HCV Resource Hub - Indian Country ECHO

National Strategies

Clinical Resources

Patient Education

Training & CE

Test, Treat, Cure

Hepatitis C (HCV) is the driving force behind the nation’s increasing rates of liver cancer and American Indian and Alaska Native communities are disproportionately impacted. Fortunately, treatments for HCV have never been so effective.

To assist in response efforts, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and our partners developed these resources.

If you have questions or would like to obtain free technical assistance or HCV-related training for your Indian Health Service, Tribal, or urban Indian health clinic, email us at ECHO@npaihb.org.

National Strategies

_{Back to top ▲}

The Indigenous HIV/AIDS Syndemic Strategy

Weaving Together the National HIV, STI, and Viral Hepatitis Plans One of Indigenous peoples’ strengths is our ability to understand our interdependence – with each other, the land, generations past, …

Hepatitis C Elimination Strategy for AI/AN Communities

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the driving force behind the nation’s increasing rates of liver cancer and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) individuals are disproportionately affected by HCV. National …

Clinical Resources

_{Back to top ▲}

Policies & Procedures

Tribal Policy Kit & Advocacy Guide

Minors' Access to STI Services

Manual for Allowing Treatment of Beneficiaries

Treatment Guidelines & Tools

Recommendations for Testing, Managing, and Treating Hepatitis C

HCV Treatment Guidelines for IHS, Tribal and Urban Indian Healthcare Facilities

Toolkit for Express STI Services

STI Treatment Guidelines (2021)

AST to Platelet Ratio Index Calculator

Contact Tracing

The Toolkit for Technology-Based Partner Services

Partner Services Resources

Syringe Services

Compassion, Action, Healing: Working with Injection Drug Users in Native Communities

Getting Off Right: A Safety Manual for Injection Drug Users

Guide to Developing and Managing Syringe Programs

North American Syringe Exchange Network

Stories

United Indian Health Services: A Leader in HCV Elimination

When Dr. Katie Cassel, a family practice physician at United Indian Health Services (UIHS), learned that new medications for hepatitis C were allowing treatment to be both more effective and …

Rosebud Hospital

When Dr. Hannah Wenger first began seeing patients at Rosebud Hospital in 2018, hepatitis C (HCV) prevention and treatment services were nonexistent at the hospital, which served the Rosebud Sioux …

Crow Service Unit Pharmacists Building Community

“When I think about my time at Crow, I think about the hepatitis C treatment program. It was one of the most rewarding things I have done personally and professionally,” …

ANTHC Takes the Lead

When it comes to caring for patients with infectious diseases, Leah Besh has a unique perspective. Leah, who is a Physician Assistant at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), …

Building a Liver Disease Program from the Ground Up

“They should just do it!” exclaimed Lisa Townshend-Bulson, when asked what she would say to others considering starting their own ECHO program. This “can do” attitude propelled Lisa, a nurse …

Spirit Lake Medical Center

In 2019, Dr. Necito Montaniel, the Spirit Lake Health Center’s Medical Director, participated in a hepatitis C (HCV) elimination training offered by Indian Country ECHO. Inspired, he returned to Fort …

Patient Education

_{Back to top ▲}

Handouts for Providers

Printable materials to educate providers on the treatment of HCV.

Handouts for Patients

Printable materials to education patients on HCV screening and treatment.

Native Health Resources

Native Health Resources is a one-stop-shop to download/order Indigenous health education materials.

Safer Sex Pocketbooks @ NHR

Handy pocketbooks on STI types, prevention, and management (including HCV) available to download or ship for free.

IHS, Tribal and Urban Indian Clinics are Curing Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C: Test, Treat, Cure

Hepatitis C is Everybody’s Responsibility

Training & CE

_{Back to top ▲}

Hepatitis C Online

National Clinical Consultation Center

Indian Country ECHO Training Center

Find upcoming and past trainings, conferences, and gatherings.

Past ECHO Presentations

Find past ECHO presentations on HCV.

	Jason Arion Butler is an enrolled member of the Ute Tribe of Fort Duchesne, Utah and is also part Mojave and Cherokee. He resides in Gibson, Idaho with his wife of 22 years, children, and grandchild who are all enrolled members of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. He graduated from Idaho State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and earned his Master of Science in Family and Human Development from Arizona State University. He has spent the past 5+ years employed by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Tribal Health and Human Services Department, where he spent time serving as the Recovery Service Coordinator for the Four Directions Treatment Center, the manager for the Community Health Representative program, and recently accepted the position of Behavioral Health Manager. He strives to incorporate Native culture, traditions, morals, and values into the healthcare services provided to Native communities, implementing these practices into his work with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and advocating for the reconstruction of healthcare practices nationally. Today he says, “I am loving life and am extremely thankful to have found a career path I love.

	Carrie Sampson-Samuels is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation located in Eastern Oregon. Carrie has an early background in nursing providing patient care in long term and clinical care settings. Carrie then furthered her education in community health and health studies at Portland State University, later advancing her education in healthcare management at Oregon Health and Sciences University while serving in leadership and executive management for a Tribal health organization as the Community Health Director. Carrie has served Tribes from Oregon to Montana and the Treaty 7 Blackfoot Confederacy in Southern Alberta. As the Community Health Aide Project Director for the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, Carrie has provided leadership, advocacy and project management for expansion for the Behavioral Health Aide and Community Health Aide Program under the umbrella and direction of the Tribal Community Health Provider Project. This work has led to the expansion of Tribal Community Health Providers in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Carrie is responsible for leading partnerships with the education institutions, key Tribal partner sites, contract experts and advisory workgroups. This includes development of education infrastructure, education curriculum, recruitment strategies, tools for integration of providers into tribal health organizations, and working with state partners to develop policy and infrastructure for provider reimbursement. Carrie manages and writes multiple grants that support all aspects of this work and provides technical assistance support to the Portland Area CHAP Certification Board. Carrie is the proud mother of 4 daughters and resides on a small ranch on her Tribal homelands.

	Dr. Liu is a generalist OB/GYN at Gallup Indian Medical Center. In addition to her medical degree, she holds a PhD in Health Policy. Among other publications, she served as the chief editor for the 2019 Oxford University Press book: “50 Studies Every Obstetrician and Gynecologist Should Know.” She has formal training in Quality Improvement processes through the Partners Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program (CPIP), which she utilized to implement emergency contraception at Massachusetts General Hospital. During her six years at Gallup Indian Medical Center she has primary responsibility for preparing and reporting of metrics related to the delivery of obstetric care, and serves on the Continuing Medical Education committee.

	Dr. Hoover is from Chicago, where he grew up and went to medical school, at Rush University, on Chicago’s diverse West Side. He was trained in Urology at Boston Medical Center in Boston’s beautiful South End neighborhood. Dr. Hoover went on to pursue fellowship training in voiding dysfunction and laser prostate surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Hoover is a Board-Certified Urologist, by the American Board of Urology, having achieved this honor in 2018. Dr. Hoover has several peer-reviewed publications, including research studies and medical illustrations. His family is happy to call Gallup home since the end of 2017. In their free time they like to explore New Mexico’s wilderness and go camping. Now that their two girls are growing up, it’s also imperative that we catch Pokemon wherever we go.Dr. Hoover is the only Urologist in McKinley County, New Mexico, and in any of the surrounding counties– it’s just him between Albuquerque and Flagstaff. He’s happy to continue seeing established patients, and is accepting new patients from the entire region. Dr. Hoover believes in communication, candor, and compassion as essential tenets of patient care. Dr. Hoover is an expert in general Urology, male and female voiding dysfunction, kidney stones and kidney stone surgery, BPH and laser prostate surgery, erectile dysfunction, vasectomy, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, testicular cancer. Many of the procedures he do as a Urologist are done in the office including: cystoscopy, vasectomy, urodynamics, treatment foroveractive bladder, and many others. Please call/text or email and let him and his staff know how they can help you.

	Eric Wortmann, MD is the former Director of Emergency Medicine at Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility. Besides patient care, Eric has a deep passion for mentoring aspiring physicians and health care providers. He was the Education Director of Emergency Medicine at Chinle as well as Adjunct Faculty for the US Army teaching Special Forces Medics. He has been a visiting professor of Emergency Medicine in Haiti and has worked in the Dominican Republic since 1989. Eric has a long-time passion as a mid and long-distance running coach. He has lived on Kauai for 30 years. Currently he divides his time between Northern Italy and Hawaii. Recently he was accepted into Doctors without Borders USA and is awaiting his first assignment.

	Corey Detlefs, MD, FACS, is the Trauma Outreach Director and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix