What About the Other Children?

Recent news articles and editorials in the Winston-Salem Journal about childhood exposure to lead have focused on children who receive Medicaid benefits. The most recent ("Lead Poisoning Tests") was in today's Journal. What about the thousands of one- and two-year-old children not on Medicaid who may be exposed to lead?

Medicaid children rightly are singled out for lead testing because they often live in older houses where pre-1978 lead-based paint is the biggest cause of exposure. Parents, grandparents and doctors must realize that other children also live in older housing or spend time in places like grandmother's house, a friend's house or a daycare center that may cause exposure to lead.

The most recent statistics available show that fewer than half of the one- and two-year-olds in Forsyth County are tested for lead. It's at the early ages that we need to identify the problem because it's then that remediation can have the greatest benefit. As the Journal editorial said today, cooperation is needed across the board -- including insurers and healthcare organizations like Novant and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center -- if we are to reach all the children who need to be reached. A good starting point would be to ensure that lead tests are immediately available in the office where a child first sees the pediatrician or family doctor, rather than having to go to another lab location for the test.