Published 03-30-23
Submitted by Quest Diagnostics
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health), with Quest for Health Equity (Q4HE), is providing laboratory blood lead testing at no charge to residents who may have been exposed to higher levels of lead and arsenic in communities surrounding the closed Exide battery recycling facility in Vernon, California.
Interested households may call the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Hotline at 1.800.LA.4.LEAD (1.800.524.5323) to set up an appointment to get their blood tested. Families can rest assured that results are
confidential.
Residents also may qualify for Public Health’s Lead Free Homes LA program. This program provides lead-based paint hazard testing and remediation at no charge to residential housing of low-income families in Los Angeles County and those affected by Exide. The Exide area includes the communities of Bell, Maywood, Commerce, Huntington Park, parts of Boyle Heights, Vernon, and unincorporated East Los Angeles. For more information, families can visit www.leadfreehomesla.com.
“Lead poisoning is preventable, and access to blood lead testing is a critical part of our remediation program,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.Ed., Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “We are committed to helping people remove lead paint in their homes and yards, so they and their families are safe from environmental hazards that disproportionately have affected people living in under-resourced communities.”
Families can take action today by:
- Setting an appointment for a blood lead test
- Visiting the Lead Free Homes LA website for testing and remediation of lead-based paint hazards in their homes
- Signing up for soil testing and cleanup for their properties at Exide Residential Cleanup | Department of Toxic Substances Control (ca.gov).
“We are proud to offer lab testing services to support this important public health initiative in Los Angeles County,” said Michael Floyd, Senior Director, Q4HE. “The diagnostic insights these lab services provide will help residents who are impacted by lead-based paint in their homes get timely, appropriate care. We look forward to working with Public Health to help create healthier living environments for communities and residents within the program’s footprint.”
Click here to learn more about the comprehensive services Public Health offers in Los Angeles County.
Quest Diagnostics works across the healthcare ecosystem to create a healthier world, one life at a time. We provide diagnostic insights from the results of our laboratory testing to empower people, physicians and organizations to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from one of the world's largest databases of de-identifiable clinical lab results, Quest's diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives and create a healthier world.
More from Quest Diagnostics