Community Health

Community Health - Lead Testing

Getting a lead test is an important part of your child's care.  All kindergarten students are required to have a lead test before entering school.  If your child lives in/regularly visits a home built before 1960, he or she may be especially at risk for lead poisoning.

The only way to assess a child's lead level is through a blood test, which involves a brief finger poke.  The testing is done at University Hospital Labs, so the results take approximately two weeks.  A nurse from Community Health will contact you if the results are outside of the normal range.  Lead poisoning can lead to learning disabilities, lower IQ, developmental problems, and many more serious complications including coma, convulsions, and death.

If your child has been exposed to lead, you can protect them by making sure they eat well. Eating good foods will help their body fight lead poisoning.

• Serve your child at least 3 meals a day and healthy snacks.
• Foods with iron will help protect your child from lead poisoning by helping stop the lead from being absorbed into the body. And, vitamin C helps the body absorb more iron.
• The calcium in milk and dairy foods also helps prevent lead from being absorbed into the body.

Call Karen Garman in Community Health at 295-4430 or 1-800-603-8433 ext. 430 for more information ir to schedule an appointment to have your child tested for lead.