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Ottawa woman overdoses-- please read
(7 posts)-
Please read this article and the full story it links to.
http://bedbugger.com/2008/12/04/horrific-story-from-ottawa-bed-bug-sufferer-overdoses/ -
Itchy-Scratchy
senior member
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 452
Posted 11 months ago
Thu Dec 4 2008 7:34:11
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RANT WARNING :
Nobugsonme, thank you for posting this. I live in Ottawa, and I will be contacting the Ottawa Citizen !!!
As some of you know, on June 30, 2008, my neighbour leapt from the balcony to her death after 2 months of battling BBs.
http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/my-neighbours-death
Fuelled by the story of our neighbours desperation and isolation, my daughter arranged for a tenant information session, which occurred last month. Since the information session, tenants have checked their apartments and we are now at 10 infested apartments (and God only knows how many more there may be that haven't been discovered yet). The laundryroom runs 24-7, and we can barely get a washer now. Unlike me, most of my neighbours do not have the financial resources to pay for all the extra laundry, ziplocs, etc. Many are elderly and many are on disability. Mattresses keep appearing outside of the building (unwrapped and dragged through the building, despite the education tenants have been provided).
But this posting, of this poor woman who did not receive help, makes me beyond furious at the injustice of this situation.
My daughter has already given an interview to CTV (no air-date has been set), however she vocalised to me that she wasn't organized for the interview. She gave it with only a few days notice and, while she certainly described our personal situation, she did not bring into the spotlight any of the bigger issues.
This time, I think we should give an interview that is more encompassing.
Can anyone here help me plan a better interview? If I have a limited amount of time, I want to ensure that I communicate the most important messages first. If possible, I would like to compile a list of the issues from which I can provide elaboration.
I will NOT take this woman's story sitting down.
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This is so awful & yet I'm surprised we don't hear this sort of thing more often. These awful little bug suckers drove me into a deep depression as well. That's why I had to go, I couldn't live that way any more. As depressing as living in an empty house is, as depressing as 4 months of virtual homelessness was, it's all better than when I was in that godforsaken apartment. At least I can sleep at night.
The sleep depravation alone, in my opinion, makes this a public health crisis. That's not mentioning the welts and the paranoia. Reading about these things & remembering how dark it was makes me want to scream! (& frankly only makes things worse for the landlady who told me that she disagrees that the apartment is uninhabitable.)
I am so sorry for these women. I really hope someone, somewhere opens the doors for something to really be done about this.
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 5,547
Posted 11 months ago
Thu Dec 4 2008 12:49:49
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Good for you, Itchy-scratchy!
Some suggestions for talking points:
What was frustrating is that the woman was entitled to treatment (because she was in Ottawa public housing) but they stopped treating because they thought she was imagining things.
People need to know how very hard it is to find an actual bed bug, during an infestation-- how very rare that is. And they need to know how entomologists say that as many as 70% of people do not react to bed bug bites. And the need to understand that this means Ottawa public housing needs to find better ways of determining if bed bugs are present (or still present) besides an inspector seeing bed bugs.
Also, she had something like 5 treatments in 10 months. What's that all about? If units are not systematically searched and treated at the same time, bed bugs will move around. You can't treat individual units when tenants complain.
Because some will never notice the problem, and some will notice but will never complain.
Also, if some units are treated and not others, bed bugs will keep coming.
And also, treatment may make them spread.Ottawa could learn a thing or two from the protocols the Boston Inspectional Services Division uses: if one unit has bed bugs, the city requires the building to be searched, and all adjacent units (top, bottom, all sides) to be treated _regardless_ of whether the adjacent units had signs of bed bugs: http://www.cityofboston.gov/isd/housing/bb.asp
And the other big problem in Ottawa: Ontario laws don't specifically make landlords pay for treatment. So even though the woman in the recent story was entitled to treatment (from public housing) and did not get it, let's consider the plight of the many in private rental situations, with no specific rights. (Ontario's bed bug laws are part of this CBC run-down:
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/webextras/bed_eggs/landlord_tenant.html?bed_eggs )And yes, since someone always asks: I do feel for the landlords, and they have rights too. They need to demand government assistance to pay for bed bug treatment, and I am willing to fight to help them get it too. Having tenants with bed bugs who can't afford to pay for treatment (or in some cases won't pay) is bad for landlords, bad for other tenants.
Making tenants liable (or leaving responsibility murky as Ontario does) means tenants may hesitate to report bed bugs, and meanwhile they spread. It ends up costing landlords and tenants more money, time, and hassle.
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bitten123
member
Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 326
Posted 11 months ago
Thu Dec 4 2008 17:24:31
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This is such a tragic story. Itchy, please keep the fight up, you have done so much good for the cause of getting accurate information out there. My heart just breaks for that poor person...
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ineedrelief
newbite
Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 22
Posted 11 months ago
Sun Dec 7 2008 11:34:39
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Don't get me started on public housing!! In that hell now. Again what good is it if they just get rid of harboring furniture and not treat the whole building. If any of you have seen any of my other posts, They just got rid of furniture on the "offending" floors, no treatment there or anywhere else and 3 months later, I now have them. When are they going to get a clue. I'd LOVE to see how they feel after a few nights here. Tried complaining to management, get the Resident Council on board, even complained to the social worker for the building. Don't know what else to do. I wonder how many more people will end up to such extremes before someone takes notice?? I myself end up drinking to the point where I have to pass out to sleep. I wonder when it will catch up with me? I'm sure it doesn't matter to them, they'll have someone on a waiting list who will gladly take my place.....until.....Sad
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ineedrelief
newbite
Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 22
Posted 11 months ago
Sun Dec 7 2008 11:38:16
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Where's Boston Inspectional Services Division's brother in PA??
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