CASE STUDY

Alabama

Through a creative media campaign, the Alabama state team educated Alabamans about lead poisoning prevention and testing and increased care coordination.

Aim

  • Reduce childhood lead poisoning prevalence by 10% through education and outreach.
  • Collaborate effectively with internal partners to provide Alabama’s lead-affected children with the most up-to-date and innovative care, increasing care coordination referrals by 25%.

Results

Education & Outreach

  • Created a variety of materials and campaigns to educate different stakeholders/audiences on lead poisoning sources, prevention, and blood lead level (BLL) testing. Materials included:
    • An environmental lead advertisement on the importance of hiring lead-safe certified renovation contractors
    • Media campaigns, advertisements in magazines, stores, and on gasoline pumps, flyers, brochures, and clinic posters
  • Developed educational materials and trainings for medical and health care providers on confirmatory/follow-up testing intervals and common errors in BLL testing and reporting.
  • Developed video trainings for medical personnel and social work professionals.

Guidelines and Recommendations

  • Developed standardized recommendations for testing and follow-up of children with elevated BLL.
  • Updated provider reporting forms to include full address of a family and enable census-tract-level analysis.

Care Coordination

  • Updated the care coordination protocol to refer children 37 to 48 months of age for Early Intervention/Child Find services.
  • Worked with a social work manager to increase the number of lead-affected children referred to care coordination and case management services.
  • Increased the number of confirmatory tests after the case management protocol was changed to refer all results with a BLL greater than 5 mcg/dL as well as in environmental assessments. This is likely because more children were being identified as having elevated BLLs and then referred to care coordination.
  • Developed an Alabama Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Workgroup with representatives from:
    • Care Coordination Services
    • Environmental Health
    • Children’s Health Insurance Program
    • Special Supplemental Nutritional Program for Women, Infants, and Children
    • University of Alabama Safe State
    • Injury Prevention
    • Alabama Quality Stars
    • American Academy of Pediatrics
    • Department of Housing and Urban Development
    • Voices for Alabama’s Children
    • Mobile County Community Prevention
    • Alabama Head Start Association
    • Alabama State Lab
    • Alabama Realtors Association.

Resources

Click here to view the full change package of strategies and actions that Alabama used as they worked to achieve their aims as part of the MCEH CoIIN.

Contact

Contact the Alabama Team:

https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/aclppp/

CASE STUDIES

Learn from our partners

Our CoIIN members have developed statewide actions and initiatives for lead poisoning prevention and mitigation. Included in these case studies are resources & summaries from the CoIIN state teams and partners.

Browse all case studies

Pennsylvania

By creating a pilot program, the Pennsylvania state team facilitated partnerships between Head Start centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers to increase onsite lead testing.

New Jersey

By implementing a tier system that recognizes pediatricians’ lead testing rates and conducting outreach, the New Jersey team increased testing to reflect the state’s universal screening rule.

Michigan

By working with local grantees, the Michigan state team developed trainings and toolkits to increase awareness and screening of blood lead testing for pregnant and nursing women.

Illinois

Using interactive provider trainings and informational materials, the Illinois state team increased blood lead level testing and identification in young children and pregnant women.

Iowa

The Iowa state team initiated three clinical pilot projects that increased blood lead level testing of young children and conducted data analyses to understand provider testing rates and trends.

Missouri

Through community-focused campaigns and provider report cards, the Missouri state team increased blood lead level testing of young children.

Alabama

Through a creative media campaign, the Alabama state team educated Alabamans about lead poisoning prevention and testing and increased care coordination.

Mississippi

The Mississippi state team partnered with Medicaid to assess trends in blood lead level testing and reporting and provided lead poisoning prevention education in high-need areas.

Louisiana

Through partnerships with local Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinics, the Louisiana state team educated parents and clinical providers about lead poisoning prevention and increased lead testing.