Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention:
A Comprehensive Public Health Response to an Environmental Issue

Originally broadcast September 17, 2009

Tom Carroll, Chief Sanitarian
Housing Hygiene Section
New York State Department of Health
Bureau of Community Environmental Health and Food Protection

Susan Slade, RN, MS, CHES
Program Manager
Child Health Unit
Bureau of Child and Adolescent Health
New York State Department of Health

Lead is a toxin that can harm young children as their bodies develop. It can damage the organs in developing children or lead to learning and behavioral problems. This program will look at how recent surveillance data can be used to create a housing-based approach to eliminating lead poisoning. It will also look at how to best assess a child’s blood lead level and subsequent procedures, including further testing and guidance, if the lead level is elevated.

Learning Objective
As a result of this program, participants will be able to:

• Explain why exposure to environmental lead is a health concern for young children.
• Describe the steps taken to determine a child’s blood lead level and what happens if the level is elevated.
• Describe how the lead surveillance data is used to develop a housing based approach for the prevention of childhood lead poisoning.  

Continuing Education Credits

School of Public Health, University at Albany is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses, Inc., an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

It has been assigned Provider Code PA# 157N.

Course code PA# 157N-203; 1.0 contact hour.

School of Public Health, University at Albany is accredited by the MSSNY to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians. The School designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s).™ Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity is sponsored by the School of Public Health, University at Albany, SUNY, a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is designated for the CHES to receive 1.0 Category 1 CECH in health education.

Continuing education credits are available until September 2015.

The planners and presenters do not have any financial arrangements or affiliations with any commercial entities whose products, research or services may be discussed in this activity.

No commercial funding has been accepted for this activity.