SOUTH BEND — Zach and Rachel Schrank moved to the Near Northwest Neighborhood four years ago, settling into a 95-year-old home in an area that ranks among the worst in the state for lead poisoning.
So when the opportunity arose to have their children — Viola, 3, and Ansel, 4 — tested for the potentially fatal contaminant free of charge, they jumped at it.
“They’ve been lead-tested before,” Zach Shrank said. “But we live in an old home, and we know the neighborhood we live in is at a higher risk for lead, and there’s really no safe level of lead in the body.”
The Schranks were among dozens of parents to take advantage of a “Get the Lead Out” event hosted Saturday by the Near Northwest Neighborhood, University of Notre Dame Eck Institute for Global Health and Indiana University South Bend.
The event, open to all city residents but focused on those on the near northwest side, offered free lead testing for children younger than 7 and pregnant women, plus free ice cream for anyone who got tested.
“It takes about 30 seconds,” Zach Schrank said of the test, which entailed pricking each child’s finger and collecting a small sample of blood. “And it’s painless, too.”
Brother and sister enjoyed ice cream with sprinkles afterward.
The St. Joseph County Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program conducted the testing, which took place at the Near Northwest Neighborhood Community Center.