West Virginia Academic Mentoring Partnership
WV AMP is a free telementoring partnership designed for primary and addiction care providers to link with disease experts for training. WV AMP is designed to build a mentorship platform that is accessible to primary and addiction care providers caring for high-risk individuals throughout West Virginia, so that individuals with diseases can be cared for and cured in their own community.
These numbers demonstrate that with guidance and support, PCPs who have never previously treated HCV can achieve the same rate of cure as a specialist (95-99%).
Wetzel County
Tyler County
Monongalia County
Berkeley County
Jefferson County
Taylor County
Harrison County
Ritchie County
Wood County
These numbers demonstrate that with guidance and support, PCPs who have never previously treated HCV can achieve the same rate of cure as a specialist (95-99%).
"I am a family nurse practitioner in a mental health clinic. I treat the medical needs of patients that have psychiatric and substance use disorders. My clinic has patients from Fayette, Mercer, Raleigh and Summers Counties. I have been in the medical field for forty-four years, starting at the hospital as a ward clerk and eventually as a RN and then a NP. I have worked with patients who have chronic medical conditions and substance use disorders for years. I have seen how SUD affects my patients and leaves them without any support, emotionally and financially. Many of my patients are homeless, so treating them is challenging because they leave the area and then return wanting treatment again.
Working with the West Virginia Hepatitis Academic Mentoring Partnership has been wonderful. They are so helpful, and knowledgeable which has allowed me to educate my patients about hepatitis. I have had sixteen submitted consultations with three cures so far. This program has been beneficial for the patients in my area because of the limited number of providers in the area treating hepatitis.
I have encouraged other colleagues to work with the WVHAMP program because the need is so great in our area."
The valuable training and mentorship that the medical professionals of the West Virginia Hepatitis Academic Mentoring Partnership has provided me, has allowed me to now further my work in addiction medicine by helping patients to regain an aspect of their health that they have long given up on. With the valuable guidance that WVHAMP has provided, I have been able to cure eleven patients who have reached SVR 12, and I have had two who were HCV not detected at end-of-treatment who were lost to follow-up. I also currently have six other patients who have reached presumed cure at end-of-treatment and are awaiting SVR 12 labs, twenty patients are preparing for treatment, and two have been referred to a higher level of care for their specialized liver needs.
Telling someone they have a chronic illness is a horrible feeling, but being able to tell someone they are cured is one of the best feelings in the world.
In addition to our hepatitis trainings, we are now offering PCPs the knowledge and guidance to diagnose and treat HIV as well.