Our Participants
Over the course of the summer, research teams canvassed households throughout St. John’s to find families to take part in the LeadNL project. Team members represented the project by wearing ID badges and red project t-shirts with the LeadNL logo on the front. Materials distributed to resident's homes consisted of printed door hangers and project pamphlets with the same LeadNL logo.
Once households consented to take part in the study the next step was for participating children to have their blood tested for lead by the skilled staff of the Janeway Children's Hospital. A team of environmental samplers then returned to participant households to take samples. In order to identify which parts of a resident's home would be sampled, parents were asked to answer a questionnaire. Soil, dust, water, garden produce and paint chips were among the potential samples taken from each household. Any samples gathered were sent away to accredited laboratories to test for lead content.
Participation in this project has been completely voluntary and all test results will be kept confidential. The study report will not identify individual households or neighbourhoods. Homeowners will be provided with their own results only.
We would like to thank all the families in the St. John's area that volunteered their time to participate in our study. Families will be mailed their results once information is recorded into our database. If you have any further questions or concerns in the coming months please feel free to contact the team by email (LeadNL@mun.ca) or telephone (864-3038).