Environmental Health plans bedbug education event

Washington County Environmental Health director Jennine Wolf has organized a bedbug educational meeting from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Washington County Extension building on the Washington County Fairgrounds.

This meeting will be similar to one Wolf organized last October, which was held at Marr Park. She said that many people asked her to do an evening session so that people who couldn't attend a daytime meeting could learn more about bedbugs in Washington County. The meeting is free.

Wolf says that the first line of defense against bedbugs is education.

The Bedbug Task Force held its second meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the Washington Public Library.

"Anybody been having problems?" Wolf asked. She then asked a landlord, Jim Taylor, if he has any plans in place to deal with bedbugs.

Taylor said he owns more than 30 single-family homes and apartments that he rents.

"We have a lot of information available," he said. "We're trying to prepare for it. We're looking at bedbug amendments for our leases."

Wolf said there are many landlords who do have bedbugs in their rentals. One of the biggest problems for landlords, she said, is that renters who have bedbugs move out of one property and move into another, which spreads the bedbugs to new living quarters.

"I had a landlord come in a couple of weeks ago," Wolf said. "He had a quadplex in Washington. He said, 'I've got a problem with bedbugs.' When I talked to him I said, 'when was the first time you heard of it.' He said, 'a year ago.'"

Wolf said the landlord did extensive research on bedbugs on the Internet and found out that heat and chemicals will get rid of bedbugs. He treated the bedbugs himself, Wolf said.

"And it's spread, right?" Wolf asked him, "and he goes 'yeah.'

Landlords need to understand that that can't tackle bedbugs on their own, she said.

But landlords aren't the only group who end up spreading the bugs.

Wolf said that a day care in the county found a bedbug, so they sent all of the children's belongings home to have them washed and dried. Again, she said that that may have spread bedbugs to new spaces.

One precaution people can take in a similar situation is to place the items into a clothes dryer and run the dryer on high for 45 minutes.

Day care provider Shalon Hoyle said, "Parents complain all the time that their kids' swimsuits and stuffed animals and blankets are ruined because we dry them on the highest heat possible for as long as the dryer will run."

Another group of people who need to be more aware of bedbugs are the churches, Wolf said, because pastors and volunteers go to people's homes and to nursing homes. Collecting clothing and furniture to give to people in need could also spread bedbugs.

Wolf plans to have an exterminator at the next task force meeting. The task force wants to know the questions people should ask when seeking a pest control operator and how to make the information available to the public.