Aldermen and Board of Health looking for solutions to high lead levels
Now that it’s well known that Knox County has above average numbers of children with high lead blood levels what’s being done to fix the problem?
Representatives from the Knox County Health Department convened at Fat Fish Pub last night to hold a forum on the subject.
Present were Aldermen Peter Schwartzman and Jeremy Karlin, City Engineer Wayne Carl, Public Health Administrator Michele Gabriele, Director of Wellness Erin Olson and Director of Health Protection Sam Jarvis.
Karlin said that there’s an obvious connection between lead poisoning and poverty.
“In terms of solutions, you realize that we need to give the people the means by which to repair and remediate the lead in their homes if they choose to do so,” Karlin says.
At the Board of Health meeting later Gabriele relayed the information that from 1992-2015 there were 10,527 children tested for lead in Galesburg.
There were 545 that tested at the ten micrograms per deciliter level, about 5.2 percent of those tested.
“I think there are plenty of examples where people do everything they can,” Gabriele says. “It’s just about situation for them and they to do more or they need to move.”
Gabriele adds that there are a number of small things that can help in a home at risk for lead poisoning like improving diet, washing hands and wiping dust off the floor.
