City Gets The Lead (Word) Out At Lighthouse

Temperatures soared into the high 80s on Sunday, creating an ideal day for the beach — and for the New Haven Health Department 17th annual lead education picnic.

Free to the public, with hot dogs, Italian ices, cotton candy, carousel rides, and activities such as potting plants, tie-dying shirts, face painting, and singing and dancing with disc jockey ​“Uncle Chip,” the city’s all-day event signaled the start of summer at Lighthouse Point Park.

Amidst the carnival-like atmosphere, the city underscored a serious message, emblazoned on the T‑shirts that it distributed: ​“Be Lead Safe!”

Exposure to lead can cause irreparable bodily injury to children and adults, including to the brain, heart, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems.

“There are about 52,000 rental units within the City of New Haven; 32,000 still have lead-based paint,” said Paul Kowalski, the City of New Haven’s environmental health program director. Although lead was banned in paint in 1978, it remains in painted surfaces.

Due to the stock of older houses, lead paint poisoning continues to persist as a problem in New Haven. ​“It’s not really the ingestion of lead paint chips as much as the hand-to-mouth activity with lead dust,” he said.

Although lead paint is present throughout town, historically the highest number of lead poisoned children routinely have lived within the Hill, Dixwell, Newhallville, and Fair Haven neighborhoods, according to Kowalski. This is due to those areas being the most prevalent sections of the city with older housing and rental units having more frequent turnover of tenants.

The rate of toxic lead poisoning has dramatically declined in the last 30 years. However, Kowalski said, ​“We still have roughly 300 kids with about 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood.” The CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] states experts use this reference level to identify blood lead levels that are much higher than most children’s levels. The CDC stresses that even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to diminish IQ, attention abilities, and capabilities for academic achievement. The agency notes that although the damage cannot be corrected, lead exposure can be prevented.

Julia Velez, a Waterbury resident, came to the educational picnic with her extended family. ​“Friends told me about it,” she said. ​“I was concerned because the kids can get sick from it. It is good that there’s a lot of information that’s good for the kids.”

Sarah Collins, a New Haven resident, came to the festivities with her daughter, Braelyn. Although she was not concerned about lead paint in her home, this is the third year she has attended the event. ​“It brings the community together and it gives important information to the inner city and to surrounding towns, and there is such fun stuff for kids to do,” Collins said.

The backside of the city’s T‑shirts were printed with a billboard checklist of lead safety tips:

• Stay away from peeling paint.
• Wash your hands before eating and after playing.
• Eat healthful, well-balanced meals.
• Keep toys clean.

Children tie-dyed the shirts as a recreational and motivational activity. ​“They are reading it. They understand it, and actually a lot of kids want to come because they want a T‑shirt,” Kowalski said. ​“You’ll see these t‑shirts floating around neighborhoods.”

Lakeisha Green, an account specialist at the New Haven Department of Health, distributed gift bags throughout the day. They contained knapsacks, the T‑shirts, yellow duck soap, sponges, pencil cases with crayons, pens, pencils, erasers and rubber bracelets, all bearing reminders to stay lead safe. The bags also included pamphlets on lead poisoning and prevention, and information on loans for lead paint removal. Green noted the department distributed more than 700 bags to the public.

Kowalski emphasized that financial assistance is available, for homeowners, for lead-based paint remediation. The City of New Haven has a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant that offers up to $9,000 for lead abatement. The funding allows for a zero percent interest forgivable loan if the property owner fits within income guidelines and has a child under the age of seven in residence. Occupants of the housing units to be abated may be tenants or owners. For eligibility with rental housing, at least 50 percent of the units must be occupied or made available to families with incomes at or below 50 percent of the area median income level as defined annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD). Fully forgiven loans are also available for owner-occupied homes, if the homeowners’ incomes are at or below 80 percent of the area median income level.

For more information on the city’s efforts to combat lead poisoning visit this site.