January is Radon Action Month, and the Kenosha County Division of Health is again offering home test kits for half price, just $5.
People are encouraged to test their homes for elevated levels of this odorless, radioactive gas that is the nation’s second leading cause of lung cancer, accounting for roughly 20,000 deaths annually.
“Testing your home is an easy thing to do, and it could save lives,” said Brad Wozniak, public health sanitarian in the Kenosha County Division of Health. “I encourage people to take advantage of our half-price offer, and to tell their friends and neighbors about it.”
This test kit offer is available through Walworth County Public Health, a partner in the Kenosha/Walworth Radon Information Center, funded through a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The $5 fee includes the test kit, postage to send it to the testing lab in Massachusetts, and the requisite lab analysis.
The test kit includes a small vile that must be left open to the air in the lowest livable level of a home – usually the basement – for 48 to 50 hours. The vile is then capped and mailed to Accustar Labs, which generally provides the results within three days via mail, email or telephone.
Those whose homes test at an elevated level of radon are urged to contact Wozniak for more information about mitigation options.
To obtain a test kit, residents may visit the Kenosha County Division of Health in Suite 600 of the Kenosha County Job Center, 8600 Sheridan Road, Kenosha, or contact Wozniak at 262-605-6746 or Brad.Wozniak@kenoshacounty.org. The half-price rate is available to anyone who presents or mentions the coupon, available at the Division of Health or on the Kenosha County website at http://bit.ly/KCRadonCoupon2020.
Those in western Kenosha County, in particular, may also pick up kits at the Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services, W4051 County Road NN, Elkhorn.
More information about the Radon Information Center is available online at http://www.kenoshacounty.org/338/Radon. To stay up to date with this and other public health programs locally, follow the Kenosha County Division of Health on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KenoshaCountyHealth.