Lead Safe: Predictive Analytics to Prevent Lead Poisoning in Children
Channel: Chi Hack Night
Date: 2018-06-07

Lead paint was banned in the United States in 1978 because of public health dangers lead poses, especially to young children. Despite this, its legacy remains in Chicago’s old housing stock, where lead-based paint hazards, including peeling and chipping paint and lead-contaminated dust, continue to harm young children. Exposure to even a small amount of lead during childhood can cause behavior to attention problems, learning difficulties, speech and language problems, reduced IQ and failure at school.

Chicago has made great strides in reducing the number of young children exposed to lead-based paint, more work needs to be done. This is evident in the fact that in 2014, 1,197 children under 3 years of age tested positive for lead poisoning (6mcg+/dl).

Beginning 2014, Data Science for Social Good, Chicago Department of Public Health, and Department of Innovation and Technology partnered to identify homes that are most likely to contain lead-based paint hazards. The result is Lead Safe - a free, API-based analytics service for Chicago-based hospitals to receive alerts if young children are likely being exposed to elevated lead levels.

We hear from the leaders of the Lead Safe project on how it was developed is being piloted by Alliance Health Networks in the City of Chicago.

- Allison Arwady, Chief Medical Officer, Chicago Department of Public Health
- Raed Mansour, Director of Innovation, Chicago Department of Public Health
- Tom Schenk Jr., Chief Data Officer, Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology
- Avishek Kumar, Data Scientist, University of Chicago’s Center for Data Science and Public Policy
- Nita Mohanty, Chief Research Officer, AllianceChicago