“Bed bugs are back, and we’re not ready.”

Those are the words Sean Meagher told a crowd of 100 people who gathered in Toronto today to discuss a new report on the city’s bed bug problem.

CBC has a video about this event here (though I was glad to see it, it also contained some dodgy suggestions for people with bed bugs, for example “if all else fails, call an exterminator”).

In Toronto, the CBC notes, reports of bed bug infestations are up 1000% in the last year.

Meagher (President of Public Interest)  is one of the authors of the new report funded in part by the city and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.   This second CBC story tells us the report

. . . found that over an eight-month period in 2008, Toronto Public Health received 1,500 reports of bed bug infestations.For all of 2003, in comparison, the city’s public health department received 46 such complaints.

The report says a rise in infestations isn’t unique to Toronto — Ontario towns like Ottawa, Owen Sound and London have also been hit. Meanwhile, New York City and even some cities in Australia have reported similar spikes in the past five years.

More than 100 people —including social workers, MPs and landlords — crammed into a conference room at City Hall on Monday to discuss the report’s findings with its authors.

No one who has been watching our inadequate and uncoordinated collective response to the bed bug problem is at all surprised that they continue to spread and become a more and more serious problem.

This report from CityNews includes additional comments from Sean Meagher, and an interview with a woman who talks about her bed bug bites, and about how she has been banned by her employer from her place of work until she gets rid of her bed bug infestation.

Similar Posts:

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Dog Nose

Originally uploaded by jason044

The dog’s nose is a potentially powerful tool in the fight against bed bugs. It’s a war where the enemy is notoriously stealthy. We need all the help we can get.

Bed bug canines are always popular in the news media. Like some other bed bug-related services (such as structural fumigation and thermal treatment), every region does not have easy access to canine bed bug detection teams, so the news stories both do companies the favor of spreading the word about their existence, but also help bed bug sufferers, who might not know this option is out there. Luckily for us, they are popping up in more and more geographic areas.

One recent bed bug sniffing dog business was started in the Cincinnati area by LeAnne Montgomery and her husband John. LeAnne is better known to longtime participants on our Bedbugger Forums as “bugbait” — she was an active Bedbugger who came to the site to get support in dealing with her own bed bugs, long before the couple went into the bed bug dog business and started Canine Bed Bug Finder.

LeAnne and John did not have access to a bed bug k9 service when their home was infested. You can read a recent story here about the Montgomerys’ new bed bug sniffing dog Hershey, who was trained at Florida Canine Academy. Congratulations to LeAnne and John — I hope Hershey finds a lot of bed bugs!

There was also a recent story in the news about a new bed bug sniffing dog in Las Vegas.

Finally, Ontario’s Michael Goldman (of Purity Pest Control) and his bed bug sniffing dog Kody (who is said to have been the world’s first bed bug sniffing dog) were featured in a Discovery Channel story last week.

The segment on Kody starts about six minutes in (you can move the cursor past the iceberg story after the initial brief commercial). Click here to see the story.

It’s important to note that all bed bug sniffing dogs and handlers are not equally skilled. Dogs and handlers must constantly train in order to maintain the dog’s skills.

If you need help determining whether you have bed bugs, do your research, ask for k9 recommendations on the forums, or references from the handlers.

Are there any other specific questions readers should ask a bed bug dog handler, before hiring him/her? Please share your answers in the comments below.

Thanks to the anonymous tipster in the forums who pointed me to the segment on Kody!Similar Posts:

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• Co-op pays $250K after bed bugs found in several units, storage area, stairwells

This week, Canada’s CTV has been featuring stories on pests that invade the home. There’s a video story on bed bugs in an Ottawa home — an in-depth examination of what it’s like to live with, and fight bed bugs.

The young woman interviewed (anonymously) in this interview is the daughter of Itchy-Scratchy, a Bedbugger forums regular.

Click here and go down to the item entitled “CTV Ottawa Joanne Schnurr on getting rid of bed bugs.”

We’re all really grateful to Itchy-Scratchy for all the support she provides in the forums, and to Itchy-Scratchy and her daughter for trying to educate the world about bed bugs.

We hope their own bed bug problem is gone for good very soon.

More stories on bed bugs in Ottawa.Similar Posts:

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Joe Fiorito has an excellent new article today, and it represents a departure from many of his past bed bug stories, which focused on individual stories of life with bed bugs, often focusing on low-income and elderly tenants.

This time, Fiorito reports on a presentation by Dr. Michael Potter, long one of our favorite entomologists, who spoke at a Canadian pest control conference recently.

He describes the wonders of thermal treatment (which we agree is very appealing, but will not work and should not be tried as a do-it-yourself remedy). He also notes that bed bugs developed resistance to DDT (which we already knew).

Fiorito also notes that Potter questions why health departments are so reluctant to declare bed bugs a public health pest:

Potter noted that cities were quite willing in the past to declare bedbugs a public health menace. He seemed puzzled by our reluctance to do so today. He said, “This is the most serious pest of our generation.”

He’s right.

It’s important to remember that while having your city actively engaged in fighting bed bugs (as Toronto is, and most cities aren’t) is hugely important, it is not a cure-all. It’s just a start.

Bed bugs remain, and they stink.

Please do read Bed Bug News Only Gets Worse in the Toronto Star, today.Similar Posts:

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Here’s an excellent discussion between Renee of New York vs. Bed Bugs and Sam Bryks, a pest management expert from Toronto (and one of the advisors of the Toronto Bed Bug Project.

There’s so much that is wonderful here, including a thorough exploration of what Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is, and isn’t.

I particularly enjoyed this tidbit, from which I learned more about the origins of Toronto’s Bug n’ Scrub, a program we’ve long been fans of here at Bedbugger. Sam Bryks says,

An example of a really wonderful program in Toronto is that of Seaton House, the largest shelter. I was asked to visit some years ago and I gave my overview then as well as I could. The shelters were experiencing major problems. One of the staff who has a social work background, Richard Grotsch, decided to use the men in the shelter to attack the problem as part of their looking after themselves and he developed a process of non-chemical treatment and prevention that knocked the problem down amazingly and then, he worked like the devil to get support for those guys providing services to others. They are called the Bug n’ Scrub team and they do fantastic work in helping clean up units in preparation for bed bug treatment. They are very busy.

You gotta love a program that helps people gain very useful skills, gives them work, and gets rid of bed bugs at the same time!

What could be better?

And how interesting and inspiring that it started with residents being asked to learn how to get rid of bed bugs in order to deal with their residence’s infestation.

I can only hope the program spreads.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as the interview goes, so I know you’ll want to read the entire conversation, here. Similar Posts:

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J. Fred Kuntz has been The Star’s Editor-in-Chief for 26 months and he writes in this article that he is retiring this week.

How is this bed bug news?

Easy: The Star has had the most persistent coverage of bed bugs in any single media publication (outside of a bed bug blog, or pest control industry journal), period. As Kuntz says,

We wrote powerful stories about poverty – and helped to spur increases in the minimum wage, close loopholes in the Employment Standards Act, improve dental care for the poor and stir action against bedbugs in public housing.

The bulk of The Star’s bed bug articles were written by Joe Fiorito.

I do not doubt for a minute that this coverage has helped make things happen in Toronto.

I hope the incoming Editor-in-Chief continues along these lines.

Because if you don’t talk about your city’s bed bug problem, no one is going to do anything about it.Similar Posts:

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This story first made me want to cry.

And then it made me want to smash my hand into the wall.

The Ottawa Citizen reported today on the story of a local woman named Jadwiga Dziedziczak, aged 60. For ten years, she’s lived in an Ottawa public housing unit on Wurtemburg Street.

She had bed bugs. After many treatments and many months, she still had them. But those who could help her did not believe it.

“There was so much stress from so little sleep that she often used sleeping pills to help her cope at night.” And two weeks ago, she overdosed on the sleeping pills.

Friends and neighbors tried to help her navigate the public housing and public health offices, to get help despite her limited English.

The story is a testament to how stressful bed bugs can be, especially when the people responsible for keeping your home bed bug-free (the housing agency) think you are imagining a continued infestation.

Oh Lord yes, we have heard this one before.

Ms. Dziedziczak couldn’t fathom the idea of using her bed any more for fear of more bites and welts. She slept in the tub, on the floor and even on a chair with her head on the table, wrapped in sheets and blankets in an attempt to shield herself from the bugs. She even threw her old mattress out and bought a new one a month or so ago, but she stopped using it almost immediately after finding more bugs. Now that mattress and a couch have been thrown out, too.

Ms. Dziedziczak figures city-hired exterminators have been to her unit about five or six times in the last 10 months and says she was ridiculed occasionally by those who came to spray her bed. They told her she was imagining things. Her friends say the exterminators probably never did a thorough job because of their attitude and were usually gone within minutes of arriving. One even suggested that Mickey had a flea problem, but a veterinarian told her the dog was fine.

People in her building embarrassed her by suggesting her apartment was dirty. Those who know say she is impeccably clean. Her sister, who lives in the Alta Vista area, stopped visiting because she was afraid of getting bugs in her clothing and bringing them to her home.

It’s no wonder she felt so much stress, on top of the lack of sleep. My heart goes out to this woman and to all others who are suffering from bed bugs and simply not getting the help they need — even why they know they need help, when they ask for it, and even when there’s someone whose duty it is to provide it.

Thank goodness the overdose was not fatal. Ms. Dziedziczak is hospitalized. Her home is apparently still infested with bed bugs, and she’s still in the hospital, waiting for a bed bug-free home to go to.

The article also reports that 1,300 public housing units have been treated for bed bugs this year in Ottawa. And that

Ottawa Community Housing is asking the city to increase pest-control spending to $420,000 from $240,000. A “healthy” portion of pest control goes toward bedbug extermination, says Jo-Anne Poirier, chief executive of the housing agency.

Ottawa needs help. They need to follow in Toronto’s footsteps, declaring bed bugs a public enemy and a problem. And they need to rally their best resources to fight them.

Above all else, public health agencies need to recognize that bed bugs are a public health problem. If nothing else, they cause anxiety and sleeplessness, allergic reactions, and itching from bites. They cause stress.

And a lack of sleep can cause other health problems. Let’s not forget Theresa Kelly.

Even more troubling, Itchy-scratchy tells us, in the forums, there’s been at least one suicide in Ottawa we can probably attribute to bed bugs. And check out the discussion of this article on the forums too.

If you’re in Ottawa and have bed bugs, the paper wants to hear from you. The article ends with this invitation:

Is anything broken or bugging you where you live? Please let us know.

Contact: thepubliccitizen@thecitizen.canwest.com

And read the entire story in the Ottawa Citizen, now.
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Joe Fiorito has a great story today in The Star about a landlord (David Brown) and his super (Eric Marshall) and their battle with bed bugs, which started when Eric inspected a unit where the “walls were black and moving” with bed bugs (shudder):

David said, “We found bedbugs in two units; this one, and the one below. We renovated. We put insecticide powder down; diatomaceous earth, with a weak insecticide. Then we put in new floors; laminate, tight-fitting.” They also put new quarter-round on all the baseboards, and they sealed all the cracks; they rebuilt walls and sealed and sprayed the drywall; they put powder in all the electrical outlets; they caulked everywhere they could.

David, who has five buildings and is negotiating to buy three more, said, “I think I’ve spent $15,000 to $20,000 on bedbugs over the past five years.”

I was curious. He said, “I have a social responsibility. I don’t want a reputation as a slum landlord. I regard my tenants as my customers; some have become my friends.” I was disarmed.

David and Eric (who was a social worker before he became a super!) demonstrate that it is possible to fight bed bugs with DE + insecticide, and apparently without traditional spraying. However, it’s worth noting they did a lot more than dust a bit of powder around the room.

Getting rid of bed bugs is almost never easy.  And I would not want to encourage people to try and fight an infestation with just dust, in the absence of other extreme measures.

However, the most important messages we can glean from David Brown’s building are:

• treating bed bugs the wrong way can cost landlords more than dealing with the problem properly,
• treating bed bugs properly starts with educating yourself about bed bugs,
• tenants need to know they can report bed bugs (indeed, need to know bed bugs exist) so that treatment can occur before things get out of hand.

We know from other stories that if tenants fear they will be blamed, or fear they will have to pay for treatment, they may be reluctant to come forward.

In the end, this costs everyone — landlords, tenants, neighboring tenants — much more money and pain.

David Brown and Eric Marshall to have found ways to avoid this scenario; that Brown dealing well enough with bed bugs in his rooming houses to be able to  grow his business during the current bed bug epidemic is itself a lesson to other landlords.

Do read the rest of Joe Fiorito’s excellent story here.Similar Posts:

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In advance of today’s Bed Bug Project Update in Toronto, Joe Fiorito, the Toronto Star journalist who I am quite sure has written about bed bugs more than anyone else in the mainstream media, anywhere, weighs in.

His questions and comments give a sense of how complicated a matter it is to solve a city’s well-established bed bug problem. Fiorito writes,

I have my own little Q and A in advance of the report:

Do most people know where and how to get help if they have an infestation? No. Does Public Health offer help and advice? They offer more advice than help. Is there any kind of help available right now? Not much, and it doesn’t come fast.

Can we compel landlords to spray an infected apartment? Not at the moment. Do landlords know that, for spraying to be effective in an apartment building or a rooming house, it ought to include the units above, below and to the side of the affected unit? Most don’t.

Can a tenant be compelled to submit to spraying? Not at the moment. Do bugs spread quickly if left unchecked? Yes. Should tenants be allowed to refuse help? Not in my opinion.

Does anyone have to power to compel such intervention? Not really. Should the city pass a bylaw to compel compliance? In my view, yes. But compliance ought to be compelled with a gentle hand; in some cases, help must be delivered with a dollop of social and psychological services.

Fiorito knows these are serious questions. He has interviewed countless bed bug sufferers and public officials about bed bugs in Toronto.

I will judge the report according to how it answers these and other questions.

I have a final thought, perhaps for inclusion in the report: We require restaurants to post notices assuring us we may dine safely here or there; why do we not require landlords to post similar notices indicating buildings are bedbug free?

Since bed bugs can appear at any time, it would have to be as quickly-changed as the “vacancy” signs in a roadside motel.

What a different world we would be in, if landlords had to declare their buildings’ bed bugs for all to see.

Please read Fiorito’s full article here.Similar Posts:

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There’s an article in today’s Toronto Sun updating us on Toronto’s Bed Bug Project.

Toronto Public Health reported yesterday that it has recorded a near 1,000% increase in bed bug infestation calls and they aren’t just from flophouses.

The blood-sucking bugs have prompted 1,444 calls to public health officials for help — up from 147 calls in 2006 — in the first seven months of this year.

And that’s seven months in to this year; I wonder how much higher that percentage will have grown by the end of this year.

However, with any luck, and a lot of work, the tide may be turning in Toronto, because public officials have ideas about ways to reduce the spread of bed bugs, and fight current infestations. And they’re doing their best to implement them.

The Toronto Board of Health is meeting Monday and will be hearing the Bed Bug Project Update including funding requests. As the Sun reports,

A report before the board of health — Toronto Bed Bug Project Update — is calling for $75,000 in funding to help elderly or vulnerable people receive bed bug treatment.

“We have ongoing concern regarding the ability of vulnerable residents to undergo the necessary treatment,” said city Councillor Paula Fletcher, a member of the health board.

“Increased education, increased funding for preparation and treatment and increased control mechanisms are required to bring the bed bug problem in Toronto to heel.”

There are also recommendations on the table to increase the city’s “Bug and Scrub” program, a provincially funded plan. “Bed Bug Project is a good working model to tackle these pests … city officials, community agencies, landlords, and the pest control industry working together,” said Rima Zavys, director of homelessness and housing help services at WoodGreen Community Services.

And working together is key.

We have heard about Bug and Scrub before and are excited the project may be expanded. Bug and Scrub pays people living in a shelter a very decent wage and trains them to do bed bug treatments; the company charges a sliding scale fee to those needing bed bug treatment.
Toronto residents can find out about hiring Bug and Scrub here.

Also, we have often called for assistance to those who cannot pay for bed bug treatment or who cannot complete (nor pay someone else to complete) the preparations required before treatment. We’re happy to see in the agenda for Monday’s meeting (see this PDF, page 3) that the Medical Officer of Health is calling on the Toronto City Council to

… approve a request for one time emergency funding of $75,000 gross and net in the Toronto Public Health 2009 Operating Budget to assist vulnerable adults who do not qualify for Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) support, to purchase services to prepare their residences for bed bug pesticide treatment…

This help in with preparations for bed bug treatment is sorely needed by the elderly, persons with disabilities, and others, everywhere. But such help is so rare. (One rare example: San Francisco City Assessor Chris Daley got $63,000 in the 2007 budget to help low-income people with bed bugs pay for laundry and the freezing of possessions. It’s discussed here if you scroll way down.)

You can read much more about the Toronto Bed Bug Project on New York vs. Bed Bugs, where Renee has laid out a detailed analysis and links to lots more of the juicy stuff.

Toronto Public Health’s Bed Bugs page.

Thanks to BugsinTO and LJ for tipping me off to the Toronto Sun article!

Updates (11/18):

More Monday from CTV and from Donovan Vincent in The Star, who says of the $75K requested today,

… that’s just one-time funding, and city officials are predicting that far more will be called for when a special committee tackling the city’s bedbug problem reports next spring.

“I don’t want to guess, but it’ll be a lot more than $75,000,” Councillor John Filion, who chairs the Toronto Board of Health, said yesterday.

The Toronto Sun reports today that

Public Health also decided to expand the city’s “bug and scrub” program, which helps residents on either Ontario Works or disability move their furniture and clean their apartments. It also struck a team of three board members to work with service agencies to decide what more Public Health can do to curb bed bugs in the city.

The Sun also notes that many do not think enough is being done:

But according to some social service providers, the city’s response to what they call a “health hazard” is not enough.

Sandra Van, of South Etobicoke’s LAMP Community Health Care, said her organization pulled out of the city’s bed bug steering committee when it appeared no one was taking the issue seriously enough.

“A comprehensive approach with adequate resources needs to be made immediately,” she said, noting she thinks bed bugs should be declared a health hazard. “This report, including the suggested future actions, do not adequately address the problem.”

Even some city councillors aren’t completely satisfied.

“It’s basically an excuses report,” charged Councillor Howard Moscoe, who told the board he represents one of the city’s most infected buildings. In a letter to the board, he urged it to declare the bugs a “health hazard”.

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