Lead Hazard Control Grant program works to reduce exposure

CEDAR RAPIDS — When Karen Christensen's great-grandchildren come over to play, she worries about lead exposure.

Not from water pipes, but from decades of accumulated paint in her home, which was built in 1920 — 58 years before lead paint was banned in American houses.

Ann Olson, lead program coordinator for Linn County Public Health, said Iowa children have a higher rate of lead poisoning than the country as a whole. In Linn County, she said the rate is about twice the national average — between 1.3 percent and 2 percent of children screened locally have elevated lead levels, compared to around .8 percent nationally.

Lead poisoning has received widespread attention recently after corroded water pipes in Flint, Mich., resulted in widespread lead contamination in drinking water.

But a much more pervasive problem is paint. Homes built before 1978 often have lead-based paint, and the greatest risk is to homes built before 1960. Iowa has one of the largest stocks of homes built before 1960 in the nation, Olson said.

The city of Cedar Rapids is trying to address the risk through its Lead Hazard Control Grant program. The program, using about $2.5 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, works with families at high risk for lead exposure to mitigate the risks.

Lead paint danger zone

Homes in this area are more likely to have lead-based paint, according to the City of Cedar Rapids. Boundaries are approximate.

Map by John McGlothlen / The Gazette

Old homes with lead-based paint aren't automatically a hazard if chipping paint is kept under control — exposure comes from digesting and inhaling paint chips and dust. Children are at the greatest risk — lead paint chips taste sweet and children may eat them, or get lead dust on their hands when playing and crawling, and then put their hands in their mouths.

Lead affects their developing bodies the most.

'It's most critical for young children under age six to not have any exposure,' Olson said. 'It can impact their health dramatically — it can cause developmental delays, lower IQs, cause hearing and speech problems and can affect motor skills.'

Which is why Christensen is concerned about lead exposure for her great-grandchildren. She baby-sits a 6-month-old great-grandchild a few days a week, and a 1-year-old and 7-year-old visit often.

'Really, that Flint, Mich., thing — it's kind of scary,' Christensen said. 'You feel so sorry for those kids. I wish I knew years ago what I know now.'

Surface by surface...

She is one of dozens of residents the city and Linn County Public Health are working with through the program. On Feb. 29, two members of the city's Healthy Homes team came to her house for several hours of testing. Surface by surface, they used specialized equipment to test for lead.

The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine can detect lead through numerous layers of paint and varnish.

'Here's the thing. If you had lead paint put in your house in the 1930s and then you paint again and again, you still have lead paint,' said Art Anderson, Housing and Healthy Homes specialist for the city of Cedar Rapids. 'It's exposed when it peels. If you keep it in smooth condition, it's not a hazard.'

Lead can be in wood finish as well as paint, and lead dust can churn up during home renovation projects. Window frames are a particular concern — the frequent friction caused by opening and closing them can create and stir up lead dust.

Exterior paint can also be dangerous. Paint chips and dust can wash into soil around a home that children play in or that gets tracked inside.

If the team finds a lead exposure risk, they create and carry out a mitigation plan, anything from repainting surfaces to replacing window frames — sometimes, replacing the frames entirely can be safer and more effective than scraping lead paint.

If lead is found in the soil around a home, the contaminated area may be covered with mulch or concrete. In cases of extreme contamination, an option is to excavate and remove the soil entirely.

The program focuses on a lead paint 'danger zone' consisting of the oldest neighborhoods surrounding downtown Cedar Rapids, where the county has seen the most lead poisoning. It's an area roughly bounded by 11th Street, E Avenue and Edgewood Road NW; First Avenue W, Rockford Road and Wilson Avenue SW; J Avenue, Interstate 380, 32nd Street and 29 Street NE and First Avenue E, Forest Drive, 19th Street and 15th Avenue SE.

Regardless of neighborhood, all parents and guardians should make sure to have their children screened for elevated lead levels — Olson recommends at 12, 18 and 24 months and ages 3, 4 and 5.

The program is available for free to qualified residents. Qualifications include living in a home built before 1978, the frequent presence of children age 6 or under — grandparents and home day care providers, for example, may qualify even if no child lives in the home — and meeting income requirements. Total household income cannot exceed 80 percent of the area median income as determined by HUD — a family of four needs to make less than $59,600 per year to qualify.

Rental properties also are eligible. Landlords pay a percentage of the mitigation costs, with the rest covered by the grant.

'I guess I'd have to move'

Christensen, 62, is a lifelong Cedar Rapids resident. Her previous house was flooded out in 2008, and she lived in a FEMA trailer for two years before purchasing her house on Cedar Rapids's southeast side. She has arthritis, fibromyalgia and Raynaud's disease and is on disability.

She started working with the city's Healthy Homes program, which includes the Lead Hazard program, after her roof began leaking in an upstairs bedroom. The Healthy Homes team also sometimes will assist with issues that can affect resident's health, such as the potential for mold from a leaking roof.

Without the lead mitigation and roof assistance, she said she wouldn't be able to afford the necessary repairs.

'I don't know what I would do if I didn't have help,' she said. 'I can't imagine what a person would do. Even though I worked all my life, it's not very much. If not for programs like this, I guess I'd have to move.'

The city is looking for more residents to apply for the program, with an aim of completing 125 homes by the end of July, when the grant funding ends. This is the fourth time Cedar Rapids has received the grant, and the team plans to apply for an extension of funding, but need to show people are using the resources.

The current round of funding started in 2013, and more than 20 units have been completed, with about 50 more in the process. Since the program started, more than 400 homes have been made lead-safe.

'This is an awesome opportunity for homeowners to take advantage of. It is a primary prevention effort,' Olson said. 'We can go in and identify those hazards before children become poisoned.'

Screen your children

Regardless of neighborhood, all parents and guardians should make sure to have their children screened for elevated lead levels — Ann Olson, lead program coordinator for Linn County Public Health, recommends at 12, 18 and 24 months and ages 3, 4 and 5.

The program is available for free to qualified residents. Qualifications include living in a home built before 1978, the frequent presence of children age 6 or under — grandparents and home day care providers, for example, may qualify even if no child lives in the home — and meeting income requirements.

Total household income cannot exceed 80 percent of the area median income as determined by HUD — a family of four needs to make less than $59,600 per year to qualify.

Rental properties also are eligible. Landlords pay a percentage of the mitigation costs, with the rest covered by the grant.

Learn more about the program at CRHazardHunters.com or by calling (319) 286-5872.