Heart to Heart Helps JayDoc Clinic Screen for Lead Poisoning

OLATHE, Kan./December 7, 2009 — Heart to Heart International Inc., one of America’s most efficient humanitarian organizations, announced today that it is providing a lead analyzer and laboratory volunteers to help JayDoc Clinic screen patients for lead poisoning. Purchase of the lead analyzer was made possible through funding from sanofi aventis, which supports Heart to Heart’s local and global health initiatives.

“The JayDoc Clinic staff recently shared the need for a lead analyzer for pediatric health screenings,” said Dr. Florence Ndikum-Moffor, Heart to Heart’s program manager for U.S. Healthcare. “Thanks to the donation from sanofi aventis, we were able to address this need and ultimately help the staff and patients of this free clinic.”

Lead poisoning is called a “silent” epidemic, because it has no obvious symptoms and often goes unrecognized. Left undiagnosed, lead poisoning can lead to learning disabilities, behavioral problems, short-term memory loss, seizures, comas, and even death (at very high levels). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead poisoning is the primary environmental threat to children, especially those in low-income families living in poor urban communities—similar to those served by local safety-net clinics, such as the JayDoc Clinic.

JayDoc Clinic administrators indicated that lead testing will be a valuable service to offer the community and would also provide medical students with another educational opportunity for their patient population.

Heart to Heart’s local health initiatives are supported in part by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas, whose one-year grant is helping Heart to Heart improve the quality of patient care at safety-net clinics through donations of in-kind products, such as pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter medications, medical supplies, and diagnostic instruments.

The combination of corporate funding and foundation grants made this lead-analyzer purchase possible, and it underscores how Heart to Heart International is using its scope and scale of operations to positively impact community health.