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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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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More on the Ballard Griffith senior complex in Lexington, Kentucky, where the 55-and-older residents have been suffering from bed bug bites for 2 years now.

Two years!

According to this news report from Lex18, 86 of over 300 units are infested. Today, two pest control firms are going door to door spraying in the complex. A second news report from WTVQ clarifies that every unit in the 317 unit complex, as well as offices, laundry rooms, and other common areas, will be sprayed. A follow-up treatment will occur in mid-December. They hope that clears the problem.

WTVQ also notes that the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority, the Health Department and the Lexington Mayor’s office all had to get involved to make this happen. The Health Dept. has inspected the building a few times since 2007, most recently a search of every unit which found evidence in those 86 units (27% of the apartments).

The treatment is being done by All Rite Pest Control and Truly Nolen Pest Control.

I note that PCOs often tell us that a follow-up in two weeks is necessary. This second treatment sounds like it is around 5 weeks away. With so many infested units, it is hard to eliminate a problem. I really do hope the problem is solved because the tenants are suffering physically, financially, and (one guesses) psychologically, as so many do with bed bugs. And the fact that some tenants have had them for two years is shameful.

Here’s an earlier story from September on the Ballard Griffith situation, and one from last week on how the complex was used as a local polling place.

And remember, citizens of Lexington-Fayette County: last year, the local health department told the media it wanted residents of apartment buildings who had bed bugs to call them. Here’s the number again, in case that’s you:

If you live in an apartment complex and suspect there are bed bugs. You are urged to call the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department at (859) 231-9791

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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. Similar Posts:

None Found

Remember the Bella Vista in New Haven? That was the complex where low-income, elderly and disabled residents found out their building had bed bugs by watching the news.

Now Radar of Advanced K-9 Detectives is searching for bed bugs with his beagle nose. Watch this clip from News 8 in New Haven.

Carl Massicott of Advanced K-9 may be overstating claims of bed bug sniffing dog effectiveness (he says bed bug k9s are 98-100% effective, a number not quite borne out by recent research).

Massicott also says human detection is 30% accurate; I think that a good human who does a thorough examination would have better accuracy than this; one who does the most cursory inspection (as many do) may be even less accurate.

And what kind of advice is Marilyn Watstein getting? First, we’re told the PCO and management told her she had no bed bugs; Radar found them in her mattress. (So far so good!)

The reporter says, “it’s her mattress that’s infested, so she’s taken off all the bedding” (cut to shot of sheets in an open garbage bag) “and is waiting for them to spray and wrap the mattress” (this over a shot of someone’s enormous handbag sitting on the stripped mattress).

I understand the main focus in this segment may have been good video, as opposed to good bed bug fighting practices, but we are told the bed was stripped because bed bugs were found in the mattress.

Why then is the bag of potentially infested bedding sitting open on the floor, and why, oh why in the name of all things sensible, was someone’s enormous tan handbag on top of the mattress where bed bugs had been found moments before?!?

Presumably that handbag will be leaving the building, and it has the potential of spreading bed bugs further.

I think it is excellent that the building has called in a bed bug sniffing dog. Residents of infested units need simultaneous, prompt treatment even if they have not seen signs of bed bugs, or noticed any bites, and a good bed bug sniffing dog increases the odds of detecting such cases.

I don’t know if that handbag belonged to someone in the News 8 production crew or to Ms. Watstein herself, but it should be carefully isolated, inspected, and possibly treated for bed bugs.Similar Posts:

• How accurate are human bed bug inspectors, k9s?

According to WKYT.com, residents of the Connie Griffith and Ballard apartment complexes on Tower Plaza Road are suffering from bed bug bites. The buildings are run by the Lexington Housing Authority for residents aged 55 and older.

WKYT claims more than a hundred people are affected in the two buildings. The Health Department claims the management are trying to resolve the problem. You can watch the video or read the article here.
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News Channel 8 in New Haven claims that after they aired a story on bed bugs in the Bella Vista apartments in Elm City, lots of people came forward to tell management they had the problem too:

News Channel 8 showed you the critters up close, then management was flooded with complaints. Bella Vista is an apartment complex with many elderly residents, many of which are subsidized. And, News Channel 8 has been told, some are afraid they’ll be evicted if they complain.

The management company says absolutely no one will be evicted for complaining. But, the company only spoke to residents after our first story aired even though they knew there was a problem here. And, that has some residents very upset.

Marilyn Watstein learned about the bed bug problem at the Bella Vista apartment complex in the Elm City from a News Channel 8 report. “I happened to catch the end of it last week,” she said.

In my last post on the Bella Vista’s bed bug problem, I suggested the building would do well to inspect every unit in the building and treat all vertically and horizontally adjacent units to the ones known to be infested, regardless of whether bed bugs were found in the adjoining units.

After all, the knowledgeable officials in Boston made that a city policy for buildings where bed bug violations were found. It’s considered a good practice.

It’s worth remembering that the City of Boston is not a business which stands to benefit from making landlords pay for such inspections and preventive treatments. They’re trying to help landlords and tenants resolve bed bug problems quickly and completely.

If landlords are not forced to undertake such an action, and do not choose it on their own, it is nevertheless the standard practice in the industry to at least inspect all units that are adjacent — horizontally or vertically — to an infested unit.

Most knowledgeable and reputable Pest Control Operators — the ones who know how bed bugs get around, and who want their customers to have a successful outcome — won’t treat for bed bugs in a building unless the landlord agrees to the inspection of adjoining units (above, below, all sides).

That’s right: business people will walk away from the job rather than treating a single unit for bed bugs without inspecting those connected to it. They consider it that important to bed bug treatment.

Is the management of the Bella Vista going to have those adjacent units inspected, let alone treated?

Nope.

[Carabetta Vice President Bill Stetson] says they will now be sending out an informational flyer to everyone. But, they refuse to inspect every apartment and will only exterminate when a resident complains.

“It’s not a question of cost for us, it’s a question of doing the right thing and getting rid of the problem as quickly as possible,” Stetson said.

Good luck with that.

Of course it’s a good thing the management is now going to inform all residents that the building has bed bugs (you know, in case some of them don’t watch Channel 8 news or don’t interact with their neighbors often).

But this act alone is hardly going to bring about a resolution to the Bella Vista’s bed bug problem “as quickly as possible,” which is what Stetson claims to be aiming for.

Click here to view the video.Similar Posts:

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Annie Rourke reported for News Channel 8 in New Haven on Thursday that residents of the Bella Vista complex in Elm City feel their management is not treating bed bugs aggressively enough.

New Haven (WTNH) — People living in one Elm City apartment complex say they have unwanted guests: bed bugs. And, they’re saying there’s not enough being done to get rid of them.

Residents say exterminators only do one apartment at a time and only when someone complains.

This piecemeal approach is entirely the wrong one where bed bugs are concerned. Pest Control Operators who know bed bugs tell us you need to inspect carefully, find bed bug harborages, and treat them aggressively.

All adjoining units (vertically and horizontally) — if not the entire building — must be inspected professionally by a PCO that knows bed bugs. And it’s an even better idea to treat those adjoining units even if bed bugs cannot be found.

News 8 spoke with a resident on the 7th floor of the Bella Vista:

“I had bites all over my arms, I was sitting on the sofa and one crawled on my leg and one crawled on my back,” Joanne Buccetti, of New Haven, said.

She got an inspection and treatment after she complained. Meanwhile,

Down on the 5th floor, the tenant’s place is so bad News Channel 8 was not allowed inside, even though the exterminator’s come repeatedly.

“Three times and three times they’re right back again,” Sal DeFelice, of New Haven, said.

Treating single apartments, only after residents complain about bed bugs, simply does not work. Units must be treated simultaneously, and repeat treatments must come in 10-14 days, until the problem is entirely cleared up.

You cannot wait for tenants to see bed bugs, since they can be hard to spot, and you can’t rely on reports of bed bug bites, since many people do not react to them. By the time the tenants realize they still have bed bugs, the number of bed bugs can have increased greatly. If treatment occurs every 10-14 days, you have a chance to nip hatching nymphs and other survivors in the bud.

Apartment building managers simply need to become educated about bed bugs. And pest control operators need to insist that proper protocols be used (including — at the bare minimum — inspections of all adjoining units before treatment begins).

Many PCOs who value their reputations already do insist on this, because the piecemeal treatment plan simply does not work to rid a building of bed bugs.

And many reputable PCOs will recommend even more is done. In a building like this, where tenants have been discarding infested furniture, searching horizontally and vertically adjacent units isn’t enough: you really need to have a pro search the entire building.

Why? Because some of that bedbug-infested refuse has no doubt been judged to look “just fine” and has been carried back from the curb or dumpster into other units as yet not known to be infested. It’s a pattern so common in multi-unit buildings that if I were a betting woman, I’d put money on the fact it was happening in the Bella Vista.

But don’t take my word for it: so would the Boston Inspectional Services Division. When they hand out a bed bug violation, they require landlords to inspect the entire building, and to treat all vertically and horizontally adjacent units; as their website states:

Our Standard bed bug notice of violation also requires that owners inspect all units in the dwelling, and they must treat all horizontally and vertically adjacent units to the infested unit(s).

That’s how you start to stop the spread of bed bugs in a multi-unit dwelling. That’s the start. Follow-up inspections and treatments will also be needed.

This is what a building like the Bella Vista needs: an aggressive bed bug treatment protocol. (That and education for tenants about how to avoid spreading the problem further.)

The Bella Vista is primarily a senior citizens’ building; how many of us want to think of our elderly relatives, or ourselves, with regular bed bug bites and no relief in sight?

You can read the full article from News 8 here.Similar Posts:

None Found

Public housing tenants in a Grand Forks, North Dakota public housing development are suffering from bed bug bites, according to a story in he Grand Forks Herald Saturday.

The article, “Bedbugs infest GF apartment complex again,” said twelve units were infested in the 76-unit Cherry Heights complex (at 110 Cherry Street), which houses those over 62, the disabled, and people on low incomes.

The word “again” in the headline referred to the fact that one unit in the building was infested back in March. This suggests that either (a) all bed bugs in the original infestation were not killed and later spread to others, (b) bed bug infestations were present at the time in other units that were not known about, (c) one or more tenants or staff have brought bed bugs in since the March infestation, or (d) all of the above.

The article says,

After the report of bedbugs in March, the affected apartment and surrounding units were treated.

“We felt that we did have it under control. We felt we did everything that had to be done,” [executive dirctor Terry] Hanson said.

From April to July, the housing authority received no reports of bedbugs. But it’s not clear whether this is a fresh case or a lingering one, Hanson said.

It is possible that other units besides surrounding ones were infested at the time. It’s also not clear how many treatments occurred back in March. Most bed bug infestations take more than one treatment to clear up. Some take many more. If tenants do not react to bites, they may not know if bed bugs are gone. The housing authority should therefore not rely on subsequent “reports of bed bugs” before following up with further treatment.

The Grand Forks Herald said the building was being treated next week with pesticide spraying by Ecolab, and that tenants in the twelve units being treated would be asked to vacate their homes for two days during treatment.

I can only hope residents have been educated about how to avoid moving bed bugs to the hotels, motels, friends’ or relatives’ homes where they might stay during that time.

Bed bugs spread easily and one must take precautions to avoid moving them in one’s clothing or possessions. (This FAQ gives some pointers on how to avoid spreading bed bugs to others.)

The Bismarck Tribune also did a brief story on this yesterday.

If you based your assessment of the bed bug epidemic on news stories which have come out most recently from Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and now North Dakota, you’d probably be thinking that bed bugs are mostly a problem in public housing.

This is far from the truth. All kinds of people get bed bugs in all kinds of homes. I have a hunch, though, that public housing bed bug stories are more likely to make it into the news. Similar Posts:

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NBC reports that there are bed bugs in a senior apartment building in San Diego:

It’s happening at the Westminster Manor, which is home to low-income seniors. Resident Rose Chapin, 76, told NBC 7/39 she first noticed the problem in June.

“I saw little black spots on my bedspread,” Chapin said.

Soon after, she noticed bloodstains, bites on her chest and legs, plus larvae found in the couch. Chapin said that about 50 of the 150 apartments in the high-rise wound up with them and are being sprayed for bedbugs.

“They’ve sprayed two times in my place already, but I still have to keep all of my clothes in bags out on the balcony for the rest of the month. And I have to do about 50 loads of laundry when that’s done, just to make sure they’re gone,” Chapin said.

Fifty out of 150 units are being treated. This is a serious infestation. I would not be surprised if other units as well as common areas (and maybe even walls / pipe areas) were also infested.

The management says they treat units when complaints are made:

“The residents spread them when they visit each other. There’s no way to prevent it, so we treat the apartment as soon as we discover a problem,” said Bill Keys, the buildings superintendent said. “At any time, we could be dealing with four or five rooms.”

Treating units like this individually, a few at a time, when 1/3 or more of the building is infested and are being treated at different times, may not be the best way to eliminate the problem.

Would coordinating treatment so that it occurs all at once not be a more efficient and promising plan?

Perhaps some of our professionals could enlighten me on that.

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