FINALLY: NJDOH LEAD STATS FOR MT HOLLY
They Refuse to Provide The Raw Data, But Give a Percentage for 2021 - 2023
The Mount Holly Reporter inquired with the NJ Dept. of Health regarding how many kids were tested in Mount Holly for lead in any given year and how many tested above the standard. They refused to provide that information even though they provide it for larger towns like Evesham.
The outlandish reason given by NJDOH was really an effort to hide behind HIPAA. They claimed that if the Reporter knew the actual numbers of kids tested and if that number was extremely low, we might then seek to find out the actual identities of those few individual children. For the record, the reason we wanted the raw numbers was to see if they reflected a large percentage of the total number of kids, or small percentage. Basically, the information we were after was a measure of compliance with testing laws, which could reflect on the ability of NJDOH to protect children.
The story had shifted from getting statistics to bringing some measure of accountability of a state agency that seemed to be avoiding it. And so we contacted the office of Assemblyman Balvir Singh where we met his Chief of Staff Andrew Dean. Mr. Dean was a relentless advocate for us with the NJDOH and I am happy to report that due to Mr. Dean’s efforts we finally got some additional information from NJDOH. It wasn’t the raw numbers we asked for, but we forces a written response.
