GRAND RAPIDS - A full-day training for nurses and other health professionals will be held at the Prince Conference Center at Calvin College. Come learn more about what you can do to help prevent childhood lead poisoning in our community!
Beginning April 2010, all renovators, remodelers and painters working in pre-1978 housing will be required to be an EPA-certified renovator trained in lead safe work practices. This requirement will apply to all renovation projects, not just lead abatement. Effected trades include remodelers, renovators, window replacement workers, painters, electricians, plumbers, and any other trades that disturb painted surfaces during the course of their work. Landlords who make repairs themselves will also be required to have this certification.
The Rental Property Owners Association (RPOA), in collaboration with the Healthy Homes Coalition and the Coalition to End Homelessness, is holding a special seminar entitled "Protecting Your Rental Business from Lead-based Paint Liabilities" January 19 at 6:00pm. The seminar will be held at the RPOA Learning Center, 1459 Michigan Street NE in Grand Rapids.
The seminar is being held in response to the recent Federal lawsuit against two Grand Rapids landlords for non-compliance with federal housing regulations.
December 29, 2009 - The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with two landlords for failing to inform tenants that their homes may contain potentially dangerous lead. The Grand Rapids owners have agreed to pay a $6,000 fine and to render their residential housing lead safe, at an estimated cost of nearly $350,000.
The Grand Rapids Press reports that federal prosecutors are seeking a judgement against a Grand Rapids landlord for failing to disclose lead-based paint hazards, inclusing hazards in a number of properties where children with confirmed lead poisoningdid reside.
WOOD-TV 8 is also reporting on this story.
From the Muskegon Chronicle
Mandy Oliver had been baking dinner and pumpkin pies for most of Tuesday night when she started to feel tired and nauseous.
By 9 o'clock, her husband, Scott, complained of similar symptoms. They were about to excuse it away as early signs of the flu and go to bed when a carbon monoxide detector activated.
Turns out the $24.99 investment probably saved their lives. After changing the batteries in the CO detector, it continued to sound, warning of high levels of the poisonous gas in their small rental home in Whitehall.
GRAND RAPIDS - EPA-approved curriculum teaches homeowners, landlords, maintenance staff, and remodelers how to work lead-safe.
Cold Weather Brings Increased Risk of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
GRAND RAPIDS - The recent cold front brings with it the increased danger of carbon monoxide poisoning as people start up their furnaces and seek ways to stay warm. Malfunctioning furnaces are the leading cause of non-fire related carbon monoxide exposure according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control. Winter and fall are the seasons when most carbon monoxide poisonings happen.
The Healthy Homes Coalition was recently awarded $26,248 in FEMA funding to make sure families with children have working carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in their homes. This award will allow Healthy Homes to serve 400 families!
The Healthy Homes Coalition is once again commencing radon testing services for the 2009-2010 season. Test kits can be purchased at Healthy Homes for $5.00, or can be provided free of charge as part of the Healthy Homes CLEARCorps program.
The Healthy Homes Coalition is a new non-profit that is seeking to eliminate housing conditions in west Michigan that harm children's health. The Coalition is an outgrowth of the successful Get the Lead Out! campaign, and was incorporated in the summer of 2006 to sustain the effort to end childhood lead poisoning in Grand Rapids and to apply lessons learned in lead to other children's environmental health issues.
Our work has its roots in the inception of the Get the Lead Out! collaborative, which was formed in 2001 in response to local data that called out the environmental injustice of childhood lead poisoning in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2000, 559 Kent County children 0-5 years of age were identified with elevated blood lead levels. More than 90% of those children lived in the City of Grand Rapids. More than 90% were low-income (Medicaid). And the vast majority were children of color. A map similar to the one on this page showed the huge disparity. In the north end of the Baxter neighborhood, two out of every five children tested that year had elevated blood lead levels!
The Get the Lead Out! collaborative was facilitated as a pilot project of the Community Leadership Institute at Aquinas College. As the pilot phase came to an end in 2005, collaboration leaders met to plan for the future. Even though the incidence of childhood lead poisoning in Grand Rapids' neighborhoods was cut by 60%, the group decided that the work to end childhood lead poisoning needed to continue, and that we needed to take lessons learned from the successful Get the Lead Out! campaign and apply them to other children's environmental health issues.
To sustain these efforts, the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan was incorporated as a non-profit organization with the State of Michigan in August 2006, the same year that the Get the Lead Out! campaign was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with a Children's Environmental Health Excellence Award. Shortly thereafter the organization secured its tax-exempt status with the IRS.
Today, Healthy Homes focuses on childhood lead poisoning, carbon monoxide and radon. We are building a strong, solid foundation to eliminate these threats and continue to build our comprehensive approach to ensuring that children's homes are healthy and free from environmental harm.
Consider joining us and being a part of our future!
Making sure children grow up in homes that are healthy and safe is everyone’s job! The Healthy Homes Coalition is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Learn more about specific ways you can help protect children. Connect with us today!
742 Franklin St. SE // Grand Rapids, MI 49507 // 616.241.3300 p // 616.241.3327 f // info@healthyhomescoalition.org
Special thanks to the Dyer-Ives Foundation for their generous support of this website. © 2006-2010 Healthy Homes Coalition.
