'This keeps elevating to that level': Amid spreading lead-in-schools crisis, first testing clinic opens Saturday

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The first MPS-sponsored lead testing clinic will open Saturday morning, March 15. On Friday we got a preview of what students and families will experience.

The clinic is completely free and will operate at Bradley Tech from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Health officials say the clinic is critical because they need to know if children are sick from lead poisoning.

But this crisis is likely to grow, as three more schools have concerning lead levels.

Tyler Weber is the Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health at the Milwaukee Health Department. At a clinic walk-through Friday, he said, "We are not going to know the true extent of this issue unless children are screened."

Health officials are encouraging as many students as possible to get tested for lead poisoning at the clinic. And they're prepared for many of them to test positive.

"Given the exposure, sadly I would not surprised," Weber said.

The Milwaukee Health Department is partnering with Children's Wisconsin and Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers.

90 staff members will administer up to 440 tests. The clinic is for children only.

Here's how the clinic will work:

• Families will register first
• Students will go to an open station where they'll get a fingertip prick
• If those results show traces of lead, they'll then get a full blood draw for a full test
• Those results will take a few days to get back from the lab
• Regardless of the result, every student and family will leave with information on how to stay lead safe.

At least 53 MPS elementary schools were built before lead paint was banned. The health department treats those buildings as guilty until proven innocent.

MPS is already preparing for the possibility of more closures.

Kevin Hafemann, the district's Emergency Operations Manager, said Friday, "It's our hope that it's never more schools. But we do have a plan in place that we're going to start working through those."

Health officials are also trying to get more testing clinics up and running.

But, Weber said, "We are very strained for resources. This is partially why we're trying to find out what staff can we get from other agencies."

For weeks, the health department has engaged state and federal agencies. The EPA is now involved, at the health department's request.

Weber explained it's "Just a different body with a different group of experience and different authority for us to share ideas and challenges in how to navigate this together."

But this first lead clinic comes just days before three more MPS schools will close because of concerning lead levels.

The health department worries it's the tip of a crisis. "This keeps elevating to that level for us. And we're very nervous with the more schools we go into," said Weber.

The health department does not know how long those schools will be closed. It depends on how quickly the MPS facilities staff and contractors can clean the buildings.