? Reach out to a peer who gets it at Help4Hep BC. Call or text 1-888-411-7578


Learn more: bchep.org

 

Our podcast music theme music is by Scott Holmes, and our video theme music is by Bensound.

Harm Reduction Saves Lives on Instagram: @harm.reduction.saves.lives
Facebook – East Kootenay Network of People who Use Drugs (formerly CKNPUD – Cranbrook & Kimberley Network of People Who Use Drugs)

 

ANKORS in Cranbrook & Nelson

Be Safe overdose prevention app

Lifeguard overdose prevention app

 

British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU):

CATIE Webinars

BC-Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors (BCYADWS)

Get tested: Any doctor or nurse practitioner in BC can order blood tests for hep C.
This map from the BC Centre for Disease Control can help you find hep C care, or you can ask your doctor or nurse for a referral to a prescriber experienced in hep C. Don’t see a prescriber listed near you? Reach out to Help4Hep BC, we can help.

 

Kerri: Hi, everyone, my name is Kerri and I’m back again with Daryl and we’re here from the Pacific Hepatitis C Network.

 

Daryl: Hi, everyone. We’re here today with Jessica Lamb and who is a person with lived experience, and she’s agreed to come here today and talk about harm reduction. Hi, Jessica.

 

Jessica: Hi, guys. So yeah, I’m Jessica and I am a person who uses drugs with lived and living experience, and I was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2017. And I was treated and cured. And currently, I am living and working in the East Kootenays in Kimberley and Cranbrook as a peer and I am engaged with different organizations like ANKORS and the Pacific Hep C Network and the Kimberley-Cranbrook Network of People That Use Drugs.

 

Daryl: Thanks, Jessica. Can you tell us more about your hep C experience?

 

Jessica: Yep, so I was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2017. And because I was a female of childbearing age, at the time, I was treated and eventually cured. for hepatitis C, I experienced some stigma from the health care industry with my experience, I was going to treatment in 2015, and was overlooked by a doctor to be tested for hepatitis C. So thankfully, my doctor when I moved to BC, was–screened me for hepatitis C during an STD test, and that’s when I came back positive.

 

Kerri: So, um, you obviously do work in the space of harm reduction, are you able to tell us, fairly briefly I guess, what harm reduction is and how harm reduction relates to hepatitis C?

 

Jessica: So harm reduction is reducing the harms to, to activities that you’re involved in. So, you know, for people not using drugs, it can be, you know, sunscreen or seatbelts. But for people like myself, a person who with lived and lived experience as using drugs, hepatitis C harm reduction is meeting people where they’re at with compassion and without judgment and introducing different practices to reduce the harms involved in their activities. So for people using drugs, this can be using new equipment, every time you use and getting regular testing done and things like that.

 

Daryl: What has your role been as a, as a peer worker?

 

Jessica: It’s–my role as a peer workers started back in December of 2019, with with an Instagram page called harm reduction saves lives, and from there things kind of blossomed. So that space is a page to share information for people around harm reduction, so anything from infectious disease, to how to use naloxone, safe injection practices, and it’s kind of blossomed to working face to face with people in the community that are still using drugs. So working harm reduction tables, and currently, I’m working at a shelter in place for people experiencing homelessness during COVID. So a part of that role is yeah, just ensuring that people have the resources and the materials that they need to, to use safely. Peers are a big part of the puzzle piece, I feel for myself, peers are able to offer, like a different level of compassion, because it’s like I’ve been there, I know what you’re going through. And you know, you at the end of the day, you’re still a human being who deserves respect, compassion and dignity. And when we’re shown those things, you know, and valued just as a human being. It sets us up for change and whether that change is just something like, you know, going from using the same needle to using a new needle every time or if you know, that change is getting on to, you know, an OAT, whatever it is like when somebody has been there before you and can guide you and give you some information, that’s when you know and really be like, ‘I get it’. That’s when things are good. So.

 

Daryl: I think it provides an extra level of trust.

 

Jessica: Yeah

 

Daryl: Trust is really important.

 

Jessica: Yeah.

 

Daryl: Thanks, Jessica.

 

Kerri: How can people access harm reduction services and supplies, and how has that changed in the current context of COVID?

 

Jessica: In our communities of Kimberly and Cranbrook in the East Kootenays, there’s a couple ways to access harm reduction services and supplies. Our main organization in Cranbrook is ANKORS, and they’re open from 10 till 2 Monday through Friday, and you can go there and they’re the harm reduction gurus in our, in our communities. So they have safe injection equipment, safe snorting equipment, they have all the resources that you can possibly need to know about how to use drugs safer, they can get you connected with, you know, organizations in the community, and get testing done for you and a whole bunch of different things.

We also have in Kimberley, all of our pharmacies carry safe supplies, as well as Naloxone kits and a few of the, the pharmacies in Cranbrook as well. So, and we are fortunate enough in our community that we have some outreach peers that you can call at any time and they will come to you to get you safe supplies and, and those sorts of things. So I, it’s kind of changed in the context of COVID because hours are a little bit more limited, you might not you know, right now, you can’t go into the anchors office, they meet you outside, right, but they’re still you know, they’re they’re still there, their doors are open,

 

Kerri: Hopefully some of the things that you’ve mentioned, Jess, you know, persist after, you know, after COVID about the, you know, better strategies for outreach and things that people are doing, you know, in the community and really taking harm reduction and peer support to people rather than, you know, it always having to be people coming to to a specific place. So hopefully some of that outreach, and what we’ve learned from this experience will help people continue to better access things as time goes forward.

 

Daryl: Certainly, Pacific Hep C Network will continue to provide support and help wherever we can and in your communities and throughout the province. Jessica, do you have any specific recommendations for online or other resources that people can go to?

 

Jessica: Yep, so some of the with–one of the things with COVID that has happened is they have released a couple overdose prevention apps. One of them is called Be Safe and the other one that was just released last week is called Lifeguard. Both of them are great apps for people who are using that may not have a buddy to spot them, and it will, in the event of an overdose, it’ll take you straight to emergency services. There’s also the BCCSU, they have a lot of great resources on safer supply, pandemic prescribing, you know, safer drug use during COVID. And then there’s also I love Help4Hep BC. So the Pacific Hep C Network is a great organization that has resources available. And the best part is that you can talk to somebody if you have questions, you can call her text and talk to somebody about hepatitis C. So there’s tons of, you know, great webinars available through Katie right now as well. And of course, the BC Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors is a great resource they can advocate for you.

 

Kerri: So we will provide links to those things and probably more that Jess thinks of afterwards in the description of this video or podcast.

 

Daryl: Do you have any final or closing thoughts today, Jessica?

 

Jessica: Sure, my, my final or clothi [stumbles]–closing thoughts would be it, just in reiterating the importance of meeting people where they’re at, regardless of what part of the journey that they are on and treating them with respect and dignity and compassion.

You know, it was, that’s when things started changing for me, and I was able to make some steps forward in my life and I, in terms of harm reduction and hepatitis C, you know, everything new every time you use, and there are resources available in your community. And yeah, we’re here to help.

 

Kerri: Awesome

 

Daryl: Let’s not forget, get tested.

 

Jessica: Yeah, get tested, the testing is back, testing is available again, and go out and get tested. That’s the most important thing.

 

Kerri: Thank you for joining us today, Jess. And what we’ll do is we will provide the links to your Instagram page and your Facebook group for the drug users union in the description of this episode. And you can find Pacific Hep C online at PacificHepC.org and the helpline…

 

Daryl: At 1-888-411-7578 and you can text us at that number as well.

 

Kerri: Thanks again, Jess, for joining us today and we will see everyone next time.

 

Daryl: Thanks Jess.

 

Jessica: Thanks for having me.

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Hep C 101 is a project of the BC Hepatitis Network. Content is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for speaking with your healthcare provider.

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