The North Hudson Community Action Corporation, a public health organization based in West New York offering low-cost health services and referrals to Hudson County residents, hosted a roundtable discussion Oct. 20.
The discussion included New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen, who visited from his offices in Trenton. “I wanted to hear what the issues were with providing health care services to the community, particularly the immigrant community,” explained Chen last week.
He said that the discussion also covered making health care accessible to residents, “including the goal of the universal child insurance law.”
195 children were found to have high blood levels of lead in Hudson County in 2007.
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Chen has been chair of Gov. Jon Corzine’s blue ribbon advisory panel on immigrant policy, which has provided recommendations about how the state can help immigrants become part of their new community. Chen said it’s important for children of immigrants to realize they have access to health care through programs such as New Jersey Family Care.
He said that if immigrants don’t know that they are eligible, they may end up going to a local Emergency Room for routine illness.
NHCAC CEO Chris Irizarry and his board of directors participated in the discussion.
Childhood lead poisoning
Chen also made a point to emphasize the need for better control against childhood lead poisoning. According to published reports from 2008 by the state Department of the Public Advocate, the department found lead dust levels in excess of the federal standards in 85 of the 104 New Jersey homes they visited. The Department also noted that shoddy abatement repairs were also to blame.
“It’s still the greatest preventable childhood health crisis that we have in New Jersey,” said Chen. “We’re still having too many children who are permanently impaired due to lead poisoning.”
The report said, “Lead poisoning can cause brain damage, developmental delays, reduced IQ, reading and learning disabilities, behavioral problems, hearing impairments, and hyperactivity.”
Though the state requires that all children from 6 to 29 months be tested for lead poisoning, just 41 percent were tested in fiscal year 2007, according to a report from the Department of Health and Senior Services.
Out of 15,691 children under the age of 17 that were tested, 195 were reported to have lead poisoning in Hudson County in Fiscal Year 2007, according to data from the same report.
In West New York, seven children were found to have lead poisoning in FY2007, 16 in Union City.
Lead based paints were banned nationwide in 1978. However, roughly 52 percent of the homes in Hudson County were built before 1950.
For more information and to view reports by the Department of the Public Advocate, visit their website at: http://www.state.nj.us/publicadvocate/
Headstart program receives a grant
Irizarry also announced the receipt of a $5,000 grant from the Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play for the NHCAC’s Head Start program. The grant will be used to cover the cost of renovating the playground located at401 Palisade Ave.
“Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, so we’re very appreciative of this grant to help renovate our playground and also for their help in evaluating our play spaces,” said Irizary.
The grant also comes with training, technical assistance, and the expertise of a physical activity consultant available to the Head Start program.
More information regarding the NHCAC, visit their website at: http://www.nhcac.org/
Melissa Rappaport may be reached at mrappaport@hudsonreporter.com