The Local Source for News and Information Since 1980

Lead: Who Would Have Thought?

Posted

You have bought your first family home! How exciting! You cannot wait to see your baby walking around this new space. It was built in 1942, it is in the perfect spot in town close to the park and library. It needs some fixing up, but you are pretty knowledgeable and have friends and family to help. The yard could use some more grass, it's a bit bare. The paint inside and out looks a little chipped near the top corners, but who even looks up there? That’s the last of your worries. You plan on getting the major things done first and catch up on that eventually.

A few months go by, the house is looking great and feeling like home. You can’t believe that your baby is a year old already! Time for that 12-month checkup. Your baby gets the usual vaccines, and the nurse says she is going to get a tiny bit of blood from a little poke on the baby's finger to check for lead. This is totally normal, nothing to worry about. She leaves the room and comes back with the doctor a few minutes later and you are told that your blood lead level is 19, which is above the CDC recommended level of 3.5. So now what? Thoughts race through your mind. Is my baby sick? What did I do? You are given a lab slip to follow up on a venous blood draw. You get out of the doctor’s office and get to the nearest walk-in lab that very same day.

As you wait for the result, because a venous blood draw is more accurate than a capillary one, or finger stick, you start to research like you are about to write the world’s largest research paper. You read all about the neurologic effects that could happen like learning disabilities, speech problems, and behavior issues. You learn that lead can commonly be found in lead paint used in homes built before 1978, older toys, bare soil, and some foods can be contaminated as well. WHAT? Your house was built in 1942, and the paint in the ceiling corners was chipping and you just never got around to painting. Your little one loves to stand at the window and watch cars go by and point to his favorite dusty play spot where his dump trucks passed down from Grandpa are parked. You panic! Is this my fault? You start to look into the cost of a painter, and a landscaper and are ready to toss those trucks right out in the trash!

Breathe! This isn’t your fault. You have done just what you are supposed to by keeping up with your child’s routine doctor visits. This screening for lead is performed at 12 and 24 months for this exact reason. To catch it early hopefully before major health concerns set in. The results come back, and the doctor tells you that the level is now 8. You are so relieved. You get a call from the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Case Management Nurse at the health department. You discuss risk factors, possible sources of the lead, and ways to reduce the risks. You receive lots of resource information in the mail. And an inspector from the Maryland Department of the Environment calls you to schedule a time that he can come out and do an assessment of your home and take some samples.

A few months later, and a few repeat blood draws later, his level is now 1.2. In those months you had a painter come and paint the rooms that tested positive for lead paint, plant some grass seed that is finally growing, and everyone takes their shoes off before coming inside. And your little one has some new shiny dump trucks to play with!