Nebraska Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Training for Local Health Departments
Nebraska’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) contracted with Solutions in 2019 to develop and pilot a day-long training for local health department staff. The Nebraska program had only recently received a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support surveillance and investigations and requested technical assistance. The pilot training introduced key concepts in primary and secondary prevention of lead poisoning to nurses and other staff from local health departments and Medicaid managed care organizations throughout the state. The multiday CDC Lead Poisoning Prevention Training Center provided a model for the format, but the training covered a more limited set of topics and incorporated Nebraska policies and procedures.
To develop the training modules, Solutions’ staff (1) reviewed federal and state program guidance documents to identify best practices; (2) prepared guidance documents that summarized state and federal requirements related to lead hazard control, elevated blood lead level (EBLL) surveillance, and management of EBLL cases; and (3) provided templates for local health departments to use for documentation and assessment of program performance. Each training module involved interactive exercises to engage the participants in discussion. This also provided opportunities for staff from different parts of the state to network.
Included in the training were the following topics:
- Health effects of lead exposure and the CDC blood lead level reference values
- Understanding lead exposures from paint, dust, soil, and non-paint sources
- Blood lead screening and communication with medical providers
- Introduction to case management and identification of partners for services.
The last topic was new for the state. Nebraska was just beginning to develop case management guidance. This module provided the first introduction for state and local staff to CDC recommendations for case management and how to prepare and implement a plan of care.
Participants also received a flash drive with publicly available articles from peer-reviewed journals and examples of educational materials and program guidance from a variety of well-established lead poisoning prevention programs.
Based on this work, Nebraska’s CLPPP contracted with the National Center for Healthy Housing in 2020 to develop web-based versions of the trainings and draft a case management protocol for the state’s consideration. The Solutions staff member who oversaw and delivered the 2019 trainings developed the 2020 materials.