The Trail Area Health & Environment Program (THEP) is more than just soil, and Lead Facilitator Michelle Laurie wants residents to know what services are available to the community.
Today, Thursday October 10, this journalist was treated to a guided tour of Trail to see the benefits to the community through the THEP initiative, and to see the monitoring infrastructure in place to track the effects of air emissions from the Teck Trail Operations smelter.
“By walking the community of Trail, you can see all the important aspects that we work on including air quality, soil management, our built environments, such as our homes, and community centers and health facilities.” said Laurie.
“We are highlighting this as not everyone can see it or not everyone knows all the different intrigue areas of the Health and Environment Program.”
THEP focuses on four pillars; air, soil, health and built environments, keeping the community at the heart of all they do.
“We aim to reduce exposure to lead for families and the community, and a lot of that is driven by air quality.”
“However, some of the other things that we see more visibly is in our home visiting, how we remove dust from the home or how they may have lead paint in the home that is chipping or flaking away,”
“Also, we can look at your soil from historical emissions from many years ago that are still present.”
The program has a large focus on care for children aged 3 and under and promoting prevention strategies to help reduce inhalation and incidental ingestion.
Laurie says the most common misconception is that soil replacement is the most significant exposure risk for children and that is simply not true.
“It’s certainly something that we can do and it’s visible however, it’s not the only one source of exposure or potential exposure to a child. For example, in many of the older homes we have lead paint which could be chipping and peeling which can be a risk.”
“It creates dust in the home or maybe its tracking in things from outdoors and diet, we’ve found an iron-rich diet reduces the absorption of lead.”
“So, sometimes it’s multiple factors and often it’s many small things that contribute,”
“We would love to have a simple solution, but often you have to make small changes in different parts of your life.”
THEP encourages expecting parents or parents of young children to visit the THEP website and find out what free services are available.
What is THEP?
THEP has been supporting the community of Trail and surrounding areas to live, work and play in an area influenced by smelter air emissions.
THEP focuses on air, soil, health, built environments (e.g. homes, daycares, fences, sheds, civic buildings, etc.), community connection and understanding the interrelationships between focus areas.
THEP aims to be an accessible entry point for community members to learn about the issues, ask questions and find support.
Building community connections help ensure support reaches those who need it. A culture of sharing and learning helps to ensure programming, and resources have maximum impact.
THEP is implemented by a range of partners including the City of Trail, Teck Trail Operations, Interior Health and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
Something going on in your part of the Kootenays you think people should know about? Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
