{"id":2219,"date":"2023-08-01T18:21:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T18:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bccdcfound.wpengine.com\/?post_type=our-projects&p=2219"},"modified":"2024-06-26T21:25:49","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T21:25:49","slug":"test-link-call","status":"publish","type":"our-projects","link":"https:\/\/pacificpublichealth.ca\/projects\/test-link-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Test, Link, Call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Test, Link, Call<\/h1>

A simple premise with a powerful purpose<\/strong><\/h3>

In 2021, Pacific Public Health Foundation invested in a unique idea \u2014 Test, Link, Call, an innovative proof of concept project led by Dr Sofia Bartlett, the Interim Scientific Director Clinical Prevention Services at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

Dr Bartlett had an idea about how to better support access to care and treatment for people with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who experience criminalization in BC, after speaking with healthcare providers working in BC Provincial Correctional Centres who told her how difficult it was for people living with HCV to connect to treatment after they are released. Many of these people experience inequities in accessing care due to systemic and structural barriers and social determinants of health, such as poverty, gender, and Indigeneity.

“HCV is 20x more prevalent among people who are incarcerated than in the overall population in BC. However, only 41% of people who tested HCV RNA positive received curative treatment while in custody in 2021.\u201d \u2013 Dr Sofia Bartlett. Engaging with this population is difficult, as they rarely have a cell phone or stable contact details, which means that a phone is a key tool, and a huge barrier, to accessing healthcare services. Dr Bartlett thought, \u201cWhat if we gave everyone leaving custody who is living with hepatitis C a cell phone and pay their phone bill for six months?\u201d

Initially the healthcare providers she proposed this to were skeptical, but Dr Bartlett consulted Peer Navigators who were enormously enthusiastic about the idea. From there, Test, Link, Call was born with a primary objective of improving HCV treatment uptake among this population, and to help with successful community re-integration. The premise of the original pilot was very simple \u2014 provide cell phones and peer support to people living with HCV as they are leaving BC Provincial Correctional Centres.

Test, Link, Call\u2019s immediate success demonstrated an 81% treatment uptake<\/strong>. Continue reading about this life-saving program’s success to date, and how you can help, below.
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