A RECENT ADDITION to the health education material of the Minnesota Department of Health is a brief, easy-to-read brochure titled "Getting Your Child Ready for School" (1). There is nothing novel in the concept of a pamphlet for parents with preschool children that carries the same kind of health message as does a personal visit from health workers to parents. What singles out this pamphlet for special attention are the pretesting techniques applied in the evaluation of the material before its publication. Greenberg and associates (2) point out that no matter how satisfactorily a piece of literature might appear to fulfill its intended goals, there still remains the need for adequate testing. Preferably, this testing should be done in advance of publication, for, as Knutson (3) Mrs. Ford, a former magazine editor and journalist, has, since 1949, been health education consultant in the section of public health education, Minnesota Department of Health. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she also obtained her degree in public health. Dr. Hartman, formerly with the Minneapolis Health Department as a maternal and child health physician, has, since February 1953, been pediatric consultant in the section of maternal and child health, Minnesota Department of Health. She took her master's degree in pediatrics at the University of
THE occurrence of lead poisoning among small children living in poorly maintained homes in some centers of population in parts of the United States has been well established {1-4). Studies on urinary lead levels in the absence of symptoms of lead poisoning have been mentioned less frequently in the literature. This study was undertaken to determine whether or not abnormally high urinary lead levels might be found among Minneapolis children even in the absence of lead poisoning symptoms. While no deaths from lead poisoning among small children have been reported to the Min¬ neapolis Health Department for several years, and no diagnosed cases have been referred to the health department for followup, it was felt that there was enough uncertainty to warrant a study of urinary lead levels among small children attending well-child clinics. Screening in Clinics The children chosen for the study were those attending the well-child clinic at the Minne¬ apolis Public Health Center, which is operated four times per week, with an average caseload of 17 per session. The clinic was chosen chiefly because the participating children come from all parts of the city rather than from any one The authors are all with the Minneapolis Health Department, where Dr. Hartman is director of the bureau of maternal and child health, Dr. Park, chief of the occupational health service, and Mr. Nelson, public health chemist. area. This clinic has an additional advantage in that it is in the same building as the city public health laboratory. Financial eligibility standards restrict the families attending to
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