By Matt Leingang
Enquirer staff writer

Members of various churches will go door to door in Covington July 24 to encourage parents to have their children screened for lead poisoning.

Testing will be available that day at Holy Family Catholic School.

"Lead is an issue that parents need to talk about," said Dawn Ramsey, a Covington resident and member of the Amos Project, a band of 40 congregations in Greater Cincinnati devoted to helping low-income families.

Lead can cause neurological damage and problems with attention span and intellectual development.

Despite lead being removed from house paint in 1978 and from gasoline in the mid-1980s, and despite education and abatement efforts by health officials, lead still lingers in the air, soil, walls and woodwork of tens of thousands of area homes.

High-risk neighborhoods include Newport and Covington, where the housing stock is older, Ramsey said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says children suffer intellectual impairment at blood-lead levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter.

In Kentucky, 4,200 children may be affected by lead poisoning, according to the state health department.

Amos is teaming up with the Northern Kentucky Health Department, which is expanding its lead screening to get a better idea of the problem in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties.

In 2003, the Northern Kentucky Health Department screened 1,937 children for lead. Of those, 4.3 percent had a lead level greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter. An additional 17 percent had levels between 5 and 9 micrograms per deciliter - an amount that still poses risks, spokeswoman Emily Gresham said.

For children with blood levels over 10 deciliters, the health department will provide a home visit and advise parents on ways to reduce the risks of lead exposure, including keeping children away from peeling paint.

If you go

What: Family Health Fair with free lead screenings

When: Saturday, July 24

10 a.m. to noon: Members of Amos, a faith-based coalition, will canvass Covington to encourage parents to have their children tested for lead poisoning.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Lead testing and family health fair at Holy Family

Catholic School, 338 E. 16th St., Covington.

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E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com