Introduction: Lead poisoning among children is a serious public health concern. Lead is most damaging for young children and can be associated with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, behavior issues, nervous system damage, speech and language impairment, and kidney damage among other health issues. The prevention of childhood lead poisoning is central to the Snohomish Health District’s (SHD) mission to spearhead efforts to protect and advance the collective health of Snohomish County.
Background: From 1990-2012, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) awarded funds for local health departments to support childhood lead poisoning prevention programs. In FY14 and FY17, CDC provided three-year funding for lead poisoning prevention strategic activities. SHD has a long history of spearheading efforts to protect our community from the harmful effects of lead in the environment and has received $10,000 annually since for several years to support this work. Through the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) lead program, SHD has partnered with the Department of Health (DOH) to compile lead sampling videos. DOH formally recognized Lucy McNeely for her expertise and contributions to this project in 2018.
Requirements: Unrestricted; governmental organizations including LHJs.
Proposed Intervention and Results: Our work will build on efforts to identify children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL), prevent childhood lead poisoning, and educate families and providers. We will work with early learning providers and other community partners to support comprehensive and wrap-around services for children identified with EBLL. Although Washington State ranks 17th in the nation in number of homes built prior to 1950, certain parts of Snohomish County with older homes have an increased risk of lead exposure. Additionally, historic smelter operations, such as the Everett copper smelter that operated in north Everett, may also have contaminated the soil. Apart from paint and soil, there are other several sources of lead that the grant can be used to address through primary and secondary prevention strategies. We will use the Washington Tracking Network and other data sources to identify areas with high lead exposure risk, and the SHD Lead Program Protocol to guide screening and intervention strategies including education, testing, reporting, surveillance and linkage to services.
Innovation: SHD is uniquely positioned to offer broad reach for this project. Strong existing relationships with community partners will support a comprehensive system of screening, referral and evaluation for children exposed to lead. The Child Care Health Outreach Program (CCHOP) collaborates with infant nurse consultants, early learning quality improvement partners, child care providers, and other early learning networks to support health and safety best practices among early learning providers. CCHOP learning courses, health policy reviews, newsletters, and educational materials will be expanded to include lead screening and education for child care providers. Other community partners include the Community Health Centers of Snohomish County and the Women, Infant and Children Nutrition Program (WIC). Both offer broad reach to at-risk families, with WIC serving 11,597 infants and young children in Snohomish County last year. In partnership with DOH and WIC programs in our county, we anticipate opportunity for lead prevention activities within the existing WIC hemoglobin screening requirements. As trusted subject matter experts in our community, the environmental health and prevention services divisions of SHD will coordinate and implement strategic lead prevention activities among the early learning providers and community partners we serve.
Impact on Staffing: We plan on using the funds to cover general fund FTE expenses within MCH programs and therefore do not anticipate that there will be any additional staffing required.
Potential Donors: CDC
Contact: Gift-Noelle Wango, 425.252.5443, gwango@snohd.org
Estimated Post Date: February 01, 2021
Estimated Application Due Date: March 31, 2021
Award: $150,000-$500,000
Budget Overview: No matching requirements
Estimated Project Start Date: September 30, 2021
Anticipated Letters of Support: DOH