Initiative makes crucial children’s lead screening convenient for families

In Fremont on Tuesday, volunteers from Nebraska Methodist College provided lead screenings on-site at Dodge County Head Start as families registered for the program. The idea is to target children under the age of six who are most in need of the screening.

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FREMONT, Neb. —

Less than a quarter of Nebraska children under six were screened for lead in 2023, according to a report from the state health department.

Health care providers are looking to find ways to ensure kids receive the critical test.

In Fremont on Tuesday, volunteers from Nebraska Methodist College provided lead screenings on-site at Dodge County Head Start as families registered for the program.

The health care providers there said busy families have many things to worry about on top of finding time to have children under six years old screened for lead. Plus, children that young might throw a fit over a finger prick.

“One of the reasons we don’t wear our white scrub jackets is because they see white scrubs and they get a little scared,” said Kiley Petersmith, a nurse, mom, and assistant professor at Nebraska Methodist College.

Petersmith is also the author of a short picture book featuring her daughter, designed to help young children and their parents understand the importance of lead screenings.

The screenings are crucial because children under six are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure, which often has no visible symptoms, said Alicia Whitehill, director of community engagement at Nebraska Methodist College.

“Children are lower to the ground. They like to put things in their mouth… Lead is sweet to the taste,” she said. “That lead will cross the blood-brain barrier in a child, and it can cause speech delays, growth delays, developmental delays. It may come across as hyperactive or aggressive behaviors.”

If that happens, she said it cannot be reversed but therapies can help.

The partnership with head start programs provides an effective way to ensure children in the targeted age group are screened. A van from Nebraska Methodist College will soon visit eight rural southeast Nebraska head start sites over two days, supported by philanthropic funding.

Methodist Hospital Foundation donors supported Tuesday’s screenings. The Nebraska Blue Foundation funded the screenings, which allowed Nebraska Methodist College to expand the work to rural communities, Methodist said. The college’s Mobile Health Clinic was funded by the Harper Family Foundation.

If found to have an elevated blood level on Tuesday, a family would head home with resources, including a multivitamin with iron.

The Three Rivers Public Health Department was also on site. The department stood ready to offer home inspections and offer guidance, including a child-friendly coloring book on the subject.

Emily Miller, the Healthy Homes Program manager for the department, said lead paint is still the most common danger. She said it comes from walls, but also old furniture.

The “dust can end up everywhere,” she said. “So those cleaning strategies are really important for families to make sure that the lead dust doesn’t spread.”

The department serves Dodge, Washinton, and Saunders Counties, and offers free lead screenings by appointment.

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