Objectives: To practice primary prevention of lead poisoning by giving parents of newborns and young infants the knowledge and tools to prevent their children from becoming lead poisoned and to ensure that children at high risk for lead poisoning are screened at nine months of age, per Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) recommendations.
Methods: A collaborative project, the Lead-Safe Babies (LSB) Project, involving the PDPH, Regional Nursing Centers Consortium, and the Environmental Protection Agency was created to achieve these objectives. Pregnant women and mothers of newborns and young infants were recruited to the project. Health workers provided education about lead poisoning prevention, housekeeping, nutrition, and lead screening and supplies for household wet cleaning. A pre-test and post-test assessed parental knowledge gain. The families were re-contacted when the babies reached 9 months to facilitate their lead screening.
Results: Currently 146 families have been enrolled in the LSB Project with 200 families targeted for enrollment. Statistics on the number and percentage of LSB enrollees receiving blood lead screenings around the first birthday and with elevated blood lead levels will be presented. Pre- and post-test parental scores of basic lead knowledge will be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the educational intervention.
Conclusions: The LSB Project will assess whether perinatal lead education to new parents is effective in increasing the knowledge of parents about prevention of lead poisoning and lead exposure and whether it helps to facilitate lead screening of the involved infants.
Learning Objectives: 1) Describe one possible method for performing primary prevention activities to prevent lead poisoning among families with newborn children. 2) Discuss some of the challenges in presenting an educational public health outreach program in an urban,low-income population. 3) Discuss some of the challenges in ensuring that high-risk young infants and toddlers receive lead screening following local screening recommendations.
Keywords: Infant Health, Primary Prevention
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.