Grants to help with cost of fighting bedbugs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/04/2011 (5261 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RELIEF is on the way for Manitoba bedbug sufferers — the province is set to roll out a rebate program to cover part of the cost of exterminating the bloodsucking pests.

Provincial bedbug coalition co-chairman Dave Funk said Manitoba will launch a grant program at the end of May that will help homeowners, apartment dwellers, landlords and non-profit groups recoup part of the cost of killing bedbugs.

Funk said the total subsidy amount for fumigating will be announced shortly, along with another program that will enable people to purchase a low-cost arsenal of tools to prevent bedbugs, including traps, mattress covers and special laundry bags.

Funk said it will be the latest part of an overall strategy to educate people so bedbugs don’t create a major panic.

The province has already launched a dedicated bedbug information website and hopes to launch a 24-hour bedbug hotline next month so people who need help tackling the problem can connect with someone who can point them in the right direction.

“If a child in school has lice, everybody knows what to do about it. We’re trying to get to the exact same process here with bedbugs,” Funk said. “We want people to be calm, cool, collected about bedbugs.”

The bugs have invaded everything from homes and apartments to office buildings and daycares. The bulk of infestations is concentrated in Winnipeg, Funk said, where highrise apartment blocks are at particular risk.

That’s because people often visit between floors and can pick up a “hitchhiking” bedbug by accident. Other times, Funk said, the pests can wander from an infected suite to a common area, such as a laundry room, where they can crawl into someone’s basket as they fold clothes.

The number of infestations reported to Winnipeg’s 311 line rose 22 per cent last year and 91 were reported between January and April in 2011.

One West Broadway resident, who prefers to remain anonymous, said the rebate program is good news considering he’s already spent hundreds of dollars since he found bedbugs crawling across his living-room floor last week.

The man believes the bugs crawled over from a nearby unit that took in used furniture carrying bedbugs. The resident said he’s forced to pay out of pocket to protect furniture the bugs haven’t invaded yet — including his mattress — due to someone else’s irresponsible move.

“The expense alone is enough for people not to be able to do anything,” he said.

The man said he didn’t know what to do when he first discovered the small bug. Even worse, he said, was how embarrassed he felt when he delivered the bedbug news to friends.

Funk believes education is key to reducing the number of infestations and that infestations will drop once people have better access to quick information and affordable treatment options.

Many infestations spread when people visit an infected place and unknowingly take the bugs home with them, he said, but simple things such as shaking off coats and stamping feet can help prevent bedbugs from hitching a ride home.

Funk warns the “next frontier” of the bedbug invasion is already on the horizon — office buildings and workplaces — and soon everyone in Manitoba will need to know how to prevent bedbugs and what to do if they see one.

“The city of Winnipeg is obviously the main conduit for bedbugs here in Manitoba,” he said.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

 

Hate to bug you

How to avoid taking bedbugs home with you:

When you enter:

— Avoid sitting on fabric chairs

— Hang up your coat instead of throwing it on someone’s couch or bed

— Leave your purse on a hard surface instead of the back of a sofa

When you leave:

— Turn your pockets inside out

— Shake your jacket out

— Stamp your feet

— Source: Manitoba bedbug coalition