Claremont
The Claremont School Board in April approved a policy that requires all children entering pre-K and kindergarten to have at least two documented lead-level blood tests. If they don’t have the opportunity to do so, the school, which is working with Valley Regional Hospital, will be able to provide the testing, Superintendent Middleton McGoodwin said this week.
“This entire initiative is all about informing parents in order to maximize the wellness of their children,” McGoodwin said. Some details still are being worked out, he said, including who would pay for the in-school testing.
The hope is that students will have had the tests done by their doctor either before they are school-aged or when they get their required immunizations, he said. The policy will go into effect this fall.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week awarded $127 million to dozens of state agencies, one of which was New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, which received $2.9 million to go toward lead-based paint hazard removal, the leading cause of lead poisoning in the Twin States.
City Manager Ryan McNutt said he believes Claremont will be the recipient of some of that abatement money.
“This funding will allow people to apply and actually take the lead paint out of their homes,” McNutt said. “It is a problem that does not grow back. Once you abate the problem, it is gone.”
Claremont and Newport are two Upper Valley communities on the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ list of eight “highest risk communities” for lead poisoning in children. An HHS evaluation found that there are 21 New Hampshire communities that have high risk. Haverhill also is on that list.
Several factors contribute to lead poisoning in children, but in New Hampshire and Vermont, the leading cause is lead paint, according to the HHS report published in 2015.
“New Hampshire has the oldest housing of anywhere in the United States, with 62 percent of its homes built before lead-based paint was banned in 1978,” according to the state’s Healthy Homes & Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, a division of Public Health Services. Claremont rings in at a percentage even higher than that — about 84 percent, Claremont Mayor Charlene Lovett said.
Vermont also ranks high in housing stock built before 1978, and Burlington received $2.9 million in HUD funding for lead-based paint abatement. Nashua, N.H., received a chunk of money separately from New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority as well.
NHHFA spokeswoman Grace Lessner said the agency will be taking applications for the funding in the fall. This round of funding is the fifth such grant the organization has received, totaling $14.7 million.
“We are very pleased that HUD awarded the grant to us so that we can provide the funding,” Lessner said on Thursday. “(Lead poisoning) is a critical health issue in the state.”
Claremont officials took a stand in 2016 to combat its high statistics and became the first community in the Upper Valley — and the state — to put in place a mandatory testing policy at the school level. The Unity School Board in May passed a similar policy.
Newport School District Superintendent Cynthia Gallagher said Newport is considering jumping on board as well. She said she hopes to have a discussion with the School Board next week, noting Newport has “similar demographics” to Claremont.
“We have similar housing situations in terms of older housing and landlords who don’t live local,” Gallagher said. “We also have similar (student) behaviors that may be linked to situations involving lead.”
Lead is a neurotoxicant that can cause lasting adverse health effects, especially in children during the brain’s development phase. Lead poisoning can “impair academic performance and affect life success,” according to the HHS report, which also said that “thousands and thousands of New Hampshire children have already experienced high blood lead levels.”
Lovett, a former state lawmaker, testified in favor of Senate Bill 247, which, among other things, would have made it mandatory in the state to screen 1- and 2-year-old children for lead levels. New Hampshire is the only New England state that doesn’t require that, according to Safer Chemicals Healthy Families.
The bill, however, got hung up in committee.
Last August, state Department of Environmental Services workers came to Claremont to discuss lead in the water distribution system, something that doesn’t rise to the level of being problematic but that is something the city wants to fully address, Lovett said.
While having that discussion, Claremont officials learned more about lead poisoning and its causes. From that discussion, the City Council and the School Board, which meet quarterly, began discussing ways to combat lead poisoning in the city and roped in other Sullivan County organizations, she said.
In Claremont, there are about 40 children a year diagnosed with a lead poisoning level reading at or above 10 milligrams per deciliter, the state’s threshold for toxicity, Lovett said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s threshold is even lower.
“This is totally preventable,” she said. “We know there is no safe amount of lead in a child’s system.”
That’s why city workers this spring started replacing water service lines that could lead to lead hazards, said McNutt, the city manager. The Public Works Department has replaced about eight of 90 connection lines thus far.
In continuing its awareness campaign, the city will hold a lead forum on July 19 at the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center titled “Childhood lead poisoning in New Hampshire: What you need to know to protect yourself and your family.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.