Left to right: Director of Development Crystal Surdyk, Jamestown resident Jade Shirey, Healthy Communities Consultant Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller, Council member Brent Sheldon, Council Member Regina Brackman, and Council Member Marie Carrubba at City Council Housing Committee meeting (March 20, 2023)

A Jamestown mother is urging the City to take on lead hazards in housing that’s resulted in hundreds of children being affected by lead poisoning.

Hazzard Street resident Jade Shirey spoke before the City Council Housing Committee, saying health issues caused by lead paint exposure is 100% preventable and that no homes should be allowed to have lead paint, “It is, I get, an expensive fix, but we are spending money either way. We are either going to spend it in being proactive and getting lead out of homes, or we are going to spend it reactive in giving services, inundating our school system, our fire people with the condemned houses or the fire calls from the properties not being where they should be, police activity later on in their years when these (lead-poisoned) kids are facing impulsivity.”

Shirey shared that her son was diagnosed with lead poisoning two years ago, “So, in part of that, I brought my child who suffers from verbal delays, speech-cognitive delays, is going to be put in a (inaudible) classroom, who I’ve had so much trouble securing services for. I’m not sure how families have been doing this for 45 years.”

Shirey said Jamestown is seventh in the state for lead poisoning, with 60 kids in the 14701 zip code being affected by lead poisoning a year. She said that equates to about 900 students in the Jamestown Public Schools system who have suffered from lead poisoning.

Shirey said her goal is to make sure no other families go through what she has.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said while she doesn’t have a fix that can have an immediate impact, the city is working on dealing with lead in housing from a policy standpoint, “So, we have rental inspection ordinance that we are working on. We have a vacant property ordinance that we’re working on. And then we have a third, a nuisance property ordinance that we’re working on which won’t directly impact lead inspections, but through those two other ordinances, lead inspection, mandatory lead inspections will be rolled into those.”

Surdyk said the city has been working with the Healthy Housing Coalition, which includes county government and other housing agencies, on how to give landlords incentives to take care of lead paint in their properties, “We want to offer a carrot, right? We’re going to give you this big stick. We’re going to say, ‘This has to be done,’ and we’re going to have ‘x’ amount of time to do all of these inspections. And if there is lead found, you’re going to have another ‘x’ amount of time to remediate it. And then the intention is, if we’ve identified it, looking at ways to subsidize the cost of the inspection for the lead.”

Council member Brent Sheldon, who previously worked for the Chautauqua County Health Department in lead hazard reduction, said while the county has received funds to do lead abatements, it’s a struggle to get people to participate.

For additional information on lead poisoning prevention, visit the County’s Environmental Health Department’s website at: https://chqgov.com/environmental-health/lead-poisoning-prevention

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast features members of the local YWCA Jamestown team – Hillary Belin, Indo Quinones, Alize Scott, and Cienna Simon – discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

This episode features YWCA cohost Indo Quinones focuses on Housing Issues faces residents in poverty in Jamestown and Chautauqua County. Guests include:

• Nanci Okerlund – YWCA Jamestown, Transitional Housing Director
• Kizzy Tell – Evergreen Health, Housing Services Manager
• Andrea Davis – Evergreen Health, Housing Services Coordinator
• Jade Shirey – Community Advocate and Educator on Lead Poisoning

The Broadscast program covers a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls. It is provided through funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Certified Lead Risk Assessor Jeff Mitchell tests a Jamestown home for lead paint.

The 14701 zip code has the seventh highest number of lead poisoned children in New York State outside of New York City.

That data is according to New York State Department of Health’s 2020 data and being shared by the Healthy at Home CHQ Coalition for National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week to raise awareness of the childhood lead poisoning problem plaguing communities.

Healthy At Home CHQ Coalition Director Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller said that, “Every year, an average of 85 Chautauqua County children are testing at blood lead levels exceeding the New York State action threshold of 5 micrograms per deciliter, and about 60 of those children are in the City of Jamestown.”

Schmidtfrerick-Miller encourages folks to learn about the hazards of lead, to test older homes for lead, and to make sure that children are getting recommended blood tests to detect lead.

The most common source of lead exposure locally is from lead-based paint, which was used in many homes built before 1978. Chautauqua County, and Jamestown in particular, have some of the oldest housing stock in the United States.

Tiny amounts of lead can often cause loss of IQ, learning disabilities, and behavior problems in children.

For more information on free home testing for families with children under age six, and free EPA training and certification for contractors and landlords, visit https://chqgov.com/environmental-health/lead-poisoning-prevention or call 716-753-4489.

To learn more about Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. HUD Lead-CHHP program which removes and repairs lead paint at no cost for qualifying tenants and homeowners, visit https://www.chautauquaopportunities.com/lead-program/.

Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation requiring that seasonal and decorative lighting products manufactured, sold, or distributed in the state that have an electrical cord casing with lead present must have a warning label.

Any manufacturer who violates this shall be subject to a fine of $500.

Decorative and seasonal holiday lights have been shown to contain potentially unsafe levels of lead. Several independent studies, which followed the Consumer Product Safety Commission‘s standard wipe test to see how much lead would come off on someone’s hands, revealed that some brands contained more than 30 times the levels regulators permit in children’s products. One 2008 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health, found that nearly all the light sets tested had levels that surpassed the Environmental Protection Agency‘s limit for windowsills and floors.

Exposure to lead has been repeatedly proven to be attributed to serious health problems including attacks on the brain and central nervous system, heart and kidney disease, reduced fertility and depression, and severe consequences for children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no safe blood level concentration. While federal law bans the sale and manufacture of lead in house paint and gasoline and New York enacts stringent limits only on paint on children’s toys and furniture and some glazed tableware, the sale of most other consumer products containing lead in the state are not as strictly regulated.

The Jamestown City Council receives an update on the ongoing challenges of Lead Poisoning in the community during its March 9, 2020 work session.

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown’s old housing stock is continuing to create concerns for both local school and health officials, who say the number of homes that contain lead paint is resulting in a high percentage of local children having lead poisoning.

A group of representatives from both the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services and Jamestown Public Schools appeared Monday night at the Jamestown City Council work session to present the latest lead poisoning numbers in the community.

• VIEW MARCH 9, 2020 LEAD PAINT PRESENTATION [PDF]
• RELATED: LISTEN TO WRFA’s JULY 2019 INTERVIEW ON LEAD POISONING

Officials say Jamestown ranked fifth in the state when it comes to childhood lead poisoning and in Chautauqua County, an estimated one half of all children diagnosed with lead poisoning live in the city of Jamestown.

Chautauqua County Health and Human Services Department lead program coordinator Natalie Whiteman said that 95% of all lead poisoning cases in the city can be attributed to homes that still contain lead-based paint.

“Kids get lead poisoned. It’s not by chewing on the windowsills like some people allude to, but it is from lead paint dust. Every time doors open or close, if there is lead paint on it and there’s a friction surface, you create dust. Every time a window is slid open or closed, if it has lead paint on the edge of it and you create friction, you create dust. That dust then ends up the floor, it ends up on children’s toys, it ends up on children’s hands, and then it ends up in children’s mouths. That’s how children typically get lead poisoning,” Whiteman explained.

Jamestown Public Schools student support services director Chad Bongiovanni was also in attendance and said studies have shown that once a child is exposed to lead, there is usually some type of adverse impact on a child’s mental and physical development.

“Some of the main impacts of childhood lead poisoning is loss of IQ points, aggression, memory problems, impulse control, poor fine-motor skills, trouble paying attention and concentrating, difficulty with planing and organization, poor cognitive flexibility, and other physical health problems,” Bongiovanni said.

According to the presenters,  there are two classrooms’ worth of children in each grade level at Jamestown who’ve experienced lead poisoning.  However, that number could be higher because not every child in the school district is tested for lead poisoning.

Bongiovanni added that because of the impact lead has on students, many of them are placed in special education classes. The average annual cost for a student in special education can approach $25,500, while the annual cost for general education per student is just $10,100. As a result, Bongiovanni said lead poisoning not only has a direct impact on the child’s health and education, but also on the cost for the school district.

Lead based paint was outlawed in the late 1970s, but more than 40 years later a significant number of homes in the city still contain the lead residue.

The group added that lead poisoning is 100% preventable and steps are being taking to try and reduce the number of homes in the city that can expose a child to lead, including a reporting and monitoring system set up by the county health department. The school district is also adding lead poisoning to its health curriculum, while also educating families about lead poisoning and the need for screening.

In the meantime, they said they will also be working with the city to identify other ways city government can get involved to also help in the mitigation effort.