Other News on Lead Poisoning Prevention in Indiana

Wanting to get beyond treating our kids as lead detectors, Doug Elwell, Executive Director of Marion County Health and Hospital, took a bold step forward. In December, he proposed to his Board a $5 million, five-year program to replace deteriorated lead-based paint windows in old homes. Elwell hopes to leverage matching federal, state, and private sector funds.

The ISDH regulation regarding childhood lead-poisoning went into effect on Oct. 10. It was published in the Nov. 1, 2000 Indiana Register. The rule requires reporting of blood lead levels and mandates follow-up by local health officers for all children with blood lead levels over 10 ug/dL not 20 ug/dL as has been suggested.

FSSA is considering a long overdue proposal by ISDH to Indiana’s Medicaid Policy Program to provide Medicaid reimbursement for case management and environmental investigations.

Congratulations to Dr. Charlene Graves of ISDH. No sooner had she begun work as the medical director of ISDH’s lead poisoning prevention program than she becomes a television star. She was the spokesperson in an October public service announcement regarding lead poisoning.

ISDH has designated 667 census block groups in 35 counties as at high-risk for lead poisoning. In these blocks, ISDH estimates that more than 20% of the children are lead poisoned. The agency is preparing maps to show where these neighborhoods are located.

HUD made adjustments to deadlines just before Sept 15. It extended the compliance deadline one year for Section 8 housing built after 1960. And it allowed housing agencies to ask for a six-month capacity waiver. Indiana agencies appear to have asked for the waiver for all but IHFA’s rehabilation project. Also, HUD is considering extending the March 15 deadline to April 10.

On Jan. 25, IHFA and FSSA assembled many of the Section 8 and weatherization programs to discuss how to implement the HUD rule. The group established priorities in the following areas:

• Health department and housing agency communications;
• Simple implementation packets for housing agencies, landlords, and weatherization programs; and
• Viable compliance options for landlords with only one or two properties.