Here’s The Stamford Advocate with another story that makes me mad. Residents of a building for senior citizens like Adelaida Ramos have been dealing with bed bugs for three years:
Ramos is one of more than 50 people at Stamford Manor, a public housing residence for seniors, who have reported bedbugs to the housing authority over the past three years. The authority has fumigated apartments, especially since the problem became rampant last year, but residents said the bloodsuckers persist, moving from one apartment to the next.
Some residents, including Ramos, think the only way to annihilate the pests is to fumigate all of Stamford Manor.
“If they continue doing it like this, it’s never going to end,” said Ramos, who speaks Spanish.
On Wednesday, Richard Fox, executive director of the housing authority recently renamed Charter Oak Communities, said he plans to do that. Monday the authority will begin fumigating two floors a day for five days, said Bob Violet, the building inspector. Another 20 apartments will be fumigated each week for three weeks, Fox said.
That doesn’t sound like fumigation.
True fumigation, commonly done with gases such as sulfuryl fluoride, Vikane (TM), requires evacuation, and is helpful in clearing an entire building of bed bugs at once. Thermal treatment can also lead to a quick resolution (as I hope it will for these seniors in Philadelphia).
What Stamford Manor is getting sounds like traditional bed bug treatments (spraying, dusting). The bed bugs have been traveling aroud the building for three years already, and this treatment plan may not be the end of it, unfortunately.
Update (11/25): at least for now, the Stamford Advocate reports there are no complaints of bed bugs in Stamford Manor, according to management. The whole building was treated — I am not sure how many times, though at least some units (perhaps all?) got three spray treatments in two weeks. Six residents were still claiming to have bed bugs as of mid-November, so I think it’s too soon to call it a success.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks so much for always sticking up for the seniors! There is much compassion in that attitude and I greatly appreciate a focus such as that on the board here.
No matter what method they were using to treat this complex, if residents have been complaining and dealing with bedbugs for 3 years, there is obviously no effective plan in place.
There is a need for bedbug educator/consultants who can go in and teach property managers how to deal with bedbugs, what to ask PCO firms and what to expect, how to handle tenants, what to communicate to tenants, how to make sure there is complinace, how to prevent future re-infestations and the whole bedbug issue. (nobugs would be a great bedbug educator/consultant, don’t you think?). I think sometimes complexes are simply treated by technicians who don’t get involved in an overall plan or the education of tenants, so only the “application of the pesticde” portion gets done.
Thanks, ‘Keets!
Some Pest Control Operators have told me they do work with landlords in the way you describe. Education is sorely needed, and it can be difficult when some tenants will resist complying with treatment, prep, and preventive measures.
The problem of bed bugs in apartment buildings for seniors seems to be widespread and most buildings do not seem to be getting the sort of care that we saw in Coatesville, PA (the other day). I just posted about another senior building in Lexington, KY today.
On another note — it would be interesting to see some studies comparing the costs paid out in treating a large building for years vs. using a one-shot treatment like thermal or vikane, coupled with education about preventing re-infestation.
Even with traditional methods — surely an agressive coordinated campaign of prep and repeated traditional sprays/dusts in all affected and adjacent units, and a thorough inspection of the whole building, would cost less than treating units piecemeal, for years, as bed bugs spread.
Update (11/25): at least for now, the Stamford Advocate reports there are no complaints of bed bugs in Stamford Manor, according to management. The whole building was treated — I am not sure how many times, though at least some units (perhaps all?) got three spray treatments in two weeks. Six residents were still claiming to have bed bugs as of mid-November, so I think it’s too soon to call it a success.
I want to know about a law suit about bed bugs contacted at a flordia motel we live in lousiana