Health Impacts of Lead Exposure: Enhance, Engage, & Empower Community Awareness

The proposed slate of activities complements a National Library of Medicine (NLM) traveling exhibit entitled “This Lead is Killing Us: A History of Citizens Fighting Lead Poisoning in Their Communities.”[1] which explores how citizens have confronted lead industries, housing authorities, and elected officials to protect their health against the dangers of lead poisoning. The associated activities will be held on campus and in partnership with the local public library, the Alachua County Library District (ACLD). These events seek to enhance local awareness about the health impacts of lead exposure, promote access to NLM health information resources, and empower community members’ confidence to make informed decisions regarding their health. Community outreach events include movie screenings, adult and youth reading and discussion clubs, a related citizen science presentation, a speaker panel of experts, and an additional exhibit on lead toxicity curated by Health Science Center Librarians.

Details of outreach activities include:

• Community screenings of Nova’s documentary: Poisoned Water (Poisoned Water)

 • Online Adult Reading & Discussion Club: What the Eyes Don’t See (What the Eyes Don’t See)

 • In-Person Youth Reading & Discussion Club: Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation (Poisoned Water)

• Citizen Science demonstration of a simple at-home test to identify and record data on residential water infrastructure for Crowd the Tap program (Crowd the Tap - SciStarter)

• Speaker Panel: Health Impacts of Lead Exposure: Enhancing, Engaging, & Empowering Community Awareness

• Health Science Center Library curated exhibit on lead toxicity

[1] https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/thisleadiskillingus/index.html