Tamara, can you come to my home and make sure my stuff is safe for my family?

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Question:Tamara, can you come to my home and make sure my stuff is safe for my family?
Answer: “Why yes! I can do that!”

Tamara Rubin is currently booking for May / June 2024 In-Person Home Consultations


What is a Lead Safe Mama “Healthy Home Consultation”?

First we want to clarify what it is not.

  • A Lead Safe Mama healthy home consultation is not a “Hazard Assessment.*
  • We are not associated with a hazard assessor or laboratory – and do not claim to be.
  • We do not provide an official report or written summary with our work.
  • This work is also not medical advice; I am not a doctor or healthcare provider, and we do not work directly with anyone in the medical professions (although it can be complementary to your work with your doctor — especially if you have tested positive for metals in your blood, urine or hair).
*If you need a written report or a hazard assessment for any reason, I can make recommendations to professionals in your area who do this sort thing.

What it is: It’s more of a personalized educational experience!

Think of your Lead Safe Mama healthy home consultation as a one-on-one class; an educational opportunity tailored just for you and your family, during which we look at your environment (your home, your consumer goods and how you interact with those things each day) to find potential sources of heavy metal exposure for yourself or other members of your family and to suggest safer alternatives for items of concern.

In Lead Safe Mama home consultations, we often look for sources of the following metals in your environment:

  • Arsenic,
  • Cadmium,
  • Lead,
  • Mercury,
  • Antimony,
  • Cobalt,
  • Barium,
  • Tin,
  • Nickel,
  • ….and many other metals about which you may have concerns.

You are not alone in taking this “class”!

In fact, State health departments, universities, hospitals, and other agencies across the country (including EPA offices!) have hired me (Tamara Rubin, Owner of Lead Safe Mama, LLC) to coordinate and to lead collaborative community educational presentations for which attendees (including doctors, nurses, teachers, contractors and others) often get continuing education credits (CEUs) from their local relevant state agency (for example their local health department) for attending these events, and participating in this conversation. This is your opportunity for a class like this — but one that is 100% tailored to your individual needs / to answer your questions – and to look for safer choices for your family.


Complementary Inquiries

If you have not yet had a heavy metals urine, blood, or hair test done by your doctor, these tests can be useful tools to have on hand for our visit – and we do encourage our families to ask their doctors if a heavy metals panel would be appropriate in their particular situation. Heavy metals panels often are presented as a bar graph, and if there are specific metals that you test positive for (at unsafe levels, as determined by your doctor), we can be on the lookout for sources of those specific metals in your environment.


Nuts and Bolts

Before your home consultation

  • In preparation for our visit, I often speak with you in advance (or communicate via text or Facebook messages), to help you focus your questions for the time we will spend together.
  • Most families I work with take time in the week or so before our visit to pull things out for testing that they want answers about. This might include things in storage or things that are normally stored in cabinets that are not easily accessible. This is not required but it can be helpful in making the most efficient use of our time together. It is best if these items can be set on a kitchen counter or dining room table (so we can review as much as possible during our time together.)

During your home consultation
[For consultations involving XRF testing]

  • Your presence is required for the duration of the consultation.
  • I come to your home and give you a brief introduction to the process and the instrument that I use. 
  • I give you specially designed note pads that you can use to take notes of our visit (or you may choose to take notes on a computer or in your own notebook). Some families write out organized lists in advance of our visit and take their notes on these pre-printed lists (or lists on their computer), but this is not necessary.
  • Together we do a walk through of your home and you explain to me how you use each room and who spends the most time in which rooms (including garages and outdoor spaces.) We discuss your work and hobbies to help give context for any possible exposures that might happen outside of the home.
  • We test consumer goods you have set aside specifically for testing.
  • We test larger items around the house  – like furniture (including beds and mattresses)
  • We test soil in any areas that are concerning.

After your home consultation

After I leave I try to provide as much support as you might need in response to my visit. Specifically, I make myself available for follow-up questions (via Text or e-mail) and get you links to research and other documentation (about products, specific potential toxicant exposure situations and possible impacts on your family) to the degree that I can.


Q. Where do you do these home consultations?
A. I will come to you wherever you are!

I currently live in Portland, Oregon and travel frequently to:

  • The San Francisco Bay Area
  • The Los Angeles Area [including Santa Monica & Orange County]
  • The Denver, Colorado Area
  • The Boston, Massachusetts area
  • New York City (and surrounds)

If I am already scheduled to be in the area – I have a flat rate for a three-to-four hour home consultation (within an hour drive of where I am going to be), and do not charge for travel time. If you are more than an hour from where I will be I will need to charge for travel time.  If I am not already scheduled to be in an area for another event or visit, I need to charge a day-rate for both the work day for a visit as well as for the travel days to get to and from the location. Rates are on this LINK.


Here are the background posts I usually share with people who are interested in having a #HealthyHomeConsultation with me:

  1. The index of items here on this site that I have tested with an XRF instrument. LINK
  2. Things I recommend testing with a LeadCheck swab. LINK
  3. Things I recommend testing with an XRF instrument. LINK
  4. A post about the testing methodologies I use in my work. LINK
  5. How to book Tamara for a 2024 home consultation (including rates): LINK

Please let me know if you have any questions. Texting is best if you are interested in booking a consultation with me: 415-609-3182.

Tamara Elise Rubin
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC


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27 Comments

  1. Hello! Can I send you some toys I bought by mistake from China? I will obviously pay for shipping, but I would love for you to test!

  2. Come back to New Orleans!!! Lead is horrible here! I think I saw NOLA featured in MISlead. ❤️ Thanks for all you do!!

    1. I’m coming at the end of April and don’t have any plans there yet. I am working on lining up some community events and will also have availability for home consultations if you are interested. Email me: TamaraRubin@mac.com

      Tamara

  3. I live in Pennsylvania and would love for you to come to my house to test my stuff, we only lived in the house for a little over a year and this is out first place so we have gotten hand me down kitchen items and since i found your page im kinda freaking out over my dishes/bowls since they are colorful and are pretty. i know its out of your way not sure how we would do that.

    1. Hi there!

      I will follow up with you. I’m not sure I will be in PA this summer – but may end up there in September.

      Tamara

    1. Hi Lindsey! We may! I will know in the next day or two what our return cross schedule trip will look like… but for the first leg we will be headed from Boston, Mass to Arkansas – so Tennessee is definitely possible. Please text me if you would like more information about a home consultation in the next week or two: 415-609-3182. While I have not yet updated this post – here is how I am handling the visits for the cross-country tour: https://tamararubin.com/2020/07/how-to-participate-in-the-lead-safe-mama-august-2020-u-s-a-socially-distanced-cross-country-tour-covid-19-permitting/

      Thanks for commenting!

      Tamara

  4. Have you travelled to Arlington or Dallas TX yet ? I have been purchasing glass bottles for my dogs. Trying to do all these lead free stuff for them . Have to admit it gets overwhelming sometime with all the information on the internet. Wish there were more people like you out there advocating for basic health rights and awareness. I still don’t see why lead isn’t complete banned.

  5. Due to Covid, I’m sure home parties are out for now. However, I have a number of neighbors and friends interested in having items tested. (Seattle area) Would you consider doing a virtual visit where we all send our items to you for testing?
    Thank you for the work you do!!

  6. Would love some recommendations on companies in Austin, TX that can do an assessment. And of course, let us know if you ever come to town!

    1. I could come in October if you are interested in booking me then. Text me at 415-609-3182 and I will response with some info.

  7. Hi! Will you be coming to the Toledo, OH area or have any recommendations on someone in this area?

    I just tested a YKK zipper on a baby sleep sack – as my daughter uses it as her blankie each night and I had noticed the zippers paint was chipped off. It came back positive for lead and I have since been panicking! I did get her tested but she had been sniffing this chipped YKK zipper for a long time 🙁

    Thank you!
    Sarah

    1. Could be in December if someone hired me there :-). Was just near there last month. Text me if you are interested in hiring me, I could possibly do something the first week in December.

      1. I want to submit items for you to test, specifically baby brands (kyte baby) how do I submit to you for testing?

  8. Is it possible to mail items in for you to test? Is there a link that has any information about that? I’ve searched a little, but haven’t found anything, but I was thinking you would do that. Thank you!

  9. Do you have a list of Lenox China you have tested . I have a full and large set of Kenix Helmsley . I’ve ordered a lead testing kit but I’d love to be able to know amounts etc .
    Thank you

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