Contact: Ernie Blazar 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Monday, July 7, 2003

ST. LOUIS - Kit Bond today announced the St. Louis community leaders who have agreed to help oversee the Senator's $15 million, three-year lead abatement program for St. Louis. Eighteen community and medical leaders will serve as an advisory panel for the effort which will be administered by Grace Hill Neighborhhood Health Center.

"A lead abatement program of this large size requires the involvement of all parts of the community and that is why I am so pleased that members of the clergy, local political leaders and so many medical experts have agreed to work together on the advisory panel," said Bond. "We now have the right mix of community knowledge and medical know-how to help protect pregnant women and children in St. Louis from the terrible dangers of lead poisoning."

The eighteen advisory panel members are: Robert Brandhorst, Executive Director, Youth Education and Health in Soulard; Greg Carter, Alderman, City of St. Louis (27th Ward) and Chairman of Hospital and Health Commission; Dr. Sessions Cole, St. Louis Children’s Hospital Maida Coleman, State Senator, District 5; Harold Crumpton, NAACP; Rev. William Gillespie, Pastor, Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church; Betty Kerr, Executive Director, The Peoples Clinic; Davina Lane, CEO, Health Care USA; Maxine Lipeles, Director, the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic, Washington University School of Law; Nancy Litzinger, Director, Child and Family Advocacy, St. Louis Children’s Hospital; Judy McDaniel, Private Lead Abatement Contractor; Judy Riehl, Executive Director, St. Louis Lead Prevention Coalition; Rev. Jerry Paul President, Deaconess Foundation; Joe Pierle, CEO, Missouri Primary Care Association; Dr. Fernando Serrano, Environmental Health Division, St. Louis University School of Public Health; Joe Squillace, Health Policy Analyst, Citizens for Missouri’s Children; Sue Stepleton, President/CEO, Parents as Teachers; and Melva Taylor, North St. Louis Community Member.

As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Bond pledged in February 2003 to secure $15 million over the next three years for lead abatement and lead poisoning prevention and treatment in St. Louis.

Bond chose Grace Hill because of its 100-year history of good work in St. Louis and the organization’s day-to-day contact and reach within many of the St. Louis neighborhoods where lead poisoning is most prevalent. Grace Hill's programs touch families in the zip codes which contain the six highest rates of new cases and existing cases of lead poisoning among children (63107, 63118,63113, 63120, 63112 and 63115. Grace Hill has played a key role in addressing lead poisoning prevention and follow up care through innovative strategies and applying the principles of Chronic Care Management to lead poisoning care, such as self-management, peer coaching, MIS supported patient tracking and teaching patients how to clean their homes to reduce lead dust.

In the first year of Bond's $15 million lead abatement program, more than 300 homes will be made lead safe and over 2000 families will be assisted with primary prevention activities through a partnership with Peoples, Myrtle Hilliard Davis and Family Care Health Centers.

More specifically, funds will be used to provide:

* Parent and prospective parent education,

* Inspection of homes of perinatal parents and infants,

* Demonstrations and instructions for the effective cleaning of lead dust,

* Cleaning kits for families,

* Blood tests for perinatal parent to identify levels of 5mg/dl or more,

* Remediation and abatement of homes with lead hazards.

Senator Kit Bond served Missouri twice as Governor and now continues his service in his third term in the United States Senate.