Latest news with #MilwaukeeHealthDepartment
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CDC's childhood lead program is still defunct, despite Kennedy's claims
The federal government's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program is not operating, despite Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claims that it's being funded. The program's 26 staffers were placed on administrative leave in April, with terminations set for June 2, as part of a broader restructuring of federal agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. To date, none of the staffers have been reinstated, with layoffs set to take effect in less than two weeks, said Erik Svendsen, director of the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, a department within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that includes the childhood lead program. Kennedy had faced criticism in recent weeks from Democratic senators over the gutting of the program, which assisted state and local health departments with blood lead testing and surveillance. At a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Kennedy told Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that the program was still being funded. The week before, he told Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., that he had no plans to eliminate it. But Svendsen said his entire division was dissolved by HHS and can't be easily replaced. 'There are no other experts that do what we do,' he said. 'You can't just push a button and get new people because our areas of public health are so specialized.' Staffers in the childhood lead program have not received direction about how to transition their work, according to two CDC scientists familiar with the matter. Even low levels of lead exposure could put children at risk of developmental delays, learning difficulties and behavioral issues. The CDC program offered technical expertise to help under-resourced health departments prevent those outcomes. In 2023, it helped solve a nationwide lead poisoning outbreak linked to cinnamon applesauce. And it was in frequent contact with the Milwaukee Health Department this year after the city discovered dangerous lead levels in some public schools. Kennedy told Reed on Tuesday that 'we have a team in Milwaukee' offering laboratory and analytics support to the health department. But the Milwaukee Health Department said that Kennedy's statement was inaccurate, and that the city had not received any federal epidemiological or analytical support related to the lead crisis. 'Unfortunately, in this case, that is another example where the secretary doesn't have his facts straight,' said Mike Totoraitis, the city's health commissioner. Caroline Reinwald, a spokesperson for the Milwaukee Health Department, said that the federal government's only recent involvement in the lead crisis was 'a short, two-week visit from a single CDC staff member this month, who assisted with the validation of a new instrument in our laboratory.' 'This support was requested independently of the [Milwaukee Public Schools] crisis and was part of a separate, pre-existing need to expand our lab's long-term capacity for lead testing,' Reinwald said in a statement. HHS has said it will continue efforts to eliminate childhood lead poisoning through a newly created department called the Administration for a Healthy America. But Democratic lawmakers and environmental health groups question how the work can continue without reinstating staffers. 'Despite what you told me last week, that you have no intention of eliminating this program, you fired the entire office responsible for carrying it out,' Baldwin told Kennedy at Tuesday's hearing. 'Your decision to fire staff and eliminate offices is endangering children, including thousands of children in Milwaukee.' HHS did not respond to a request for comment. Kennedy did not offer new details about his agency's restructuring plan at the hearing, citing a court order that compelled the Trump administration to pause efforts to downsize the federal government. Milwaukee's lead crisis became clear to health officials in February, when the city's health department identified dangerous levels of the toxin in school classrooms, hallways and common areas, due to lead dust and deteriorating lead-based paint. Before the childhood lead program was gutted, the CDC had been meeting with the Milwaukee Health Department on a weekly basis to come up with a plan to screen tens of thousands of students for lead poisoning, Totoraitis said. The city's health department asked the CDC on March 26 to send staffers to help, Totoraitis said, but the agency fired its childhood lead team on April 1 and denied Milwaukee's request two days later. 'This is the first time in at least 75 years that the CDC has ever denied an Epi-Aid request, so it's a pretty historic moment,' he said, referring to a request for the CDC to investigate an urgent public health problem. To date, the Milwaukee Health Department has identified more than 100 schools built before 1978, when the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-based paints. Around 40 of those have been inspected, Totoraitis said. Six schools have closed since the start of the year due to lead contamination, and only two have reopened. Around 350 students in Milwaukee have been screened for lead poisoning out of 44,000 identified as having a potential risk, Totoraitis said. The city has confirmed one case linked to lead exposure in school, and two more linked to exposures at both school and home. The health department said it is investigating an additional four cases, which may involve multiple sources of exposure. Totoraitis said the department is accustomed to looking for lead in homes and rental units, but the CDC was supposed to help them scale that operation to inspect larger buildings. CDC staffers were also supposed to help set up lead screening clinics and investigate where kids had been exposed, he said. While the health department is handling those efforts on its own now, Totoraitis said it may not have the capacity to screen everyone in a timely manner. He estimated that the department could manage around 1,000 to 1,200 cases of childhood lead poisoning a year. That includes testing kids' blood lead levels, treating lead poisoning with chelation therapy (which removes heavy metals from the bloodstream) and eliminating exposures in the home by replacing windows and doors. Totoraitis said he's hoping to hire two of the terminated CDC employees for at least a couple of weeks to help address lingering questions about how to manage the crisis. Better yet, he said, 'I keep hoping to get an email from them saying, 'Hey, we got our jobs back.'' This article was originally published on
NBC News
22-05-2025
- Health
- NBC News
CDC's childhood lead program is still defunct, despite Kennedy's claims
The federal government's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program is not operating, despite Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claims that it's being funded. The program's 26 staffers were placed on administrative leave in April, with terminations set for June 2, as part of a broader restructuring of federal agencies within HHS. To date, none of the staffers have been reinstated, with layoffs set to take effect in less than two weeks, said Erik Svendsen, director of the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, a department within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that includes the childhood lead program. Kennedy had faced criticism in recent weeks from Democratic senators over the gutting of the program, which assisted state and local health departments with blood lead testing and surveillance. At a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Kennedy told Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that the program was still being funded. The week before, he told Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., that he had no plans to eliminate it. But Svendsen said his entire division was dissolved by HHS and can't be easily replaced. 'There are no other experts that do what we do,' he said. 'You can't just push a button and get new people because our areas of public health are so specialized.' Staffers in the childhood lead program have not received direction about how to transition their work, according to two CDC scientists familiar with the matter. Even low levels of lead exposure could put children at risk of developmental delays, learning difficulties and behavioral issues. The CDC program offered technical expertise to help under-resourced health departments prevent those outcomes. In 2023, it helped solve a nationwide lead poisoning outbreak linked to cinnamon applesauce. And it was in frequent contact with the Milwaukee Health Department this year after the city discovered dangerous lead levels in some public schools. Kennedy told Reed on Tuesday that 'we have a team in Milwaukee' offering laboratory and analytics support to the health department. But the Milwaukee Health Department said that Kennedy's statement was inaccurate, and that the city had not received any federal epidemiological or analytical support related to the lead crisis. 'Unfortunately, in this case, that is another example where the secretary doesn't have his facts straight,' said Mike Totoraitis, the city's health commissioner. Caroline Reinwald, a spokesperson for the Milwaukee Health Department, said that the federal government's only recent involvement in the lead crisis was 'a short, two-week visit from a single CDC staff member this month, who assisted with the validation of a new instrument in our laboratory.' 'This support was requested independently of the [Milwaukee Public Schools] crisis and was part of a separate, pre-existing need to expand our lab's long-term capacity for lead testing,' Reinwald said in a statement. The Department of Health and Human Services has said it will continue efforts to eliminate childhood lead poisoning through a newly created department called the Administration for a Healthy America. But Democratic lawmakers and environmental health groups question how the work can continue without reinstating staffers. 'Despite what you told me last week, that you have no intention of eliminating this program, you fired the entire office responsible for carrying it out,' Baldwin told Kennedy at Tuesday's hearing. 'Your decision to fire staff and eliminate offices is endangering children, including thousands of children in Milwaukee.' HHS did not respond to a request for comment. Kennedy did not offer new details about his agency's restructuring plan at the hearing, citing a court order that compelled the Trump administration to pause efforts to downsize the federal government. Milwaukee's lead crisis became clear to health officials in February, when the city's health department identified dangerous levels of the toxin in school classrooms, hallways and common areas, due to lead dust and deteriorating lead-based paint. Before the childhood lead program was gutted, the CDC had been meeting with the Milwaukee Health Department on a weekly basis to come up with a plan to screen tens of thousands of students for lead poisoning, Totoraitis said. The city's health department asked the CDC on March 26 to send staffers to help, Totoraitis said, but the agency fired its childhood lead team on April 1 and denied Milwaukee's request two days later. 'This is the first time in at least 75 years that the CDC has ever denied an Epi-Aid request, so it's a pretty historic moment,' he said, referring to a request for the CDC to investigate an urgent public health problem. To date, the Milwaukee Health Department has identified more than 100 schools built before 1978, when the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-based paints. Around 40 of those have been inspected, Totoraitis said. Six schools have closed since the start of the year due to lead contamination, and only two have reopened. Around 350 students in Milwaukee have been screened for lead poisoning out of 44,000 identified as having a potential risk, Totoraitis said. The city has confirmed one case linked to lead exposure in school, and two more linked to exposures at both school and home. The health department said it is investigating an additional four cases, which may involve multiple sources of exposure. Totoraitis said the department is accustomed to looking for lead in homes and rental units, but the CDC was supposed to help them scale that operation to inspect larger buildings. CDC staffers were also supposed to help set up lead screening clinics and investigate where kids had been exposed, he said. While the health department is handling those efforts on its own now, Totoraitis said it may not have the capacity to screen everyone in a timely manner. He estimated that the department could manage around 1,000 to 1,200 cases of childhood lead poisoning a year. That includes testing kids' blood lead levels, treating lead poisoning with chelation therapy (which removes heavy metals from the bloodstream) and eliminating exposures in the home by replacing windows and doors. Totoraitis said he's hoping to hire two of the terminated CDC employees for at least a couple of weeks to help address lingering questions about how to manage the crisis. Better yet, he said, 'I keep hoping to get an email from them saying, 'Hey, we got our jobs back.''
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pulaski High School rodent activity; MPS, parents dealing with issue
The Brief Health inspectors found signs of rodent activity inside Pulaski High School. Food operations have been temporarily shut down. The health department said the situation is not considered an infestation. MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Health Department said inspectors found signs of rodent activity inside Pulaski High School on Tuesday. Now, the school district – and parents – are dealing with the problem. The backstory The health department said inspectors found rodent droppings in the school's main kitchen, dry storage area, near the serving line, behind a cooler and in the employee break room. A dead mouse was seen on a sticky trap, and inspectors noted several structural entry points for pests – such as holes in walls and doors. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android "It's not sanitary at all, and it's definitely not safe," said parent Quianna Lucas. "Someone's kids are going to get real sick, and then they are going to have a real problem on their hands." The health department said the situation is not considered an infestation. The Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services told FOX6 it issued an order for the school to exterminate mice. What's next The Milwaukee Health Department said staff will return sometime next week to reinspect Pulaski High School. What they're saying Food operations have been temporarily shut down. The school district offered pre-packaged meals to Pulaski students, which were made off-site at another school. "I don't want her in there around rat feces. I mean, you just don't live like that, and I wouldn't want her in that environment," Lucas said. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News In a statement issued Wednesday, when the inspection report was released, an MPS spokesperson said: "Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is working closely with the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD), staff, and outside vendors to ensure that all measures are being taken to resolve a pest issue identified at Pulaski High School. The Health Department has found no evidence of food being contaminated and the site does not require closure. "MPS was notified of this issue yesterday and took immediate action to address it, working closely with the Milwaukee Health Department and utilizing licensed personnel to perform eradication measures. "This facility at Pulaski High School is one of the district's smallest food preparation sites. All food preparation areas are washed and sanitized daily and all meals prepared at this location are heat-sealed and stored in a refrigerator or freezer. "The district uses quality control measures, ensuring that if any food were ever identified as being compromised it would be destroyed." The Source Information in this report is from FOX6 News interviews, the Milwaukee Health Department, the Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pulaski High School rodent activity, food operations shut down
The Brief Food operations at Milwaukee's Pulaski High School have been shut down. Inspectors found rodent activity in the school's kitchen and other food areas. The health department said the situation is not considered an infestation. MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Health Department said food operations at Pulaski High School have been shut down due to rodent activity found during a Tuesday inspection. What they're saying In a statement to FOX6 News, the health department said inspectors found rodent droppings in the school's main kitchen, dry storage area, near the serving line, behind a cooler and in the employee break room. A dead mouse was seen on a trap, and inspectors noted several structural entry points for pests – such as holes in walls and doors. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android The health department said the situation is not considered an infestation. The Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services told FOX6 it issued an order for the school to exterminate mice. On Wednesday, MPS provided pre-packaged breakfast kits to students. The school district provided lunch that was prepared off-site at another school. In a statement, an MPS spokesperson said: "Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is working closely with the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD), staff, and outside vendors to ensure that all measures are being taken to resolve a pest issue identified at Pulaski High School. The Health Department has found no evidence of food being contaminated and the site does not require closure. "MPS was notified of this issue yesterday and took immediate action to address it, working closely with the Milwaukee Health Department and utilizing licensed personnel to perform eradication measures. "This facility at Pulaski High School is one of the district's smallest food preparation sites. All food preparation areas are washed and sanitized daily and all meals prepared at this location are heat-sealed and stored in a refrigerator or freezer. "The district uses quality control measures, ensuring that if any food were ever identified as being compromised it would be destroyed." SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News What's next MHD said it is working with Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services on next steps for Pulaski High School. Documents from the health department's food inspection report said Pulaski High School will be reinspected in a week – "on, or about" May 20. Editor's note: This report was updated to clarify the health department's role in the decision to cease food operations at Pulaski High School. The Source Information in this report is from the Milwaukee Health Department, Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services and Milwaukee Public Schools.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Milwaukee lead poisoning concerns in schools; new screening options
The Brief Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Health Department are offering new lead screening options to students. The next screening option happens on Wednesday, May 7 at North Division High School. To date, lead cleaning work in MPS has already cost the district roughly $2 million. MILWAUKEE - More lead screenings are underway in Milwaukee. It is an effort to get as many Milwaukee Public Schools students checked for lead. More lead screenings What we know The tables are set inside North Division High School cafeteria. They are ready to receive Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) students on Wednesday, May 7. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android A lead screening clinic will be held. Officials said they have the capacity to provide screenings for 300 students. The screening comes as MPS tackles the ongoing lead crisis at the district's schools. Most recently Westside Academy was added to the list of schools closed. Later in May, Brown Street Academy will be added to the list of of schools that will be shut down for cleaning. What they're saying "With the contractors that they are bringing on board, it's becoming more systematic, and we believe they will be able to scale up and do work more quickly. So we hope to see progress more swiftly and urgently," said Tyler Weber, Milwaukee Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health. Weber said MPS is working with the Wisconsin health department after the CDC denied a request for help. Tyler Weber "It would've been significantly helpful if we had the team or a handful a team from the CDC to help us. We can still work with the state, but we are having to make a lot of decisions on our own that are new to us," Weber said. The screening process Dig deeper During a walk-through on Tuesday, May 6, FOX6 News was able to get a look at the lead kits that will be used for screening. The Milwaukee Health Department says the screening process will involve registration, testing and education. "The most important piece besides remediating the lead hazards as best we can as quickly as we can is getting everyone tested," Weber said. What's next As of May 6, MPS officials said a total of six schools have been closed. The plan is to inspect about 100 buildings that were built before 1978 – all before the end of 2025. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News To date, lead cleaning work has already cost the district roughly $2 million. The Source The information in this post was provided by Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Health Department.
