CLAREMONT — TLC Family Resource Center on Pleasant Street is scheduled to host free rapid testing for hepatitis C and HIV later this month.
This is the first public event of its kind that the Claremont resource center will host, said Dan Wargo, TLC’s recovery program manager.
At a similar December event, open only to the recovery center’s participants, 19 people were tested, resulting in four people beginning treatment for hepatitis C, Wargo said. Now the recovery center hopes to improve upon that success by giving the public access to testing and treatment.
Hepatitis C is a liver infection that is commonly transmitted through sharing needles or other equipment used to prepare and use drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If untreated, hepatitis C can become chronic and lead to life- threatening cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Treatment with antivirals can cure most people with hepatitis C in 12 weeks.
Medication with antiretroviral drugs can make HIV, which also can be transmitted by sharing drug paraphernalia, a manageable chronic condition.
The “only way you know is to get tested,” Laura Byrne, executive director of the Lebanon-based HIV/HCV Resource Center, said.
The HIV/HCV Resource Center is not directly involved with the Claremont event, but some of the people involved work with the organization, Byrne said. The goal is to “find innovative ways of connecting people with care,” she said.
Her organization, which is focused on harm reduction, aims to begin offering such testing through its mobile van when the weather warms. It also has offered testing at other sites such as Habit OPCO, a treatment center in West Lebanon.
Wargo said he hopes the Claremont event, which also will offer free food and gift cards, will “free two birds with one key.”
In addition to helping people tested and into treatment for hepatitis C and HIV by having a doctor on hand, Wargo said he’s hopeful that the event may also help people access recovery services. Recovery coaches also will be available to help people with paperwork and meet people as they come in.
“People are still overdosing at alarming rates,” Wargo said. In March through November of last year, “It seemed like every week we’re hearing about people in our community overdosing and dying.”
Vermont set a record high for the number of drug overdose deaths, with 181 such deaths from January through November of 2021, according to the Vermont Department of Health.
If all of the deaths pending toxicology in New Hampshire are confirmed to be drug overdose deaths, 416 people will have died of overdoses last year, which is roughly on par with drug overdose deaths in 2020, according to the New Hampshire Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
In response to the ongoing epidemic, TLC has been offering the overdose reversal drug naloxone to people who might be at risk of overdosing or who might be around others who are, Wargo said.
In addition, the organization is trying to reach out to the community so that more people know that they are there to offer recovery support.
Last year, the organization got 19 people into addiction treatment and so far this year, has helped seven people enter treatment, Wargo said. They aim to get people in within 24 hours, he said.
The free rapid testing event is “another way for us to get out in the community,” he said.
The event will take place on Feb. 23 from 4-6 p.m. at TLC Family Resource Center, 62 Pleasant St. in Claremont. No appointment is required for the free 20-minute rapid tests. More information and recovery support is available by calling 603-287-7127.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
