Mesa shelter’s renovations aim to fight bedbugs
By Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
With bedbug complaints multiplying in Maricopa County, extensive renovations at a Mesa shelter are being cited as a prime example of how to attack the problem.
A University of Arizona entomologist and a Mesa construction-company owner are combining their talents to overhaul the East Valley Men’s Center, replacing wooden bed frames where bugs hide and breed with specially designed metal frames.
A seamless floor was installed to prevent bugs from hiding in cracks. White sheets will be used so that any bedbugs will stand out.
“It would be a huge benefit to everyone in the Phoenix metro area if every shelter used the same approach,” said Dawn Gouge, the entomologist whose suggestions became the guide for the renovations.
Gouge and her colleagues are pursuing a federal Environmental Protection Agency grant for $190,000that would attack the bedbug problem at shelters and public housing in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state.
Gouge said her working theory is that attacking the bugs in highly transient shelters would prevent them from spreading elsewhere.
But regardless of whether Gouge lands the grant, she is offering to inspect any shelter in the county and make recommendations, just as she did in Mesa.
“I believe we are at the point where we need a bedbug task force, especially in the Phoenix metro area,” Gouge said, following the lead of other states.
Although other states with higher humidity tend to have worse problems with bedbugs, there is little doubt the problem is growing in Arizona, she said.
Craig Levy, an epidemiologist with the Arizona Department of Health Services, agreed, saying a communitywide effort is necessary. He said bedbugs are “equal opportunity hitchhikers” that can be spread virtually anywhere. There should be no stigma attached to them, he said, and they should be reported as soon as possible to management at apartment complexes, shelters and hotels to limit infestations.
“It’s increasing here, and, given time, my guess is it could become as bad as other parts of the country,” Levy said.
A review of Maricopa County Environmental Services Department records show that bedbug complaints rose from 96 in 2008, to 285 in 2009 and to 458 through Dec. 15. That amounts to a 377 percent increase in three years.
Ed Girard, a county environmental-enforcement supervisor, said he’s not sure if the bedbug problem is growing or if people are reporting them more after media coverage about the issue.
The records show complaints at some very prestigious addresses, including the Arizona Biltmore, a Radisson hotel, a Residence Inn by Marriott, along with low-budget hotels and halfway houses.
“It’s hugely underreported,” Gouge said, because many people don’t know where to make complaints.
The bedbugs aren’t picky. The bloodsucking bugs feed off humans and are considered a perfectly adapted parasite. The bugs do not spread disease but often leave bites, skin rashes and other irritations.
Gouge said most hotel chains do a good job attacking the bugs, but shelters and other facilities for the poor often don’t have money to attack the problem.
A New Leaf, the non-profit agency operating the Mesa shelter, was spending thousands of dollars on pesticides and other measures that failed to eliminate the bugs, said Torrie Taj, executive vice president for marketing and resource development.
The shelter eventually was gutted after Taj secured a series of grants and approval from her board for a $200,000 overhaul.
Shane Orlando, the owner of a Mesa construction company, also persuaded eight companies to donate more than $20,000 worth of labor to the renovation project.
Orlando worked out a construction schedule and designed the metal bed frames himself after he was inspired by leadership training through the Landmark Forum.
“When you help people, it comes back to you,” Orlando said.
The shelter’s 84 residents lived in a tent while renovations were under way, Taj said. They were required to wash their clothes before moving back inside the shelter. The move was completed Monday, with space for 10 more men.
Phoenix’s Human Services Department and the Watkins Emergency Homeless Shelter wrote letters supporting Gouge’s grant and will participate if she receives approval.
Darlene Newsom, chief executive officer of United Methodist Outreach Ministries, which contracts with Phoenix to manage the shelter, said she is using preventive measures to keep the bedbugs out. Those include freezing the belongings of new shelter residents to kill bugs traveling in clothing or bags.
Gouge said the Mesa renovations would vastly reduce the scale of any infestation, but nothing can completely eliminate the problem, which requires constant monitoring.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/12/22/20101222phoenix-area-shelters-fight-bed-bugs.html#ixzz18r9dcz1N
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