County feels bedbug infestation

Oct. 24--Six months ago Deanna Griffin received state funds to install a new, walk-in shower in her apartment at Allied Assisted Living at the corner of Long Avenue and South Jefferson Street.

Battling cerebral palsy, Griffin has difficulty moving around but loves the convenience of her new shower and values the independence she enjoys by maintaining her own home -- even if she periodically shares it with bedbugs.

Living in the eight-apartment complex for about three years, Griffin said bedbugs are "frequent guests" moving in and out as facility managers spray half of the apartments one month and the other four a month later.

"The bugs seem to migrate between the sprayed and unsprayed apartments. They never seem to spray the hall and never spray all eight (units) at one time," she said.

Her son, Justin Griffin, who has lived with his mother on occasion in the past two years, said he knows first-hand about the bugs and said his mother has bites on her arms, back and lower body. He adds that a couch she is renting is infested.

"They blame former residents," he said. "They tell current residents, most of whom are disabled, to get rid of furniture or wash their clothes. But that's not taking care of the problem."

John Hughes, senior property manager at Allied Community Living, acknowledges the bedbug problem.

"Bedbugs are everywhere right now," Hughes said. "We hired a professional service -- Dr. Dead Bug from Ellwood City -- to come in and spray on a monthly basis and more often if bedbugs are reported. They do an outstanding job but the bedbugs keep coming back."

Hughes said the company, which has contracted with him for 30 years, uses a three-step approach which involves sprays, spores and dust and requiring residents to leave for several hours when spraying is done. Soon, he said, a new heat application will be added.

The big problem, he said, is residents come and go and may be inadvertently reimporting the bugs.

""There are so many parts to this," Hughes said. "Even if we've done all that we can and cleared all the bedbugs out, the residents may be allowing them to hitch a ride back on their clothing.

"We own the building and do the best we can to keep it up but there is a major infestation of bedbugs right now in all of western Pennsylvania. You hear about them closing the Pittsburgh Incline for several weeks and transportation providers are hiring companies to spray their buses."

Hughes said he believes bedbugs made a return a few years ago when the the strong pesticide DDT was banned. This allowed them to resurface," he said.

Since Allied Assisted Living is considered a "disability" building, since many of its residents are disabled, they work with advocates from various social service agencies. Dan Goclano of Lawrence County Association for Responsible Care, is an advocate for Deanna Griffin.

"There's no doubt we're seeing more bedbugs or that the facility has them," Goclano said. "But they're doing all they can to get rid of them, spraying half of the facility each month plus the hallways and spraying around the exterior. We try to educate the residents to be careful, to be aware of their surroundings and to check their clothing when they go out. If even one gets carried in on a jacket and they hang it in their closet, they're infested in a matter of weeks."

He said bedbugs are good at hiding and can hide inside light fixtures until the spraying is over then return. He added that bedbugs have been known to hibernate in mattresses, without eating, for up to a year.

Justin Griffin said his mother, "Has done everything they've asked of her. She packed up her clothes, put them in the dryer for an hour since high heat kills the bugs. She's been living out of bags for weeks. She has moved her furniture away from the walls as she was asked. She even took apart her bed frame since bugs hide in corners and cracks. She sweeps the floor and even vacuums the hall outside her apartment and keeps the place as clean as she can.

"She is not the problem, She was a very clean lady before she got sick. Now she needs help to do anything," he said.

Griffin adds that he's willing to do more to protect his mother, He said he spent $1,000 for sprays, a hypoallergenic vacuum, a steamer kit and gel for the baseboards. "But they wouldn't let me use it. They told my mother she is not allowed to put off a bug bomb in her apartment, that they'll take care of it. But the bugs are still here."

He said he has also tried to get his mother to move in with him and his wife, "But she doesn't want to leave her apartment. She wants to be independent," he said. "I want something done. But I don't want to jeopardize my mother's ability to live there. I don't want her to have to leave."

nlowry@ncnewsonline.com

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