Norwich — While the Flint, Mich., water crisis has drawn national attention to the potential problem with lead-contaminated drinking water, Norwich city and health officials are grappling with two emergencies stemming from a more common problem in a city with an aged housing stock — lead paint contamination.

Two children under age 6, in separate cases living at different properties, recently tested positive for highly elevated lead contamination levels, with one child needing hospitalization for a level of 57 micrograms per deciliter — more than 10 times the level that triggers monitoring by the Uncas Health District.

The health district starts monitoring children when lead levels reach 5 micrograms per deciliter.

The second child had an elevated blood lead level of 27 initially, which has since dropped to below 20, city officials said.

A blood lead level of up to 44 micrograms per deciliter is considered mild intoxication, a level between 45 and 69 is considered moderate, and 70 or higher is considered severe, said Dr. William Horgan, medical director of the emergency department at The William W. Backus Hospital and a pediatric emergency physician.

The cases prompted swift action by the Uncas Health District, Norwich Human Services and the city Community Development office, which oversees the city’s federally funded lead abatement program.

Uncas Health District learned of the two cases through pediatricians who had tested the children during routine physicals.

But the timing of the cases also presented those departments with logistical and funding dilemmas, Community Development Supervisor Gary Evans said, coming to light two months after the city’s recent $2.1 million lead abatement grant ended, and a month before the federal application for a new nearly $3 million grant is submitted. 

The family of the child with the higher lead level needed to move out of the Taftville apartment, and under the city’s lead grant program would have qualified to move into the city-owned “lead safe” house next door to the Community Development office.

But with that program on hold, the lead safe house is undergoing repairs, including the fixing of a water leak, that made it unavailable, Evans said.

Instead, Norwich Human Services used funding in its basic needs budget to house the family in a hotel immediately for a few nights while awaiting an inspection of the apartment by the Uncas Health District, Human Services Director Lee Ann Gomes said.

On Wednesday, the health district tested the property — using a lead testing device paid for through a past city lead abatement grant, Health District Director Patrick McCormack said — and issued a health condemnation order.

“As the child cannot continue to reside in the dwelling given the blood lead level and the toxic levels of lead found, 55 South A Street Taftville is declared unfit for human habitation and hereby condemned,” the March 30 Uncas Health District letter stated.

Land records show that the house is owned by Richard and Alicia Hansen.

A relocation lien now will be placed on the property at 55 S. A St. in Taftville for up to $4,800 to cover the family’s moving costs and a potential rent differential, Human Services Director Lee Ann Gomes said. No other children live in the home.

The second child was in an owner-occupied home, and the family has received training and cleaning instructions to reduce lead exposure, community development officials said.

“We work together, the city, Uncas Health and (community development)," Gomes said. “The lead grant really was instrumental in helping out with these cases.”

City and health district officials said they could not provide specific information about the two families and the children’s treatment, citing federal medical privacy laws.

Horgan said lead poisoning in young children is especially dangerous, because their developing bodies absorb minerals — such as much-needed iron — from their stomachs at three times the rate of adults.

Children also are more easily exposed to lead paint flakes or dust on window sills and floors or outdoors in soil or even in toys, antique jewelry or dinnerware.

In moderate to severe cases, the child would be treated for lead poisoning, first by inducing a bowel movement to ensure that any lead in the stomach or intestines is quickly removed.

The children then are treated with chelation, usually a pill that binds lead within the body and helps remove it from the system through the digestive tract.

Horgan said children with high levels can be hospitalized to ensure that the child receives the proper doses three times a day and to watch for side effects.

Hospitalization also ensures the child is removed immediately from the potential source of the lead exposure, he said.

Horgan said in eastern Connecticut, lead paint is the most common source of lead toxicity, but not necessarily from the child’s own home.

If parents work as painters or in certain industrial trades, they might carry lead contamination on their clothing or tools when they return home.

Lead-contaminated soil and paint dust also are overlooked potential sources, he said.

Most cases are discovered through pediatric screenings or through screenings routinely done by local health departments.

Uncas Health District offers lead screenings at numerous locations, including schools, child care centers, health fairs and events at Otis Library, McCormack said.

If an elevated level is detected through the simple finger-prick tests, the parents are referred to their pediatrician for a more thorough test, McCormack said.

About 80 percent of Norwich’s 18,000 housing units were built before 1978, when lead paint was banned.

The Norwich Community Development office had been successful in obtaining the highly competitive lead abatement grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, receiving four three-year grants in succession.

But the funding in the latest $2.1 million grant ended in February, Evans said.

The new grant application, $2.5 million for lead abatement and $400,000 for non-lead health and safety improvements to the homes, is due April 28.

The city would have to contribute at least a 10 percent match, which is done using funds from the federal community development block grant, Evans said.

No city taxpayer money has been used for the lead abatement and family education program, he said.

Wayne Sharkey, rehabilitation specialist for the community development office, said the lead abatement grants have been used to clean “hundreds of units” of lead, including 250 units during the last six years.

The funding includes operating the two-family safe house as temporary quarters for families whose homes are being abated.

An extensive education program teaches parents how to avoid lead exposure and helps fund the health screenings done by Uncas Health District.

In the case of a lead emergency, such as the recent two cases, Evans said if a lead abatement grant was in place, his office would have moved the family into the lead-safe house and worked with the property owner to apply for lead abatement funds if they met income qualifications limits.

"We're making an impact," Evans said, "but when it's not funded, the impact stops." 

c.bessette@theday.com