Making older homes a safer haven for young families
After five years, the Lead-Free Families initiative is proving the impact of a health system investing in safe homes.
2 min. read
“We didn’t think that we had lead here, but it turned out that we did,” says Karah Witmer, a mom of two young children and homeowner in Lancaster County. The home Witmer and her husband bought was to raise a family—little did they know that home, built in 1920, had the potential to inflict permanent damage on their future children. Thankfully, when Witmer was in the hospital before giving birth, they learned that Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health had a program that could identify and protect them from any potentially harmful lead in their homes. The Witmers signed up for testing right away.
The Witmer family is now protected from the dangers of lead poisoning after having their home remediated.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)
The home test came back positive for lead paint. The Lead-Free Families team came to their home to begin the lead remediation process, and now, Karah says, “It’s a big relief knowing we are raising our kids in a home that’s safe for them and we don’t have to worry.”
Hundreds of Lancaster County families are safe from the dangers of lead poisoning—and more help is coming. Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health is only halfway through a 10-year effort to rid the county of the household hazard.
Lead poisoning is almost completely preventable, but it can result in serious and lifelong health and developmental issues for young children. That’s why, in 2021, Lancaster General Health began Lead-Free Families and invested $50 million to address lead hazards within the community.
The comprehensive lead-abatement initiative was the first of its kind in the U.S. to be funded and led by a health system. Lancaster, with its disproportionate number of homes built before 1978, when lead paint was banned, and a high percentage of children under 7, had a public health problem to solve. Lancaster General Health saw this as an opportunity to make a unique health care investment, one within the homes of its patients.
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