Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/198024
Unusual Nurses 3_No Ginn 2 box 4/1/10 3:12 PM Page 25 Not all of Miller's cases are so dramatic, but they all start the same way. Every lab result in Stanislaus County that reports more than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood gets sent to her office, where she contacts families, helping them to pinpoint the cause of the poisoning. Often, the home itself is the problem. Lead paint in older homes or lead in pipes can make one sick. Sometimes, the contaminant comes from kitchen pots or even candies. "I'm a nurse, so I'm a fixer," Miller said. "If I can help people fix something, I'm a happy girl." Miller likes the freedom the job gives her: She spends her days visiting families, working with other county officials, attending health fairs and designing public-awareness campaigns on the dangers of lead poisoning. Once a family is identified, she works with the family and the doctor until the lead levels return to an acceptable range. "What I like best and the challenge of this job are the same thing," Miller said. "I like working with the families. I like the oneon-one individual interaction. Parents generally are very motivated to help their children—usually more motivated for their kids than MARCH 2010 they are for themselves. But it's sometimes hard to convince a family that it's really an issue. There are no symptoms for lead poisoning. You can't see it until later, when the child is developing or having learning or behavior or attitude problems at school." Then there are the cases that make it all worth it, like that of a two-year-old girl who was diagnosed with lead poisoning from the pipes in her house. Miller said the mother took the problem seriously immediately and moved the family. She also followed Miller's other suggestions to beef up her daughter's calcium consumption (because the bones recognize lead as calcium and calcium absorption declines) and add cilantro to the girl's diet. According to some studies, cilantro is a natural chelator of heavy metals and can accelerate the excretion of the toxic metal. The girl's lead levels came down immediately. "It's gratifying when people make changes and learn something," said Miller. "I want to be part of that solution." Heather Boerner is a freelance health writer in San Francisco. W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N AT I O N A L N U R S E 25