Should Philadelphia Hire a Pest Czar to Control Bed Bugs?

Ideas We Should Steal: Hiring a Issues Czar

Philly is ground zip for bed bugs, and the only large city without a policy to help fight them. Local pest educator Michelle Niedermeier wants to change that

Aug. 27, 2019

This summertime, Terminix named Philadelphia the most bed bug-infested city in America, an embarrassing stardom that may have a frustrating correlation: Co-ordinate to pest educator Michelle Niedermeier, Philly is the only major city that doesn't take an ordinance to aid Philadelphians systematically and finer fight its bed bug problem.

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The environmental wellness program coordinator at Penn Country's Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Direction urban outreach office, Niedermeier has been teaching Philadelphians the virtually efficient and healthy ways to eradicate pests—mice, cockroaches, bed bugs, mosquitoes—for almost 20 years. She provides outreach instruction programs to children and families, wellness professionals and those in social services. She has visited homes where cockroaches driblet from ceilings, counseled frazzled citizens on what non to use to assault problems (flamethrowers, essential oils, Windex), and reassured those in the middle of an infestation that there is e'er a solution. Niedermeier is determined to spread the discussion to people who well-nigh oftentimes feel overwhelmed almost the safest and most effective practices to go on bugs abroad.

Vi years ago, Niedermeier led a city chore force to appraise Philly's bed bug situation, prompted past Councilman Mark Squilla's experience with the pests in his South Philly dwelling. Nothing came of those recommendations. Simply Niedermeier has once again teamed up with Squilla, who in February introduced legislation to create an official bed bug policy, particularly requiring landlords to notify tenants about past bed problems issues and exterminate infestations. Squilla relayed to u.s.a. via e-mail that the bed bug nib he has sponsored, "will be scheduled for a hearing in the fall and [we] promise to pass information technology past the finish of the twelvemonth."

Meanwhile, we have folks like Niedermeier to help—and give promise—to sufferers of this modern urban plague. "In that location are ever things yous can do," she says. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We should be preventing this from happening. Why wouldn't we be? Why would we cause people undue stress?"

"At that place are always things you lot can practise," she says. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We should be preventing this from happening. Why wouldn't we be? Why would we cause people undue stress?"

Nosotros met up with Niedermeier to become answers to our pest questions and to discover out what a resident should exercise if they discover bed bugs, those bloodsucking six-legged parasites, about the size of an apple seed, that feed off of humans.

Sarah Jordan: What's the worst pest infestation you've witnessed?

Michelle Niedermeier: The thing that gave me the heebie jeebies the most early on in Philadelphia was when I was working on a home-based project where the repair people wouldn't go in because in that location was an infestation. Nosotros went into the home to assess the situation with a licensed pest control operator. I had never seen a cockroach infestation like this. First of all, I could aroma it before I even entered. I was similar, "Ooooh, this is gonna be a good i."

SJ: They have a scent?

MN: Oh yeah, you can odor them. You lot know how mice take that urine/ammonia/rank/furry aroma? Cockroaches take a pungent odor similar to mice. Cockroaches have "frass," basically like scat, but it looks similar coffee grounds. Cockroaches like to hibernate and be in tight spaces. They like to feel force per unit area on all sides of their bodies. They like to exist "snug every bit a bug in a rug." But they were out in the daylight, falling from the ceiling because there were so many of them. In that location were no more hiding spaces in the cracks and crevices and in the crawl spaces.

SJ: So how was her house remedied?

MN:The woman who lived in that location had heart atmospheric condition and asthma and so the tools in the toolbox were narrowed by her health. And then we went in with a backpack style vacuum cleaner—totally like Ghostbusters—with a HEPA filter [High Efficiency Particulate Air filter] to finish the particulates from leaving. We vacuumed upward the cockroaches. In that location is great satisfaction when yous suck up a cockroach and it goes "thwunk" into the machine.

I don't feel similar I'm out to kill things, but when you're in your own space, you need to be healthy and happy. These things contribute to poor health and mental wellness outcomes because you lot feel stressed and helpless. Or you isolate yourself because you don't want people to know you have a pest problem because there are stigmas associated with them.The pest control operator also used glue traps in targeted areas and some low toxic pesticides such as Boric acid. Because cockroaches groom themselves, the Boric acid acts as a stomach poison.

SJ: If we are triaging our pest situation, what is our city's greatest concern?

MN: Since we don't have whatsoever hard show almost what is the biggest problem, nosotros are merely going on anecdotal bear witness. I would say probably mice and cockroaches, and seasonally, I would say mosquitoes and ticks. But, we don't know because no one is really in charge of all pests. And so Vector Control in Ecology Services, which is under the Philadelphia Department of Health, is in charge of mosquitoes and rats considering those ii things are vectors of disease and that'southward what vector command does.

SJ: I thought bed bugs were our biggest trouble?

MN: We don't know how bad the bed bug problem is because no one is in charge of bed bugs. There is no primal coordinating agency. It'south hard to say about our number one rating from Terminix because the thing virtually Philadelphia, which is different from other municipalities, is pest control in Philly is dominated by small business owners, not by companies similar Terminix and Orkin. Terminix determines ranking by looking at its service tickets and so it says, based on all service tickets beyond the country it had the virtually from Philadelphia. But in a city where most people don't call Terminix, information technology'southward hard to say how accurate information technology is.

The greatest effect that bed bugs have on people is related to mental health in terms of stigmas, depression, isolation, which then leads to lost days of work, which leads to loss of income. Without someone in accuse saying yes or no, hither's the solution, it'southward the wild wild westward.

In guild to control bed bugs, we actually need to approach information technology in a systematic way— block by block. Because when people accept bed bugs, we hear more times than not that "my neighbor has bed bugs, and now it's spreading down the block in both directions." Nosotros know that bed bugs can travel through cracks and crevices from 1 house to another. Dr. Changlu Wang in the department of entomology at Rutgers has video of bed bugs walking out under the door of one apartment, down the hallway and nether the door of the adjacent apartment.

SJ: How would a Pest Arbiter work in Philadelphia government?

MN: We already take a Vector Control Division, (Ray Delaney), inside the Environmental Health Services (Palak Raval-Nelson, PhD) at the Philadelphia Section of Public Health (Thomas Farley, Doctor). It deals with mosquitoes and rats. They piece of work closely with eatery inspections and L&I (and probably other city agencies such every bit streets because of the cockroaches and rats in the sewers, etc.). To me, information technology seems like a natural extension of all of this and only makes sense that all departments involved would benefit from having someone with an expertise in pests and integrated pest management (IPM).

SJ: How does Philadelphia's government stack up against, say New York Urban center or San Francisco, on bed bugs?

MN: We're failing. New York has an ordinance that'southward a partnership between New York Department of Public Health and Mental Hygiene and its housing department; San Fran has policies and ordinances in identify. Pretty much every major metropolis has a bed issues ordinance of some sort, even across Pennsylvania. Lancaster has a city ordinance that deals with bed bugs.

SJ: Why not us?

MN: I'yard not sure. There's a lot of excavation in. It feels similar, "That's not my job." The metropolis of Philadelphia has a lot on its plate—as does every other city though. The Health Department doesn't desire bed bugs because information technology says they don't spread disease. 50&I doesn't want to deal with bed bugs because it says they are not a structural pest. Both of those things are inaccurate. It is a health business organisation and they are competent vectors of affliction. Are bed bugs currently spreading disease? Not that we know of. Can they? Yes. Information technology is a structural issue and 92 percent of our housing is connected.

The other thing is this isn't just physical wellness, it'southward mental health that we are dealing with. So, the office of Behavioral Health absolutely should be involved in this as well considering currently the greatest result that bed bugs accept on people is related to mental health in terms of stigmas, depression, isolation, which then leads to lost days of work, which leads to loss of income. Without someone in accuse saying yes or no, here's the solution, information technology'due south the wild wild west.

SJ: Does Mayor Kenney's firm take to get bed bugs earlier something gets done?

MN: Y'all ever need a champion, like Councilmember Squilla. He's a champion of the crusade considering he doesn't want anyone to go through what his family unit went through a few years ago. His family had the financial means to deal with information technology—generally, it's somewhere between $300 to $600 a room to treat.

This goes back to a cycle of inequity and injustices. Bed bugs, when they first started resurfacing, probably came with globe travelers and things people imported and that sort of thing. It was a problem for wealthy people and hotels, only for the most role hotels have information technology under control, and wealthy people can hire someone to practice the job and do it right. And then then it falls to people with less means, who might not do information technology co-ordinate to best direction practices, who might try to self treat and that has shown to be completely ineffective.

We know that bed bugs tin travel through cracks and crevices from one firm to another. Dr. Changlu Wang in the section of entomology at Rutgers has video of bed bugs walking out under the door of one apartment, down the hallway and nether the door of the next apartment.

SJ: What are some crazy ineffective methods people apply?

MN: People get creative in bad ways. They read a lot of things on the cyberspace. We don't recommend using a blowtorch to chase after whatever sort of critter in your firm. Dryer sheets don't work for bed bugs or mosquitoes. Mint oil for mice is non constructive. People dearest tea tree oil and remember it's a cure-all, just it can be caustic and irritate the skin. I say heed caution.

SJ: Your work has a domino issue.

MN: Nosotros are looking to preclude and solve problems. If nosotros exercise intervene, we want to brand sure what we are doing is solving the bug and then that it goes away for proficient. It feels like missionary work. If we can change i person, hopefully there is a ripple event. Nosotros spend a adept deal of time talking to people who go into people's homes already, such as social workers and home wellness care visitors. Because if nosotros tin't get in into every home in the state that has a pest effect, nosotros feel that if nosotros train these other people who already go into people's homes, they can spread the gospel of Integrated Pest Direction.

Photo courtesy Courtesy of the National Pest Management Association / Flickr

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/should-philadelphia-hire-a-pest-czar-to-control-bed-bugs/

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