Renee Corea has an excellent post over on New York vs. Bed Bugs today which discusses varying approaches to bed bug preparation, what people are required to do, and who does and does not have access to help with this.

Although as Renee notes, it still is difficult for rich and poor alike to battle bed bugs, there may soon come a time when this is not so:

The market is working to make services, products and innovations available. But not to everyone. I wonder if the time is approaching when bed bug eradication will be significantly easier for the wealthy. Perhaps you think this is already the case? I don’t think so. Not quite yet. It’s clear that the only reason that New York City started to pay official attention to the bed bug problem is that the ruinous experience of bed bug infestations spread widely enough that people with access to power began to personally understand the nature of the problem. But this is what will happen when this particular moment, this equitable distribution of bed bug misery passes: bed bugs will once again be a problem of the poor — truly, and not just in the imagination of the public and in the prejudices of the ill-informed.

These are important questions.

It’s crucial that everyone understands that you cannot fight bed bugs in isolation. No matter what tools are at your disposal (and Renee points us to a new service offering bed bug prep in NYC), you can’t make this problem go away for you, for good, unless it goes away for everyone else.

When it comes to eliminating bed bugs, we are all interdependent, as this blog has been insisting since October, 2006. You might get rid of your bed bugs, but if someone in your building or neighborhood, or someone in your boss’s building or your kid’s school or your cleaning lady’s train route has them, you can get them again.

To win the bed bug fight, and stem the tide of this epidemic, we have to fight everyone’s bed bugs, not just our own.

To use Jessica’s catchphrase, “we are all in this together.”

I know you’ll want to read the rest of Renee’s post here: Preparation, money, and the shortening of the window to act — New York vs Bed Bugs.Similar Posts:

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Well, okay, not Zen exactly.

I enjoyed reading some of New 2 The City’s blog entries about bed bugs.  In this post, she describes going through her books over the bathtub, before bagging them and placing them in sealed containers:

Upon confirming that my apartment was infested with BBs, I was instructed to put everything in my apartment into heavy-duty, black contractor bags. Currently I am fanning books over the white tub to determine whether or not the book hosts a fat bedbug. After fanning, I put the book stacks into plastic bags, suck out the air, repeat the process with a second bag–first spaying pesticide– then putting the bags into plastic containers.

Warning: Since people often rush to “do something” when they notice bed bugs, I want to note, for other readers’ benefit, that no one should be bagging anything (or spraying pesticides!) without the explicit instructions of their pest professional (preferably one they believe to have extensive experience getting rid of bed bugs).  PCOs each have their own ideas about prep and you should never do anything until someone has confirmed the presence of bed bugs (and, hopefully, gotten some idea of their harborages) and then told you what to do.  “Bagging” is not a given, and in fact, can mean wildly different things as this FAQ explains.

Anyway, back to the story.  In the course of this book inspection and bagging procedure, New 2 The City encounters her copy of Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization, and contemplates the glass-half-full side of having bed bugs:

As much as this experience with bedbugs has created a overwhelming amount of stress in my world, I am grateful for the opportunity for contemplation that is at hand.

Similar sentiments tonight from fedupwithbb in the forums (that’s the woman featured on the Today show this week whose home had four vikane gas fumigation treatments (four!), and who still has bed bugs, and no idea where they’re coming from); she writes:

I suppose this kind of slow house fire (as I like to call it) does have one advantage… It gives you a new perspective on the idea that “it’s just stuff.” It has been sad to let go of a few things, but somewhat liberating to realize that I don’t need a lot of what I have in my house, you know? I mean, it creates a terrible carbon footprint because I can’t re-use, I can’t continue my cloth diapering, I use crazy amounts of water, energy for heat, plastic bags, disposable diapers, etc., etc. But it does paint a very clear picture of the few things I have that *really* matter. The rest, I am learning, I can live without. That’s a good thing to be reminded of.

What an amazing attitude!

Make no mistake, bed bugs are a nightmare in many respects.  But we have to do what we have to do, and bravo to these ladies for seeing the other side of the coin.

Creative visualization.  Let’s all go visualize bed bugs disappearing.

Can’t hurt, right?

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life (Gawain, Shakti)
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This article from the Columbia Tribune explores what it takes for a public housing agency to fight bed bugs in a building designated for people with mental and/or physical disabilities.

The problem at Paquin Towers was first detected in March and has escalated since then, with 10% of the buildings 200 units already having been treated. At first, they were being treated one by one, but the CHA has discovered this is not enough where bed bugs are concerned.

Since [March], the housing authority has treated 20 units for the bugs, [Columbia Housing Authority CEO Phil Steinhaus] said. At first, the infestations were discovered and treated one by one, but the CHA now is treating six heavily infested units. Several features of Paquin Tower make the problem tough to tackle.

“What we do know, they are spreading through chases, or service-duct areas between apartments for wiring and plumbing,” Steinhaus said. “Air comes in under doorways, and there is ventilation in the ceilings of bathrooms. That’s how you get air exchange. We can’t go in and seal an apartment up or fog it or bug-bomb it.”

Unfortunately, treating the entire building is not an option. Steinhaus says it costs $2500 to treat one unit (which presumably involves assistance with prep, as well as fumigation of belongings in a truck, and pesticide spraying in the unit — all strategies mentioned in the article). This would amount to 1/2 a million dollars to treat the entire building.

Dealing with bed bug prep and treatment can be disorienting and upsetting for anyone, but for residents of Paquin Tower, these effects can be dangerously disruptive.

“With some of our folks, we have to be very sensitive about their routines,” Steinhaus said. “If they get something that throws their life into turmoil, it can be hard to get back to an even keel again.”

Charles Dudley, a Paquin resident for about 4½ years, said the small units that can resemble dorm rooms lend themselves to clutter. “In this building, there are residents with varying degrees of psychological disorders – hoarders, people with depression, anxiety – and they have accumulated a lot of stuff,” he said. “It’s important to them. How do you determine who should get rid of what? That’s going to be a hard issue to come across.”

Nevertheless residents are being told they must clean and de-clutter by December 17th, when inspections begin. Those who do not comply (with assistance if needed) will have their leases terminated.

Removing bed bugs from a high-rise, where bed bugs may be much more widespread than is already known, will be no easy task, especially given the challenges of the building’s design. The first step is knowledge, and it does sound like the management are aware of the difficulties of treatment, and prepared to support residents who need help.

It is also distressing to think that some residents with mental and/or physical disabilities may be evicted because they resist de-cluttering, prep, and treatment (even with assistance). It’s clear that requiring compliance is essential for the well-being of the rest of the residents, but I do hope support and counseling is being provided to resistant and non-compliant residents, so they can understand the importance of this, and avoid being evicted.

Thanks to Charles Dudley for pointing me to this article in a comment today. More from the Paquin Towers Residents’ blog.
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Experts recommend washing and drying clothes on hot or dry cleaning them, and keeping them sealed in bags for the duration of treatment. The dry cleaning idea brings up a problem: you must tell the dry cleaners about the bed bugs before giving them your sealed-in-a-bag clothes.

A reader asked,

Did you have problems finding dry cleaners to accept your clothes?

I personally did not, but I did not have much stuff that needed to be dry cleaned. If your things can be washed and dried on hot (until seriously, seriously dry and hot), that’s probably better, cheaper, and safer.

If it can’t be washed and dried but can be put in the dryer when it is already dry on hot for a shorter period of time, then this is probably also a good option. Bed bug researcher Dr. Michael Potter says dry for hot for 5 minutes, if the item is already dry, and he seems to know his stuff! But if that skeeves you out, 20 is probably even safer for many clothing items that may be thicker than a sock. If drying only does not seem “clean” enough to you, you can always dry in this way, then bag the item until a full dry cleaning were possible, say in a few months when the bed bugs seem to be long gone (hopefully).

I’d be interested in hearing from others about their dry cleaner experiences.

I don’t doubt that many people simply take the stuff in to be cleaned, and say nothing, but I think that’s very dangerous. Better to take them in in a sealed bag and explain that they had been exposed to bed bugs and should be kept separate from other items until dry cleaned.

I could fully understand some dry cleaners not wanting to deal with that, but there will be others who will want your business regardless. I’d expect some careless others to say “sure,” but if they don’t much about bed bugs, they might not pay much attention to what happens. If you’re lucky, they will agree and they’ll care.

While we’re at it, wash and fold services are very popular, especially in cities like New York. I seriously don’t recommend using them. The risk of transmitting the bed bugs to the business and to others–both workers and other people via their laundry–is too great.

If it seems like a good time to weed out which clothing items you can give to charity, wash, dry and bag them first–at least they won’t be sitting around your house in bags for weeks.

You may also want to just throw things away, but think about it carefully; here in NYC, seeing people pick through other peoples’ garbage is a daily occurrence. Even if you don’t see it, it happens at night, everywhere.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox.  Anybody got dry cleaning stories to share?

Update 12/07:  a word of warning.    In our forums, Doug Summers wrote:

I think we need to be careful when we discuss dry cleaning. Traditional dry cleaning uses perchloroethylene or “Perc” instead of water. Dry cleaning used to mean a wet cleaning method that does not use water.

Some newer “environmentally friendly dry cleaning” methods utilize water in the process to eliminate the health issues that are associated with exposure to Perc. These methods are essentially a mechanical method using a cold water delicate wash approach. I don’t know if the “No Perc” methods will actually kill bed bugs.

So you might want to make sure your dry cleaner uses PERC.

I think this is another reason to try and use wash/dry (drying wet items on hot until really dry and really hot) or drying dry items on hot (see above).

I also would not rely on dry cleaning or even wash/dry or dry/dry methods with thick items like pillows, comforters, and sleeping bags.  It can’t hurt, but I would not be very confident.Similar Posts:

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Previously, I blogged about the case in Edmonton, where tenants were evicted for not complying with the preparations for extermination in their apartments (which involved bagging clothes and moving or removing furniture.

Now, the Edmonton Journal is reporting that some tenants who claim to have complied with the preparations for bed bug treatment in their building were nevertheless evicted.

Capital Health says it was unable to successfully fumigate a number of suites at Virginia Arms, 10615 107th St., three times because some residents refused to clear everything out — including clothing and furniture — as required.

The company that owns the building is saying enough is enough, but some of the residents who claim they were complying say they, too, are being forced out.

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” said a resident who asked not to be named. “We let them in and they sprayed, but now they say get out. It doesn’t make sense.”

If this is true, it sounds like some of the residents were compliant and the landlord just wanted an excuse to evict them.

And at least one resident did not fully comply because his health condition meant he could not move his own furniture:

Evicted resident James Whieldon said he tried his best to prepare his suite for the exterminators, but because of a heart condition he cannot lift heavy objects.

“Since I live alone, I couldn’t move the furniture. But they didn’t come and help me or suggest where I should store my stuff while they were spraying,” he said. “They just said, ‘You didn’t do it … get out.’ “

I still think its good the building is taking the pest control operation seriously, since some places would not treat all units nor ask tenants to prepare.  But there has to be a system in place for helping people complete such preparations in cases where they can’t move their stuff. The article said:

Preparing for the fumigation process, which usually takes between four and eight hours, meant pulling every piece of furniture away from the walls and washing and double-bagging household items, like clothes and towels, so the bugs have nowhere to hide.

Some of the tenants (like Wheildon quoted above) implied they were being asked to move furniture out of the apartments, not just away from the walls.

It’s interesting that they’re talking about “fumigation”; I’d like to know what exact process they’re using in this building.

Also, on a more humorous note, pay attention to the slightly odd suggestion the Edmonton Journal gives its readers as far as how to remove bed bugs from one’s property:

What to do if your home is infested:

- Call a professional exterminator immediately. The longer you wait, the worse it gets.

That’s good, but read on:

- Household items need to be wrapped in plastic and placed in a hot, sunny location for at least a few days at 120 degrees F. Colder temperatures — below freezing — also can work, but the chilling period must be maintained for at least two weeks. However, attempts to rid an entire home or apartment of bedbugs by raising or lowering the thermostat will be unsuccessful.

It was -11 degrees C (12 degrees F) in Edmonton today. Perhaps the Edmonton Journal should offer some more practical advice to Edmonton residents than that they should leave their items outside in 120 degree F heat– I mean, given there is no outdoor 120 degree F heat in the vicinity, nor will there be for some time to come.Similar Posts:

• Bedbug evictions: Edmonton tenants evicted because they did not prepare for spraying

We know it is important for people in bedbug-infested units to follow certain procedures in order to prepare for pest control to spray and treat their apartments. We also know how time consuming, difficult, and costly preparations can be.

But now the Edmonton Sun reports that residents of several units of a bedbug-infested building in Edmonton, Alberta have been evicted because they did not prepare their apartments to be treated, including washing and drying clothes on hot, then bagging them, as well as removing cleaned furniture from the apartment:

Capital Health says they were unable to successfully fumigate the suites at Virginia Arms, 10615 107 St., three times because some residents didn’t clear everything out – including clothes and furniture – as required.

Now, the building’s landlord says enough is enough.

Judy Friesen, office manager at Mainstreet Equity, said tenants were given written advanced warning about the need to clear their suites out for cleaning and that the notice said they would be evicted if they failed to comply.

“None of them prepared the suites as they were asked to, therefore the only way to deal with it was to follow through with what we threatened,” she said, adding Capital Health had nothing to do with the eviction order.

Getting ready for fumigation meant removing pre-cleaned furniture from the suite and double-bagging clothes which also had to be washed so the bugs would have nowhere to hide.

Friesen declined to comment on how many tenants are affected or if they will be allowed to move back into the building after the bed bugs are successfully eradicated.

“Fumigation” is one of those words people often misuse in regards to bedbugs. I’d be interested to know if Capital Health was going to tent and fumigate using Vikane gas or some other substance, which works for bed bugs, or if they were going to “fumigate” with bombs, which doesn’t.

I am also not sure how thoroughly they really expected tenants to “pre-clean” their furniture, since getting bedbugs out of infested stuffed furniture, or the cracks in wooden furniture, can be nearly impossible, especially for people who don’t know what they’re dealing with. “It looks clean” doesn’t apply here.

Evicted resident Yom Noch said she is beside herself with worry over where she and her family will go.

The Cambodian immigrant lives in the suite with her husband and 22-year-old son, who is disabled.

“We have no place to go,” she said in broken English, fighting back tears. “Can someone please help me? I’ve looked around and around, but there’s no place (available).”

Capital Health was there last on Nov. 23 and residents received their eviction notices on Monday telling them to be out by noon on Dec. 12.

Capital Health last visited on the 23rd and they were evicted on the 30th. I’d like to know how much time they had to do all this, and how much education tenants were given about the problem. It sounds like they’ve had a few weeks total, which is not bad, and to be fair, Capital Health did come in three times.

You don’t want to delay treatment, but people need time to deal with their stuff and somewhere to put it. Lots of people work full-time and some even work a second job. One of the evicted couples has a disabled adult son. There needs to be some sort of social services provided to help people prepare for treatment–folks who are disabled, elderly, out of shape, or burning the candle at both ends can’t always handle this, and quickly.

It also sounds like a big part of the problem was the tenants who did not comply did not get it: the process, its importance, or where they were supposed to take their stuff.

Another evicted resident who didn’t want to be named says the tenants feel they are being treated unfairly.

“We didn’t move the furniture properly for them to spray but they didn’t come and help us as to where we were going to put our furniture and clothes and everything,” she said. “They just said ‘You didn’t do it… Out!’”

She also said she can’t believe Mainstreet would evict people just before Christmas.

“Imagine all these people out on the street at this time of year,” she said. “I guess they just think we’re all a bunch of lowlifes and don’t deserve any better.”

Environmental Health officer Maria Precup said bed bugs are a “major” problem in Edmonton and that getting rid of them in multi-unit dwellings requires a team effort from all tenants.

“The tenant must comply,” she said. “If you don’t have everything prepared, there’s no point in us going in.”

One question: this sounds like private housing; is Capital Health = the city health department? Is pest control in Edmonton provided by the city government, or overseen by them? Here in NYC, the city only takes care of pests in city-owned housing. Perhaps if things were centralized, quality would not vary so much. (But then again, maybe it would be lousy.)

The bottom line is that I am impressed with Capital Health on one level: they get the need to treat entire buildings, and they get the need for proper treatment.

However, I am not sure about their methodology. Where were tenants supposed to take that stuff? Was it somewhere the furniture would not infest additional homes? (If you’re treating an entire building, then the act of carting the stuff out is not as horrifying as it is if only some units are being treated, but if they were removing furniture that may contain bed bugs from the building, that is highly risky as far as spreading them further.

And I understand the landlord’s the one responsible for the eviction, not Capital Health. So did the landlord clearly educate the tenants both about bed bugs and about the procedures? Did they offer to answer any questions? Did they provide enough time and make it clear where people were supposed to put this stuff?

Or did they create a really difficult and confusing situation for tenants, some of whom could not afford to find a place for their stuff, or organize its removal?

Public education is a major need everywhere in North America, since most people even in infested cities know little or nothing about bed bugs until they become infested. And even then, so much bad information is circulating, it’s hard to know what to think. We need education campaigns. We need social services to support people in this situation and help them. Obviously, housing codes have to protect both protect compliant tenants from non-compliant ones, as well as from negligent landlords. It’s impossible to know what really happened here, based on this article, and I do not doubt that both sides may be at fault.

The last thing these folks needed before the holidays was to be chucked out on the street. And if you’re too cold-hearted to worry about that, let’s not forget, bedbugs make us interdependent on one another. Now you’ve got some families on the street. The last thing Edmonton needs is several families with bedbugs moving in with friends or relatives, selling their furniture to second-hand dealers, or staking out space in a homeless shelter that just may be between bedbug infestations. The problem will move with them and with their stuff.Similar Posts:

• More from Edmonton bed bug evictions case