Interview with Alicia Whitehill
Alicia Whitehill is a nurse at Nebraska Methodist College and she acts as the schools community clinical coordinator. In her day-to-day work, she facilitates community relationships that provide clinical intervention. Student nurses provide that care in the context of their clinical studies. As far as lead goes, she works with public schools to conduct lead testing, which allows Nebraska Methodist students to simultaneously give back to their community and gain clinical experience.
When it comes to lead, people don’t know enough about the problem. In her time working closely with Omaha communities, this fact has become abundantly clear to Whitehill. Many people she encounters during the lead screenings she coordinates have lived in Omaha their whole lives, but they are often unaware that they are living in the largest residential Superfund site in the country.
As community clinical coordinator and nurse at Nebraska Methodist College, Whitehill is working to improve awareness. She works closely with the Omaha Public School (OPS) system, but also spreads awareness at fairs, farmers markets, and food pantries held for the local refugee community. It is hard, she notes, because there is a lot of distrust between families and the healthcare/education system.
Nebraska Methodist College provides lead testing free of charge to community members, but it requires parental consent. This isn't always easy to obtain. A sentiment sometimes held by parents in the community is, “no you’re not going to prick my kid.” Through education and awareness, these stigmas and feelings of distrust can be broken down, to ensure safety from toxic exposure. It can be very frustrating, however, because the children she sees are often already at a disadvantage. Those most at risk are often those who live in areas with aging housing stock, in communities that have been historically been redlined in which "people in poverty were forced to live".
While public health officials and nurses like Whitehill are doing what they can, only primary prevention (removing lead at the source prior to exposure) will solve this issue. If you’re seeing a nurse, more often than not it is too late; the child has already been exposed and is facing treatment and you're seeing them "at their worst point". The effects, as Dr. Khanna noted, are lifelong.
Douglas County provides education forums such as "free breakfasts that they call grab and gos" where they can "get breakfast and some education", and learn about the effects of lead as well as potential risk factors. Yet, the barrier between the community and health officials remains. Even if people are willing and interested, educational and language barriers sometimes present additional barriers. Working to decrease jargon and translate medical terminology into everday speech in important in building these relationships.