Dorchester Health Leadership Discusses Childhood Lead Poisoning

(CAMBRIDGE, Md) – Speaking of health, childhood lead poisoning is the focus in Dorchester County.

The Maryland Department of the Environment and the Dorchester County Health Department met to help discuss the issue.

The big figure in this discussion is the number of kids impacted.

In the most recent study, more than 200 local children were impacted by lead poisoning. It’s especially a problem in the Mid-Shore area.

“What makes our community a little bit different and a more higher risk community is that we have a higher percentage of older homes, as well as a higher percentage of children living in poverty in addition to these elevated blood lead levels,” says Dr. Casey Scott with the Dorchester County Health Department.

State environment officials are also focusing on how they can help local officials reduce those cases.

Fred Banks with the Maryland Department of the Environment says, “When we have local partners that are actively understand Atlanta’s a severe problem for children. It really, really helps our efforts to communicate to the people that they work with every day.”

Those numbers for childhood lead poisoning are from the most recent study conducted in 2023.