This is horrible!! I am totally shocked that this can be allowed to go on. People are paying money to be abused like this? I now have absolutely no respect for our Dept of Health. I don't even know what else to say!
As an employee of an agency that owns a small assisted living, I just need to say we battled bedbugs in our facility for YEARS and it is harrowing. Old housing stock, with nooks and crannies everywhere, is especially hospitable to bedbugs. They may travel through the building on plumbing or electrical infrastructure, which may require exposing those systems by tearing down walls. The treatments are neurotoxins and over-application may constitute a health threat to residents. Anyone traveling can pick up bedbugs at hotels anywhere in the world, no matter how elegant. While I’m glad we no longer use DDT for these types of infestations, treatment since its ban has been ever more challenging. Residents visiting friends in infested hotels, shelters and apartments may reintroduce a bug or two and this can blossom into another infestation (not blaming the victim, just explaining the whack-a-mole nature of the problem). These folks for sure deserve safe, clean housing and if the management is in denial they certainly must be held accountable. But it’s a really challenging problem.
While Steve Jackson’s stonewalling is totally unsatisfactory, what Susan says about bedbugs being an awful problem is true. They are all over apartment buildings and houses in Providence and often take multiple treatments to get under control. I used to worry that I might pick up one when doing home visits. I read that vermiculite, which is a mineral, dehydrates them. We really need effective, non-toxic treatments. Thanks for the pictures of the people with bug bites, there are a lot of people invested in denial.
Residents have the right to “live in a safe and clean environment.” That right is clearly being violated for these residents, and enforcement of that regulation is RIDOH’s responsibility. http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE23/23-17.4/23-17.4-16.HTM
This is horrible!! I am totally shocked that this can be allowed to go on. People are paying money to be abused like this? I now have absolutely no respect for our Dept of Health. I don't even know what else to say!
As an employee of an agency that owns a small assisted living, I just need to say we battled bedbugs in our facility for YEARS and it is harrowing. Old housing stock, with nooks and crannies everywhere, is especially hospitable to bedbugs. They may travel through the building on plumbing or electrical infrastructure, which may require exposing those systems by tearing down walls. The treatments are neurotoxins and over-application may constitute a health threat to residents. Anyone traveling can pick up bedbugs at hotels anywhere in the world, no matter how elegant. While I’m glad we no longer use DDT for these types of infestations, treatment since its ban has been ever more challenging. Residents visiting friends in infested hotels, shelters and apartments may reintroduce a bug or two and this can blossom into another infestation (not blaming the victim, just explaining the whack-a-mole nature of the problem). These folks for sure deserve safe, clean housing and if the management is in denial they certainly must be held accountable. But it’s a really challenging problem.
While Steve Jackson’s stonewalling is totally unsatisfactory, what Susan says about bedbugs being an awful problem is true. They are all over apartment buildings and houses in Providence and often take multiple treatments to get under control. I used to worry that I might pick up one when doing home visits. I read that vermiculite, which is a mineral, dehydrates them. We really need effective, non-toxic treatments. Thanks for the pictures of the people with bug bites, there are a lot of people invested in denial.
thank you Steve, once again tackling the tough problems.
Years ago cockroaches were a big problem. Combat is an amazing and effective treatment that made it easy to handle a cockroach infestation.
We need a “Combat” for bed bugs.
I don’t know if DDT would even work. I know it is ecologically dangerous, but it is not a carcinogen.
The person who identifies a treatment for bed bugs will be rich!
Well, the last interview there was very telling, wasn’t it? Yikes! “Nothing to see here” means nothing will change.
OMG. Seriously. 🤬
Holy crap!