MORE ABOUT HEALTHY HOMES:
• The Evolution of Healthy Homes
• Recent Findings on the Effects of Lead Exposure
Healthy Homes for All is an environmental health education and safe, affordable housing advocacy program based in Chatham County, NC. NCRCAP outreach workers target and address health and safety issues within the home such as safe drinking water, childhood lead poisoning prevention, wastewater disposal, household hazardous chemicals, pesticides, and the identification of indoor allergens and asthma triggers. Healthy Homes for All’s comprehensive educational curriculum is tailored to address the primary concerns and issues facing each individual family. NCRCAP coordinates testing to detect lead in paint, dust, and soil as well as testing for bacterial contamination in drinking water from private wells.
The need to extend such an outreach program to the rural Latino community in North Carolina was demonstrated through a survey of farmworkers and other rural Latino residents conducted by NCRCAP during the summer of 2002. The survey data pointed to the need to get basic public health and environmental protection information, particularly regarding drinking water quality and septic system maintenance, to native Spanish speaking residents in rural North Carolina.
Since the program’s inception in 2002, the Healthy Homes for All program has grown to include two full-time bilingual staff members, four part-time lay health advisors, an intern from the UNC – Chapel Hill School of Nursing, and many strong partnerships with organizations like the Chatham County Health Department, the Chatham Council on Aging, Partnership for Children, NC Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, the Hispanic Liaison, and others. Over the past few years, NCRCAP has leveraged over $200,000 in funding to support outreach and education around environmental health issues in Chatham County.
Promotoras de Salud - A Lay Health Advisor Program
In October 2008, with support from the Environmental Protection Agency, NCRCAP began an exciting new initiative as part of our Healthy Homes Program. NCRCAP trained four community members to be lay health advisors, or Promotoras de Salud.
Learn more about the evolution of NCRCAP’s Healthy Homes for All program....
What is a lay health advisor?
A
lay health advisor, or Promotora de Salud, is a trusted member of a community
who serves as a ‘natural helper’ – she
is a leader in her community who is often called on for advice and frequently
connects her peers to resources. Lay health advisors receive training
on a specific health issue and in turn share this information with friends,
family, and neighbors through their social networks.
Lay health advisor programs have been proven to be effective in conveying critical health information to underserved communities. Each Promotora working with NCRCAP is paid an hourly wage to make in-home outreach visits to educate Latino families about childhood lead poisoning prevention and integrated pest management. NCRCAP’s Promotoras connect families to Healthy Homes for All program staff to conduct testing for lead hazards in the home and drinking water contamination.
From 2003 to 2008, Healthy Homes for All outreach workers visited the
homes of 101 Chatham County families with children under the age of six.
The addition of the lay health advisors has dramatically increased the
scope and efficacy of the Healthy Homes for All program. In 2009 alone,
NCRCAP lay health advisors visited the homes of 170 families with young
children in Chatham County. They reached over 1,000 individuals
through home visits and outreach at health fairs, fiestas, and small
group presentations.
Does lead poisoning still exist?
FACTS
- Half of all housing units in Chatham County were constructed before the 1978 national ban on lead paint.
- Only 40.1% of one and two year old children living in Chatham County were tested for elevated blood lead levels in 2008.
- The incidence of lead poisoning in Chatham County is double the statewide average.
Lead poisoning is an entirely preventable environmental health threat that has been linked to developmental delays, behavioral issues, diminished intelligence, problems with speech and hearing, and at very high levels, organ damage, coma and death.
How are children exposed to lead?
Though lead is present in toys, candies, pottery, and vinyl mini-blinds, most children are still exposed to lead through paint, dust, and soil. Deteriorated paint in older homes produces an invisible dust that children inhale and ingest. Peeling exterior paint contaminates bare soil in yards, gardens, and outdoor play areas.
Children under the age of six are especially vulnerable to environmental health threats because their bodies are in the early stages of development, and they take in proportionately higher amounts of environmental toxins than adults. Due to rapid growth and high metabolism, children breathe more air and consume more food and water, pound for pound, than adults. Children also spend more time on the floor and ground, and are more likely to come into contact with toxins in these areas.
What are the effects of lead on the brain?
The news about lead and the brain is not good. Scientific research indicates that even small amounts of lead in the body can lower intelligence, promote anti-social behavior, contribute to attention-deficits, and cause progressive mental decline.
All in all, the more you know about the effect of lead on the brain, the more you can recognize its potentially harmful impact. Learn more about the negative impacts of lead on the brain here at the Franklin Institute website.
How many children are affected by lead poisoning?
In Chatham County, only 40.1% of children aged 1 and 2 were screened for an elevated blood level in 2008. Of those children, 1.3% had an elevated blood lead level of 10 μg/dL or more – that’s twice the North Carolina statewide average. Yet we know that harmful effects of lead can begin at blood lead levels as low as 2 μg/dL. In 2008, 7.1% of all Chatham County 1 and 2 year olds had a blood lead level of 5 to 9 μg/dL – that’s 1 in 14 Chatham County kids!
Do you know if your child has been screened for an elevated blood lead level?
- Check out your physician’s report card for blood lead testing (PDF).
- Look at the Blood Lead Surveillance Data for Chatham County (PDF).
What can be done to prevent exposure to lead?
It is important to determine the construction year of the house or the dwelling where your child may spend a large amount of time (e.g., grandparents or daycare). In housing built before 1978, assume that the paint has lead unless tests show otherwise.
- Talk to NCRCAP about testing paint and dust from your home for lead.
- Make sure your child does not have access to peeling paint or chewable surfaces painted with lead-based paint.
- Pregnant women and children should not be present in housing built before 1978 that is undergoing renovation. They should not participate in activities that disturb old paint or in cleaning up paint debris after work is completed.
- Create barriers between living/play areas and lead sources. Until environmental clean-up is completed, parents should clean and isolate all sources of lead. They should close and lock doors to keep children away from chipping or peeling paint on walls. You can also apply temporary barriers such as contact paper or duct tape, to cover holes in walls or to block children’s access to other sources of lead.
- Regularly wash children’s hands and toys. Hands and toys can become contaminated from household dust or exterior soil. Both are known lead sources.
- Regularly wet-mop floors and wet-wipe window components. Because household dust is a major source of lead, parents should wet-mop floors and wet-wipe horizontal surfaces every 2-3 weeks. Windowsills and wells can contain high levels of leaded dust. They should be kept clean. If feasible, windows should be shut to prevent abrasion of painted surfaces or opened from the top sash.
- Prevent children from playing in bare soil; if possible, provide them with sandboxes. Parents should plant grass on areas of bare soil or cover the soil with grass seed, mulch, or wood chips, if possible. Until the bare soil is covered, parents should move play areas away from bare soil and away from the sides of the house. If using a sandbox, parents should also cover the box when not in use to prevent cats from using it as a litter box. That will help protect children from exposure to animal waste.
To further reduce a child’s exposure from non-residential paint sources:
- Avoid using traditional home remedies and cosmetics that may contain lead;
- Avoid eating candies imported from Mexico;
- Avoid using containers, cookware, or tableware to store or cook foods or liquids that are not shown to be lead free;
- Remove recalled toys and toy jewelry immediately from children. Check Lead Recalls lists.
- Use only cold water from the tap for drinking, cooking, and for making baby formula (Hot water is more likely to contain higher levels of lead. Most of the lead in household water usually comes from the plumbing in your house, not from the local water supply.);
- Shower and change clothes after finishing a task that involves working with lead-based products such as stain glass work, bullet making, or using a firing range.
For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Lead pages