Speaker 2: We do have three proclamations this evening, and I'd like to call on Councilman Lopez to read proclamation number 403.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Madam President. I want to welcome this. Proclamation is a proclamation we do every year, and it's a proclamation recognizing May 2014 as Hepatitis Awareness Month. And this is proclamation number 403. So the 2014 whereas today is national hepatitis testing day, hepatitis C is recognized as the most common blood borne viral infection in the United States . And. WHEREAS, Hepatitis C has infected an estimated 85,000 Coloradans, as many as 4 million American residents, nearly two out of every 100 persons and more than 200 million people worldwide. And. Whereas, it is a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer and the number one reason for liver transplants in the United States. And. Whereas, most Americans die of hepatitis C than from HIV making hepatitis C one of the top preventable causes of death in the United States. And. Whereas, approximately 15,000 hepatitis C related deaths occur annually in the United States and is expected to triple in the next 10 to 20 years. And. WHEREAS, people born between 1945 and 1965 are five times more likely to be infected than any other adult. Nearly three in four people with hep C were born between 1945. And 1965, and many remain unaware of their status without participating in screening efforts. And. WHEREAS, the incidence of hepatitis C disproportionately affects minority communities. And. WHEREAS, 75% of infected persons do not show any signs or symptoms leading to the Hep C virus to cause poor health outcomes and be labeled as the silent epidemic. And. Whereas, new drugs were approved that significantly increase the cure rate among hep C patients seeking treatment and even more effective treatments are on the horizon. And. Whereas, risk factors can be evaluated, evaluated, hep C can be prevented. Testing can detect the Hep C virus infections and early diagnosis and treatment can save lives, money and resources. And. Whereas, Hep C connection is available as a local resource for education testing, linkage to care and support. Now therefore being proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver. Section one. The Denver City Council agrees that preventing and treating Hep C is an important public health initiative that will improve the quality of life for all Denver residents affected by the virus. Section two of the Denver City Council proclaimed proclaims the month of May as Hepatitis Awareness Month and recognizes July 28, 2014 as World Hepatitis Day . Section three that the Clerk of the city and County of Denver's our test and Fix the seal of the city and County of Denver to this proclamation and a copy be transmitted to Nancy Steinfurth, the executive director of the Hep C Connection.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Lopez, your motion to adopt.
Speaker 3: And I'm president I move that council proclamation number four of three series of 2014 be adopted.
Speaker 2: Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Comments by Council. Councilman Lopez.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Madam President. I have the honor, like I said earlier, to carry this proclamation every year. I think almost since for the last six years, I think six or seven years. The first year was traditionally Councilmember Garcia used to read this. He was not here that day. So I took it up and it was his last. So I get to revisit this really cool proclamation. And I read this proclamation because hep-C is preventable. This is something that with education, with outreach, with access to the resources, we can prevent it. This is something that is a serious viral infection. This is something that kills a lot of people every year. And I read this proclamation because it killed my grandfather. My grandfather was a World War Two vet, served in Germany. Born and raised in Colorado. And called Denver home every year after his after that, when he came back from the service, he was injured as the jeep that they were in when over a landmine, killed his buddies and injured him. He came to the hospital, needed a transfusion, a transfusion. And because he didn't screen then, he was infected by the virus and didn't show up until later and until they figured out that he had hepatitis C and just a few years after he was diagnosed with with liver cancer. And my grandfather would be here today and my grandfather was like my father, he was the guy and man showed me how to be a man. He was a very honorable person. He grew up in Barton, lived in Barnum. And if it were not for if it weren't for this disease, he'd be here. He'd get to see his great granddaughter and get a you know, perhaps maybe it stopped in at my campaign celebration when I was elected or when I walked across the stage at the University of Colorado to get my diploma. Folks who were infected with Hep C and folks who are at risk need to have access to the resources, need to have access to education. We need to spread the word because like my grandfather, there are other people's grandfathers and other people's dads and mothers and daughters and brothers and sisters. This is this does not discriminate. If we do not be careful, we don't pass the word around, it's going to be somebody else's grandfather or father or mother that's not going to be in the crowd when you get your diploma. Right. So it is is a. Very seriously. I'm very happy to have sponsored this proclamation every year so that we can raise awareness about it. The Hep C connection has done a great job of getting the word out and more people to the clinic and more people to get tested. It's best to know your status is absolutely preventable. And so, Madam President, with no doubt belaboring the the point in the moment, I just wanted to thank folks for this proclamation and urge my colleagues to support it.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Lopez. Councilman Leavitt.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Madam President. Councilman Lopez, I want to thank you for sponsoring this proclamation not just once, but every year, because after about the fifth or sixth year of you sponsoring this proclamation, I thought to myself, well, I was born between 1945 and 1965, and I've spent a bunch of time overseas, and I wonder if I've ever been screened for hepatitis C. So I went to my doctor and I said, if I have been screened for hepatitis C and my doctor said, no. I said, Can I see? Yeah. It's just part of ordinary blood work. Got screened for hepatitis C and I don't have it. But nonetheless, I could have had it and I was in the risk group and so I don't have it. I'm happier for it. And if I did have it, I wouldn't have shown any symptoms. But it could have been a big problem down the road. So thank you for doing this. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Leavitt. And I just want to mention that the news about the cure for this is very exciting and glad to hear that and all the progress that they're making on this disease. I see no other comments. So, Madam Secretary, roll call Lopez.
Speaker 4: Hi, Montero. I never.
Speaker 1: I Ortega. I Rob. Shepherd. Brooks. High fat.
Speaker 4: Hi, Herndon. I can eat.
Speaker 1: I lemon. Hi, Madam President. Hi.
Speaker 2: Councilwoman. Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. Close a voting not so. Results 12 eyes. 12 eyes. The proclamation is adopted. Is there somebody you'd like to come up to? The bring up to the podium?
Speaker 3: Yes, Madam President, I'd like to invite Nancy Steinfort, the executive director of the AFC Connection to the podium and whoever else I should introduce the folks who are here from the AFC connection as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. I am honored to once again speak to City Council about the importance of hepatitis C testing, especially among baby boomers. I'm also grateful to Councilman Lopez for being our champion and to the council members who co-sponsored today's bill, voted for it, and then were also able to include information in their e-newsletter about testing day. We tested approximately 40 people at the web building. In addition to that, I had conversations with at least five people. Two of homes. Husband had just finished treatment within the last couple of months and successfully cleared it. Someone else who had done treatment prior last year or so cleared it. And two other folks that are waiting for that opportunity and so still living with that virus. I'm hoping that our other ten testing partners have the same great results that we did. That would be 400 people. I'd be I'd be really happy. Last year was our highest number of testing years. We tested 592 people. As you might imagine, baby boomers are kind of, I don't know, stubborn and don't feel that this necessarily applies to them. So when you're trying to twist arms, it does get a little challenging. This group you most like most likely have heard that the latest treatment for HCV has a really hefty price tag. Even so, the cure rate is 90% and those results are amazing. We know that new treatments are going to be approved. Well, all right. I don't have a crystal ball with the FDA, but we think that they're going to be approved in November of this year and those results are going to be even better. We also hope that the price will come down a bit so that they can give some competition, too, to the current drug maker. As baby boomers age, it will become more difficult to treat them because of the to the of the damage to their liver over decades of undiagnosed disease. That's why there's urgency and more and more initiatives. In fact, Governor Hickenlooper signed legislation today that strongly encourages medical providers to test boomers for the virus. Thank you very much for working with us to increase awareness about hepatitis C through this resolution and for facilitating our testing in the web building. And now I'd like to ask Dr. Sarah Rowan to update us on her testing results at the Eastside Clinic.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Madam Chair. So I'm a physician at Denver Health. I work at the Eastside Clinic and Five Points Eastside is predominantly lower income and higher percentage African-American than the majority of Denver. We're funded through the CDC to do hepatitis C testing and linkage to care at Eastside. And we focus on the baby boomer cohort. We had a successful first year of our grant activities, so we expanded our grant activities to Parkhill Clinic, which has a similar demographic. In a year and a half, we tested over 2000 baby boomers. That's people born between 1945 and 1965 for hepatitis C, and 8% of the people that we tested had newly diagnosed chronic hepatitis C. It's a much higher percentage than almost anything else that we screened for in primary care except for possibly diabetes. Of those we screened, 171 people were newly diagnosed with chronic hep C. Most none of them knew that they had Hep C, 159 people had a post-test counseling session, and that's important for alcohol cessation counseling, for review of other vaccines to see if people need hepatitis A and B, vaccines and other healthy living tips for living with hepatitis C, we also refer people.
Speaker 1: To their primary care.
Speaker 4: Provider to get an evaluation for a.
Speaker 1: Cold liver disease.
Speaker 4: And after that, the primary care provider can refer them to a Hep C treatment specialist. So none of this is possible if you don't know that you have hep C treatments been limited because Hep C treatment's very expensive right now. But as Nancy said, it's really promising. So we're very excited about the future for Hep C treatment. I think that concludes my responses or my remarks. I would also mention that of the 171 people at East Side in Park Hill Clinic who are newly diagnosed, it was a majority African-American, majority low income. So this is a disease that disproportionately affects certain subgroups within Denver and I think gives us even more reason to focus on it. So thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. And thank you, Councilman Lopez, for that proclamation. We have a second proclamation this evening, and I would like to call upon Councilwoman Lehman to read proclamation number 424.
A proclamation recognizing May 2014 as “Hepatitis Awareness Month”. A proclamation recognizing May 2014 as “Hepatitis Awareness Month”.