This webinar may be of interest to Child Care Health Consultants. The NC Resource Center has confirmed that CCHCs may listen in, but the webinar is primarily for Environmental Health Specialists. 

For more information for CCHCs and early educators who are unfamiliar with these topics, please visit: https://www.cleanwaterforuskids.org/en/carolina/videos/ CCHCs should direct their own questions or refer child care facilities to their local contacts in Environmental Health. 

 

The NC Division of Public Health (DPH) and the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) will be conducting a second webinar for Local Health Department staff on the recently launched programs to test, inspect, and mitigate lead in water, lead-based paint and asbestos hazards in NC public schools and licensed child care facilities. The programs are supported by an $150 million legislative appropriation from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and a set of permanent administrative rules adopted earlier this year, 10A NCAC 41C .1001-.1007, effective April 1, 2023. RTI has been contracted to coordinate the water testing and mitigation, as well as lead-based paint and asbestos inspections (“Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids”). The NC DPH Health Hazards Control Unit (HHCU) is the agency responsible for reimbursing public schools and licensed child care facilities for qualified expenses (“ARPA Reimbursement Program”). This webinar will provide an update on program activities from the previous webinar on 11/2/2023.

Environmental Health Specialists that inspect child care facilities and counties that have signed the Agreement Addendum to support the ARPA-funded Lead in water and LBP/Asbestos program are strongly encouraged to attend.

The webinar is March 7^th , from 9:00am to 12:30pm. Please see the proposed agenda and meeting invitation below.

Please contact Ed Norman (ed.norman@dhhs.nc.gov) or myself if you have questions.

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Proposed Agenda:

9:00 – 9:05         Welcome, Introduction, Overview of Agenda                    

 

9:05-11:00         Lead in Water Testing & Mitigation Program in Child Care Facilities & Schools (Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids)

                             Lead-Based Paint/Asbestos Program in Child Care Facilities & Schools (Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids)

 

11:00-11:15       Break

11:15-11:45       ARPA Reimbursement Program Focus and Q&A

 

11:45-12:15        Agreement Addendum Focus and Q&A

12:15- 12:30       Questions/Adjourn

 

 

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Microsoft Teams meeting

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Meeting ID: 232 274 772 328
Passcode: XhHox4

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ncgov@m.webex.com

Video Conference ID: 115 077 742 8

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+1 984-204-1487,,424244409#   United States, Raleigh

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__________________________________________________________

● For questions about lead and healthy homes outreach and education please contact Neasha Graves at neasha_graves@unc.edu/919-966-3746 or Megan Lane at megan.lane@unc.edu /919-966-7238

● For questions about policy-related issues, contact Ed Norman at ed.norman@dhhs.nc.gov or Children’s Environmental Health main number at 919-707-5950

● Additional information can be found at http://ehs.ncpublichealth.com/ or https://nchealthyhomes.com/

Children’s Environmental Health – The Regional Environmental Health Specialists of Children’s Environmental Health will be conducting a virtual regional educational meeting on February 7, 2023 from 8:45 am to 3:30 pm.

All CCHCs are strongly encouraged to attend as new child care sanitation rules will be discussed! The agenda is included below.

AGENDA 

• 8:45 What’s New for Children’s Env Health 2023 
• 9:30 Lead Program Update: ARPA Funding & School Water Testing 
• 11:15 Update: Child Care Regulations from Licensing Agency 
• 12:00 Lunch 
• 1:00 Lead Samples Sent to State Lab Do’s & Don’ts 
• 1:45 Break 
• 2:00 Summary Update and What’s Next for Lead Water Testing  in Child Occupied Facilities / RTI International 
• 2:45 Lead Investigations: County & State Responsibilities 
• 3:30 Questions/Adjourn 

Below is the information to join on the day of the event. We encourage all CCHCs to add this event to your calendar!

Microsoft Teams Meeting  

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Meeting ID: 240 107 299 273
Passcode: rd5m4h

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+1 984-204-1487,,486798403#   United States, Raleigh

Phone Conference ID: 486 798 403#

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Protect children from exposure to lead in metal and plastic toys, especially imported toys, antique toys, and toy jewelry.

Many children get toys and toy jewelry as gifts during the holiday season. Some toys, especially imported toys, antique toys, and toy jewelry, may contain lead. Although lead is invisible to the naked eye and has no smell, exposure to lead can seriously harm a child’s health.

Young children tend to put their hands, toys, or other objects―which may be made of lead or contaminated with lead or lead dust―into their mouths. If you have a small child in your household, make sure the child does not have access to toys, jewelry, or other items that may contain lead.

Read more from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

 

 

With funding from The JPB Foundation, the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN), the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), and the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) has launched the Lead-Safe Toolkit for Home-Based Child Care.

There is no safe level of lead for children. Adverse health effects, including IQ deficits and learning and behavioral problems, occur at low levels of exposure to often invisible sources of lead.

The Lead-Safe Toolkit offers a variety of resources to help home-based providers reduce lead hazards in their child care homes. Toolkit contents include:

• Poster for display in family child care home.
• List of science-based, user-friendly lead prevention resources.
• Lead prevention policies and worksheets, with easy-to-follow steps for finding out if lead hazards exist in the home and what to do to reduce any exposures.

View full press release!

Also, Eco-Healthy Child Care® helps early childhood learning environments to be as healthy, safe and green as possible by reducing children’s exposure to toxic chemicals. Check out their factsheet on lead!

More than 230,000 babies and young children attend licensed child care centers in North Carolina. New rules adopted by the NC Commission for Public Health will ensure that all of those children are drinking water that is free from hazardous lead contamination.

This is a big win for young children in our state. One of the simplest things we can do to promote children’s healthy brain development is to make sure their drinking water is free from lead. Kudos to the NC Division of Public Health for their leadership on this important issue.

Read more at NC Child and NC Health News.