Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Grant Program
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has awarded over $433,000 in grants to nine nonprofit community agencies and health advocacy organizations in an effort to increase childhood lead poisoning awareness reduce lead poisoning and increase the percentage of children who are screened for lead exposure.
Although Massachusetts has the highest screening rates in the country – 77% of children under age 48 months are screened – there remain 23% who are not.
The grant funding was awarded for the purpose of reaching underserved populations, including children from immigrant and refugee families, as well as educating homeowners and contractors about the risk of lead poisoning exposure when renovating older homes. The grantees will be providing a variety of services in the designated communities including education and training for child care facilities, construction workers and painters, and pediatric staff, as well as homeowners and landlords; testing of children for increased blood lead levels (bll’s) as well as referrals for treatment. In addition the funding will support the development and expansion of Lead Action Collaboratives in communities throughout the Commonwealth
The funding for the grants stems from a national, multi-state settlement agreement with Mattel, Inc., and its subsidiary, Fisher-Price, Inc., which resolved a 15-month investigation into the events that lead to a voluntary recall of the companies’ toys due to the presence of excessive lead paint in accessible surface coatings and substrates.
The grant money must be utilized by June 30, 2010. The following organizations were awarded grant funding:
The Medical Foundation’s Lead Action Collaborative (Greater Boston) will focus their efforts on reaching and educating family child-care providers in some of Boston’s highest risk neighborhoods.
Self Help, Inc. (Brockton) will conduct outreach to home daycare providers and pediatricians, train home visitors in lead awareness, and conduct a series of Moderate Risk Deleading classes for area property owners.
Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts (Worcester) will provide education to day care providers and immigrant and refugee families and other families in Worcester’s five lowest-income neighborhoods and will reach out to property owners and realtors about the need to conduct lead safe renovations.
HAP, Inc. (Holyoke) will provide education to preschool and family day care providers, property owners and contractors and painters about the need to conduct lead safe renovations.
MassCOSH (Somerville, Framingham) will train immigrant day laborers, contractors and painters about lead poison prevention and construction occupational health concerns.
Boston Public Health Commission (East Boston) will conduct Spanish language awareness outreach and lead safe training to the immigrant community of East Boston
Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Inc. (Lawrence, Methuen, North Andover) will conduct seminars and provide educational materials about lead poisoning prevention with a special focus on immigrant populations from Southeast Asia and Central America and will also provide workshops for home owners, contractors, staff of hardware stores, etc. to publicize the training and safety requirements of the Massachusetts Lead Law.
Montachusett Opportunity Council, Inc. (Fitchburg) will work to foster greater lead poisoning awareness, specifically within the local Spanish-speaking and other immigrant communities by providing basic lead training and materials to health and home services direct care staff from the MOC and other community agencies.
UMass Dartmouth (New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton) will train multilingual university students as community health educators who will reach out to Spanish-speaking and other immigrant communities at public events and will conduct outreach through newspaper, radio and television that serve non-English speaking populations.
The AGO extends its gratitude for lending their professional expertise and guidance with this grant program to: Dr. Sean Palfrey, a past president of the Massachusetts branch of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a current pediatrician at Boston Medical Center; Suzanne Condon, Associate Commissioner and Director of the Center for Environmental Health of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and Paul Hunter, Director of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The AGO is also honored to have had the opportunity to work with the late Dr. Michael Shannon in the development of this program. Dr. Shannon was an emergency medicine specialist at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School and a staunch advocate of children’s health and the prevention of lead poisoning. He graciously offered his wisdom, experience and time to the development of the concept and the protocols for this project. Though he passed away before the grants were awarded, his input was vital to the development of the program and the selection of these recipients. The work he was so committed to will continue through these and other programs.