GRAND RAPIDS – A coalition of 24 community organizations presented a position paper to the Grand Rapids City Commission on September 27 calling for cooperation to address growing housing concerns as a result of the recent changes in the real estate market.
A new report prepared by the Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health, of which the Healthy Homes Coalition is a member, reports estimates the annual environmentally attributable costs of lead poisoning at $3.2 - $4.85 billion for Michigan residents.
Beginning April 22, all renovators, remodelers and painters working in pre-1978 housing are now required to be an EPA-certified renovator trained in lead safe work practices. This requirement applies 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 are also required to have this certification.
The Healthy Homes Coalition will be hosting their Annual Meeting 4:30pm Thursday, August 5.
Get the Lead Out! and Healthy Homes are the cover story for the MiBiz Sustainability Report for this quarter.
National and Local Experts Urge Lead Poisoning Testing For Children.
50% of children in Grand Rapids are not being tested for lead poisoning at the critical ages of 1 and 2.
GRAND RAPIDS – The Grand Rapids Get The Lead Out! campaign has been successful on many fronts. The number of homes having lead based paint abated is increasing. Yet an alarming number of children are not being tested for lead poisoning at the critical ages of 1 and 2.
“In children, lead can cause nervous system and kidney damage, learning disabilities, speech, language problems, decreased muscle and bone growth and hearing damage,” said Joan Dyer-Zykowski, Kent County Health Department Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Manager. "The majority of children lead poisoned in Grand Rapids are between one and two years old."
The City of Grand Rapids Get the Lead Out! program is offering free lead training for professionals seeking to enter the lead hazard control, abatement and assessment fields. This is an opportunity for small business owners from the affected communities to receive free training to make them eligible for lead hazard control work funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The Healthy Homes Coalition is partnering with Home Repair Services to provide a Lead Safe Painting and Home Repair workshop for do-it-yourself home owners interested in making home repairs in a lead-safe fashion.
The Detroit Free Press published an indepth article on Sunday, May 16 that looks at the link between lead and learning. The article features a look at children's blood lead levels relative to their performance on MEAP scores later in life.
The US-EPA has launched a portal on its website where homeowners can find contractors who have been trained and certified in how to safely make repairs so that children are not exposed to lead hazards. The searchable database can be accessed by clicking here.
Children living in high-risk homes should be tested at one and two years of age. Testing your child is simple, is covered by Medicaid and other insurance programs, and takes just a few minutes. A simple "capillary" test can protect your child from permanent harm.
According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, your child is "high-risk" if you can answer "yes" to even one of the following questions:
1. Does your child live in one of Michigan's 15 high-risk communities? High-risk communities include the cities of Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Muskegon Heights, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Jackson, Lansing, Dearborn, Detroit, Flint, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Pontiac, and Saginaw.
2. Is your child on Medicaid, MI-Child or WIC?
3. Are any one of the following conditions true for your child?
A. Does the child live in or often visit a house, daycare, preschool, home of a relative, etc., built before 1950?B. Does the child live in or often visit a house built before 1978 that has been remodeled within the last year?
C. Does the child have a brother, sister or playmate with lead poisoning?
D. Does the child live with an adult whose job or hobby involves lead?
E. Does the child’s family use any home remedies or cultural practices that may contain or use lead?
F. Is the child included in a special population group; e.g., foreign adoptee, refugee, immigrant, foster care child?
If you answered "yes" to any of the questions above, your child should be tested at his or her one-year and two-year well-child checkup or WIC visit. If your child is older than two years but less than six, you answered "yes" to any of the questions, and he or she has not yet been tested, please have your child tested as soon as possible.
If your family has a child under the age of six and you move into a high-risk community, or situations change such that you can answer "yes" to any of the questions in A-F above, your child should be tested again even if he or she was tested when younger.
If your child's doctor is reluctant to test your child, click here for a fact sheet from the Michigan Department of Community Health that can be shared with your child's doctor. This fact sheet describes which children should be tested.
If you have no health insurance or are looking for another option, you may have your child tested at the county public health department. The Kent County Health Department will test at-risk children from Kent County for free. For more information, call (616) 632-7063.
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.
