Those screened for lead in blood find relief but remain frustrated

Staff report

SEBRING

Cara Gainor is grateful that an unhealthy lead level was not found in her 4-month-old son, Grayson, but slightly offsetting her relief was frustration.

“Why couldn’t you have told us when this first happened?” the Sebring woman asked.

Gainor was referring to the several months that have passed between when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency tested for and found elevated lead and copper levels in drinking water from the Sebring village distribution system and when she and other residents said they learned of the finding.

As a result, Gainor and dozens of other breast-feeding or pregnant women came to a free clinic Sunday at B.L. Miller Elementary School, 506 W. Virginia Ave., to undergo blood-lead screenings. Also being tested at the four-hour clinic were children under age 6.

None of those tested during the beginning of the screenings today had elevated lead levels.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.