Preventing Lead Poisoning in Refugee and Immigrant Communities
Overview
Refugee and immigrant children have a higher than average incidence of lead poisoning. The socio-economic life circumstances for a refugee or newly arriving immigrant in the U.S. often means living in older, sub-standard housing where lead paint hazards are more likely to exist. Additional lead hazards are often found in products from their culture (such as certain cosmetics) that are popular, both in their home countries and in the U.S.
In order to address this, the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance (BRIA) developed an outreach and education project to raise community and family awareness about lead poisoning, how it is contracted, how it can be prevented, and what to do when a child has an elevated blood level (EBL).
This 19-minute video, “Preventing Lead Poisoning in Refugee and Immigrant Communities,” was produced by the New York State OTDA/BRIA , with the assistance of Training and Management Analysis (TAMA) and in collaboration with the New State Department of Health (NYSDOH), Bureau of Child and Adolescent Health and Center for Environmental Health.
The video has been split into 2 parts:
Part 1 - 4:41
Part 1 is an introduction presented by representatives of OTDA and NYSDOH summarizing Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for lead poisoning prevention in newly arrived refugee children as well as our state requirements for blood lead level testing of all children.
Part 2 - 14:39
Part 2 provides information such as: What lead is; What are the potential sources of lead; How to know if you are lead poisoned; and How to prevent lead poisoning.