On Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 3:30 PM, the Toledo City Council's Housing, Community Development & Public Health Committee met to discuss sickle cell disease awareness and a proposed lead hazard reduction grant. Three council members were present (Brittany Jones, Theresa Gadus, Erin Kramer); four were absent. The meeting featured a presentation from the Scott Center for Observation Treatment and Transition (SCOTT), public testimony, and a detailed presentation on the city's new federal lead grant.
Sickle Cell Awareness Presentation (Dr. Scott, SCOTT)
Lead Hazard Reduction Grant (Deputy Director Colleena Ali and Program Manager Jerry Kukowski)
Yeah. And then we talked about our own items on the show. I figured I'd better be more than how we're going to have to get into the market. I don't think it's not going to take a look at the time. I call to order the housing and community development and public health committee meeting for today, Thursday, March 26th at 3:30. Please call the board. Jones here. Gaddis. Kramer here. Martinez, McPherson, Melvin, Williams, too present. Thank you. So today we have gathered to hear about Scott, an organization dedicated to sickle cell awareness, sickle cell disease, sick cell trait. This was definitely a personal thing for me, and definitely a way in order to get more awareness, considering that I have sickle cell trait, and also I know plenty of other people that have that as well, and just the work that you do definitely needs to be highlighted considering you are the only one that does this type of work here in Toledo. And also you said Michigan when we had first met as well. So we will definitely hear more about your organization, what you do about sickle cell, and then following that, we will get into the lead hazard reduction grant through the housing department to hear a little bit more about their plans when it comes to the grant as well as the lead program. So other than that, please take it away, Dr. Scott. Okay, so you're able to hear me now? Okay. Thanks for having me. And today we are going to talk about just some facts about sickle cell. Um I just want to give the disclaimer, I am not a medical professional. However, see count, you know, seek out services if that's what you need to do. And before I can start with sickle cell, I'd have to talk about my why, like how I got to this point. So I am a mother of four amazing boys, two of which have sickle cell disease, and two have sickle cell trait. Um so with that being said, everything that I do is with purpose, and I am very intentional on making sure that our community is very aware of what sickle cell is and how it impacts our community. Um, I know a lot of people think that it only impacts African Americans, but that is a myth. Um, any person of color at this point, and we'll dive into that a little bit, but I just want to make sure that we understand that this impacts our entire community. So Scott Scott stands for Scott Center for Observation Treatment and Transition. We were established in 2022 as a 501c3, and our purpose is basically to eliminate health disparities and undeserved communities, and we act as a liaison between medical professionals while we're reducing the stigmas within mental health, sickle cell, and then we also focus on infant mortality. So our goal is to make sure that we are empowering our families and our patients to have better health outcomes. We service 11 counties of Northwest Ohio, and Lucas is our biggest population, of course. Um we we do a lot of uh transition programs, which makes us the first and only nonprofit in the state of Ohio to do that for sickle cell patients while combating mental health. So there's a lot of stigmas that are associated with sickle cell disease and people of color being able to tolerate more pain, and we're trying to make sure that we're not creating more mortality or morbidity rates here in Lucas County or Northwest Ohio in general. We have our support groups. I'm also the newborn screening coordinator, so um as of March of 1990, it's been mandated in the state of Ohio to test every baby at birth, and my job is to make sure that I educate those families on their diagnosis. So there's over 250 different types of hemoglobinopathies, and I am well versed in training in those areas, and I'm the one that's educating those families. So what is sickle cell disease? If you are new to the area, you don't know what that is, it is an inherited red blood uh excuse me, an inherited red blood cell disorder that affects all of the hemoglobin in one's body. This is not contagious. You are born with this disease, so that means both of your parents carry the trait. That is the only way. You are you don't catch it later in life, you are diagnosed at birth. Um, which causes your blood cells to bl uh cause your vessels to block be blocked, as well as if severe anemia. Um it also can cause extreme pain to one's body, and as well as organ damage. So there's a lot that goes on with that. Who are impacted individuals from Saudi Arabia, India, Spanish speaking organizations, so Turkey, Greece, um, Italy, all those places, along with African Americans are impacted. So one in 365 African Americans, one in 16, uh 300 Hispanic Americans, which we know here in Toledo is very diverse. So this is why my work is very important to make sure that we know if one plus one equals two, if we have two people who have the trait, there is a 25% chance in every pregnancy to have a baby with sickle cell disease, and there's a 50% chance of having a child with sickle cell trait. So if we can start educating, even in the schools, that's something that we we typically do.