Bright Futures Begin Lead-Free

Posted on by in WCAAP News

Renee Bailey, Washington Department of Health

Every year in the third week of October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide free resources you can use to raise awareness of childhood lead exposure in your community. This year, National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week | US EPA (NLPPW) will take place October 20-26, 2024. This year’s theme is “Bright futures begin lead-free.”

The EPA provided this year’s NLPPW toolkit on their website: National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week | US EPA. This includes basic lead exposure information and talking points, a sample social media package, flyers, web banners, and more. These materials center on three key messages:

  1. Get the Facts: Lead is still a problem in many communities. The health effects of exposure are more harmful to children less than six years of age. Learn more about the health effects of lead and who are at risk.
  2. Get Your Child Tested: A blood test is the best way to find out if a child has been exposed to lead. Federal regulations require that all children enrolled in Medicaid receive a blood lead test at 12 and 24 months, or at 24 to 72 months of age if no record of a previous test exists. Learn more about WA state’s testing recommendations.
  3. Get Your Home Tested: Educate families on how to minimize their risk of lead exposure by hiring a certified professional to test their home if it was built before 1978. Learn more about lead-based paint, prevention strategies, and other exposure sources.

The WA State Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) invites you to join us in promoting this week by involving your community and partners through campaigns, events and/or activities! Please remind your and other local health facilities conducting blood lead tests that testing and reporting go hand-in-hand—all blood lead test results must be reported to DOH. To get onboarded for reporting, contact the lead reporting team by emailing lead@doh.wa.gov.

As health care providers, the EPA encourages you to get involved in any of the following NLPPW engagement ideas:

  • Set aside at least one day during NLPPW to provide free blood lead testing for children younger than 6 years old who are at higher risk for lead exposure at clinics, health care facilities, health departments, or hospitals. · Distribute lead educational materials. See DOH’s lead education materials here, or use NLPPW’s resources.
  • Speak to an organization’s staff about the importance of blood lead testing, the health effects of lead exposure, and ways of minimizing that exposure and treating it when it has occurred.

Feel free to tag us on social media and link to our DOH CLPPP webpage in any of your campaigns!

The WA State Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program is excited to see how you engage with National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week!