In August (last month) Portland Public Health Vector Control hosted a forum on Bed Bugs. As I have been in contact (sending links/articles/rants) with Public Health throughout my ordeal, I was contacted and asked to speak at the forum as a former “victim” of you know who.
There were about 50 people from various organizations and businesses present, mostly folks who work in public housing, social services, shelters, hotels. Sprague Pest Control was there with April the bed bug sniffing dog.
I was able to tell my own personal story of torment and redemption (no bites or bugs seen since May 2009) and created a slide show that showed what my little house looked like before (lots of fabric decoration, clutter, think the Adams Family parlor crammed into 416 sq feet) and after (more austere, metal bed, legs in bowls of Murphy Oil) my bed bug accessories; dry vapor steamer, packtite, and a list of my favorite poisons from my various treatments. I also brought my little bed bug I keep in a plastic bag in my freezer for show and tell and passed it around thinking it would help with identification.
It was great to be part of what I hope is the beginning of public education about bed bugs in Oregon. This was about a week prior to the Bed Bug Symposium in Seattle. My next project will be to work with Public Health to develop a task force with printed and web guidelines on what to do and not do if you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of dealing with bed bugs.
TByte
I’ve had a local pest control company inspect my house following several days of waking up with bed bug bites. Having dealt with explosive detection dogs in the service I thought it best to hiring a trained and certified bed bug dog from a well known pest control company. They showed up the same day and willing took my money however they left without finding a single bed bug. After two more nights of being bitten I decided to re-search the company I hired and found that they had purchased a dog from some company in Florida that specialize in training bud bug detection dogs and that the same company certified the dog and trained the employee. Needless to say I wasted my money. After having my house heat treated they recommend an independent K9 inspection service. This team was very impressive, both the systematically way the inspected each room and the control they had working their dog. Looking back I should have hired the independent service since the reputation is solely based upon their service. Their dog was not purchased through a company that makes money selling and certifying the dogs, what a racket they have going. Had I followed that dog while in Afghanistan I’d have most likely come home in a body bag. My advice to anyone when hiring a bed bug dog team go with experience and never rely on a dog that was certified by the company that sold it!
AD Oregon City, Oregon
Have so many questions. I am a student at PSU and my floor is having a bed bug issue. Please help!!! Email or call me please.
Warmest Regards,
Clifton