28 Nov Lead testing in Mount Isa
For the last three months, I have been working in Mount Isa Queensland, where I was involved in managing the introduction of lead testing for children aged between 6 months and 5 years. This program involves public awareness and staff training about the free service. The reason for implementing this program was based on the decrease in the uptake of blood lead testing for young children, due to the current program requiring a venous sample which is difficult to obtain in some cases and can also be quite traumatic to these children.
The purpose of introducing this new program means that the capillary lead test now involves a simple finger prick in conjunction with a health check. This method has proven to be both less invasive and less traumatic to the children involved. Training staff in using this procedure has been extremely vital to the ongoing success of this program and is similar to the one being used in Broken Hill (NSW), which involves training staff in using the LeadCare II analyser machine.
In my opinion the program from a public health perspective is extremely valuable in servicing the community. The program provides a snapshot of lead levels in the community however, admittingly it is only children which attend the health check who will be tested.
The program would ideally be well suited for families living in remote regions of Mount Isa, as there are many sources of lead in the environment e.g. dust and soil, and the issue of hand hygiene which may impact on possible contamination.
The success of this program largely depends on organisations to come on board to assist in offering this service but often logistics and the long-term vision can cause organisations not to pursue the program. As funding, has been provided for 12 months and a review of the program will be based on the data that is collected.
