The April 11 scheduled launch of a program to test children in Richmond County for exposure to lead had to be postponed.
The City of Augusta and Richmond County Health Department teamed up to provide the lead testing for children. The partners had planned to launch the program at May Park on April 11, but the LeadCare II device needed to conduct the blood screening had not been received.
The blood test is recommended for people living in a house built prior to 1978 or with a person who works in a facility where they are exposed to lead.
“We definitely want to get children who are under the age of six tested, because those are where lead can do things to the brain, do things to their central nervous system, and just cause a lot of behavioral problems and things that we see every day, but don’t realize where it may be coming from,” said Christina Newby, manager of the Lead Hazard Reduction Program with the department of health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children are exposed to lead by touching, swallowing or breathing in lead or lead dust.
Adverse effects from even low levels of lead in a child’s blood can include slow growth and development, and problems with hearing, speech and learning. That can lead to underperformance in school and a lower IQ.
A high level of lead in a child can cause convulsions, seizures and even death.
The local program is part of the Georgia Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention statewide effort.
Newby said they will post on their social media platforms when the LeadCare II device arrives. Screening events will be re-scheduled, however, concerned parents don’t have to wait for a screening event to have their child tested.
“They can come to the Richmond County Health Department to get tested,” Newby said. “We have a lot of things for free that can be done in the home to get this lead out. Plus, we just want people to be more knowledgeable of what it is. Lead is something that a lot of people may not know of, or they think of what happened in Flint and they think, ‘oh, it’s just the water’ and it’s not just the water. It is literally in our walls if you live in a pre-1978 home.”
The Richmond County Health Department is located at 950 Laney Walker Blvd.
More information about the program is available at: https://ecphd.com/lead/
Details regarding Georgia’s Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention program is at:
https://dph.georgia.gov/environmental-health/healthy-homes-and-lead-poisoning-prevention
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
