Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR March 9, 2015 FeAtures 11 pill > pg. 12 Canada's Safest Employers Psychological Safety Award is looking to honour workplaces with leading mental health programs in the country. Now in its fifth year, the prestigious Canada's Safest Employers competition recognizes employers across the country with the best occupational health and safety practices. Psychological safety is a critical issue for business. Mental health problems are expected to cost employers $198 billion in lost productivity over the next 30 years, according to the Mental Health Commission of Canada. For more information, and to nominate your organization, visit www.safestemployers.com for details. Nominations close June 1, 2015. Join us for Canada's Safest Employers Awards taking place this fall in Toronto. Details to be announced on the website soon. Presented by Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace Great-West Life www.workplacestrategiesformentalhealth.com Psychological Safety Sponsor Is your organization a leader in workplace mental health? HealtH and safety Hepatitis C a serious concern for baby boomers: Experts Newer medications can help cure the disease, but cost is still a problem By Sarah Dobson m ention hepatitis c and many people make a face, uncomfort- able with talk of an infectious disease often associated with intravenous drug use and sex- ual activity. But the virus can be caught many ways, such as through poorly sterilized medi- cal equipment. And symptoms of hepatitis C can be minor or not present at all, so while a simple blood test may pro- vide answers, it's often not done because people aren't aware they are at risk. As a result, the virus can go undetected and be un- knowingly transmitted to others. e World Health Organiza- tion (WHO) estimates 130 to 150 million people globally have a chronic hepatitis C infection and 350,000 to 500,000 people die each year from related liver diseases. Many baby boomers could have the disease, according to Pernessa Seele, founder and CEO of the not-for-profit organization the Balm in Gilead in Richmond, Va. "We have to advocate that peo- ple get tested for hepatitis C, es- pecially those born between 1945 and 1965, because usually they're not paying attention to (it) and if they do have symptoms of it, they think it's something else, they don't think it's a blood transfusion they had in 1970 or they got some- thing while they were a nurse in a hospital in the 70s… the virus re- ally is able to stay in your body for a long, long time. So many people, one in three, they have the virus and they don't have a clue that they have it. "Many baby boomers got blood transfusions before the blood sup- ply became safe in the 90s; many baby boomers are Vietnam vets… it's a very prevalent virus. So bad needles you get in tattoos, barber shops, beauty parlours — this vi- rus is very prevalent in our world." Adults born between 1945 and 1975 have the highest risk of hav- ing undiagnosed hepatitis C, yet a November 2014 survey of more than 1,000 Canadians by the Ca- nadian Liver Foundation found more than 75 per cent of the re- spondents had not been tested for the deadly disease or didn't know if they had. Also at risk are immigrant populations from southern and eastern Europe, born between 1945 and 1970, who underwent mass vaccination campaigns un- der conditions that were less than sterile, said Morris Sherman, chairman of the Canadian Liver Foundation and liver special- ist at Toronto General Hospital. Faulty medical procedures can also be to blame, he said, citing as examples Japan and Egypt when people were treated for a parasitic infection. Following a similar recommen- dation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, the Canadian Liver Foundation has called for a uni- versal screening of people born between 1945 and 1975 because that age birth cohort includes the majority (80 per cent) of people with hepatitis C in Canada, said Sherman. "e vast majority of people with hepatitis C have no symp- toms at all, so the disease doesn't call attention to itself until it's very late in the day," he said. "As long as you catch hepatitis C before you get to very heavy scarring and cirrhosis, the outlook is excellent. Even those who had sort of mod- erately heavy scarring in the liver that's short of cirrhosis, if you can get rid of the virus, they'll do very, very well." And people can reach a point where they're no longer able to continue working, said Sherman. "Even with full-blown cirrhosis, there's a period of time which may be a number of years before liver failure develops and it's only really once liver failure develops that pa- tients become incapable of work." Treatment options Fortunately, newer drugs on the market can cure hepatitis C relatively easily. e only catch? ey're expensive. And not many health plans, be they private or provincial, cover the cost. But it's hoped that will change, as seen recently when Prince Edward Island announced in February it would launch a $5-million hepa- titis C management strategy that includes the drug Holkira Pak by AbbVie. The mainstay of therapy for hepatitis C has been a long-acting form of interferon injected once a week, said Sean Hosein, science and medicine editor at CATIE, a Canadian source for HIV and hepatitis C information. "e problem with interferons is they can affect the brain and "The vast majority of people with hepatitis C have no symptoms at all."

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