St. Louis County Department of Public Health

With funding from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, NCHH awarded 15 $5,000 Lead Poisoning Awareness Community Mini-Grants in 2017. These grants were for community events focused on raising awareness, engaging community leaders in advocacy, or motivating policy change around lead poisoning prevention.
As a mini-grantee, St. Louis County partnered with Jennings School District to increase awareness in the community by hosting a free lead screening and “Lunch and Learn” event for city and school officials. Leading up to the event to increase awareness in the St. Louis metropolitan community, staff presented at the Midwest Regional Conference on Lead and Healthy Housing.
The “Lunch and Learn” event with the Jennings’ decision makers was a success. A good representation from the city and school district were in attendance, with 30 community members trained and 80% of attendees pledging to apply their recently gained knowledge to their jobs. Officials from the highest levels in local government and the school district were engaged in the information shared. The “Question and Answer” session generated a lot of discussion and interaction with the attendees. A table display of educational materials including the Pew Report and an unhealthy home model (doll house) was also shared with the stakeholders.
The County also held lead screening events at three early childhood centers. Thirty-two children were testing, resulting in one EBLL. The parents who completed the consent forms for their children to be tested were eligible to participate a HEPA vacuum raffle. One family at each school was awarded a vacuum. Thirty eight lead cleaning kits were handed out as well.
Going forward, St. Louis County plans to continue to work in this targeted area and participate in future events with the community. As a result of these events, they were invited to participate in two future events by the Jennings School District.