Support group helps Hep C patients

When Gregori Romanski was diagnosed with Hepatitis C a year and a half ago, he did not know where to turn for support. But thanks to the group he founded, hopefully no one else will have to go through what he did.

“I was going through a hard time and called 3-1-1 for help,” recalled Romanski, a native of Russia who lives in Coney Island. “With the help of the Health Department, they guided me to a support group in Manhattan.”

After about eight months of treatment, the Health Department approached Romanski about starting his own group. “They said, ‘We don’t have anyone in the Russian-speaking community.’ I was impressed,” he said. “I was going through a hard time and kept hitting road blocks. I took steps into seeing if I would be able to help someone who is having a hard time and doesn’t know where to go.”

That’s how Liver Care began. A year later, it is a successful non-profit with about 28 members who meet monthly at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Kings Highway branch. Each month, doctors who speak both Russian and English come in to speak with patients.

Romanski talked about one man who had thoughts of suicide before he started attending meetings while in the middle of treatment.  “He said if it wasn’t for this group, he may have possibly ended up dead,” he said.

“There was another unique situation. One girl coming to the group had a brother in the Ukraine [with Hepatitis C] in the cirrhosis stage. When he came to the country, he attended the group. We referred him to Mount Sinai Hospital,” Romanski explained. “He went there on a guest visa and they took him. Now he is being treated.”

Romanski said that he is proud of his work. He said that being recognized by community leaders “put us on the map” and that he aims to spread awareness of Hepatitis C throughout the Russian community.

“Lots of people come in from the former Soviet Union and they don’t have a clue that they have had the virus two-plus years,” he explained, adding that a specific blood test must be done to detect the ailment. “Most people going to the doctor will run regular blood tests which show that everything is fine. I was a healthy guy and never thought of it.”

But Romanski has hit a hurdle. Liver Care normally meets on the last Wednesday of the month for an hour and a half at the Kings Highway branch. But library staffers have told him that the space is no longer available.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” Romanski said, adding that he booked a “top notch” doctor for the April meeting that took months to arrange. “They are not only taking my day, everyone already knows in the community about the meetings.”

Romanski said he has already printed flyers for future events and will fight for the space.

“I am doing this out of the bottom of my heart,” he said. “I am just trying to help someone.”

For more information about Liver Care, call 718-510-2103.