Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) December 27, 2011
During ceremonies between presentations conducted at the Annual Conference held at the Georgia National Fair Grounds the first Bed Bug General Honorable Service Awards were presented to volunteers. The Honorable Service Awards were the brainchild of Andrea Hancock, vice president of Mattress Safe and founder of Bed Bug General. ?At Bed Bug General we?re looking to give back to the community and were pleased to present these awards to those who generously volunteered their time to work at the shelter,? Hancock said. The Honorable Service Awards were presented by Paul Bello, who also serves as technical advisor for Bed Bug General.
In July 2011 Garey Clark, president of Clark?s Pest Remedy in McDonough, Ga., received a call about a bed bug infestation at a not-for-profit shelter located in Atlanta. He scheduled his inspection for the next day but was unsure what he might find there. ?I knew it might be a tough situation but it was worse than I thought it would be,? said Clark. ?I?m doing a lot of bed bug work these days but this location needed more help and required more work than we originally thought.?
For additional assistance Clark contacted Bello, a pest management consultant who resides in the Metro Atlanta area. A meeting was scheduled and the two soon met with shelter administration and a situation assessment and action plan was developed. ?The shelter needed a lot of help and being a not for profit entity with limited resources, financial constraints were a significant hurdle that needed to be overcome,? said Bello.
During the on-site visit the two inspected the resident rooms along with the building maintenance manager. Various treatment options were considered but all were subject to financial constraints. While there were a number of viable treatment options available, it was apparent that none of these could be done economically enough to meet the needs and budget of the facility. This is when the two agreed that it was necessary to donate the needed work to help the shelter become bed bug free.
?It is fortunate that we operate in such a generous industry where many are willing to step up and provide much needed assistance?, Bello said. An e-mail was sent to various industry suppliers for help with bed bug products and equipment as well as to the local Georgia professional associations. Lara Fink of the Certified Pest Control Operators of Georgia and Valera Jesse of the Georgia Pest Management Association forwarded the call for help via e-mail to their respective members and local PMPs of Georgia answered the call. ?In less than 24r hours we had at least nine volunteers contact us to donate their time to help with the necessary bed bug control work. None of this would have been possible without Paul?s help. And, the Georgia Department of Agriculture sent a representative to assist as wel,l? said Clark.
In addition to the volunteers industry suppliers Actisol, AMVAC, Atrix, Bayer, Catchmaster, Mattress Safe, MGK and Oldham Chemical & Equipment provided products and equipment for use at the site. Products provided by suppliers included Atrix vacuums, BDS bed bug monitors, Temprid SC, Bedlam, Onslaught, Tempo Dust, Drione Dust, Prelude, Nuvan Prostrip, portable steamer, mattress encasements and application equipment. In addition to this Rollins Supply also sent a shipment of Mattress Safe bed bug proof box spring and mattress encasements.
After an organizational meeting to discuss the control plan the volunteer team worked for two days to eliminate bed bugs from the facility. While it was important to rid the facility of bed bugs, one of the goals was to help the facility to become self-sufficient such that they would be able to handle subsequent bed bug issues going forward. ?With the state of the economy and the financial constraints that affect the location it was clear that they would not be able to hire professional pest management services to keep them bed bug free. Amongst our goals during this effort was to supply them and teach their staff how to successfully handle bed bugs on their own. In addition to this, my intention is to provide them continuing support so that this situation doesn?t happen to them in the future,? said Bello.
The program protocol implemented at the location included comprehensive education and various treatment methodologies. All the worst level infested rooms were heat treated by Clark Pest Remedy who donated the use of their Temp-Air heat system along with four employees. Clark committed the heat treatment resources of his entire company for this project. In addition to this, other treatment methods included vacuuming, steaming and application work. All rooms were also treated with liquid residual insecticides including Temprid SC, Onslaught and Prelude. Utility penetrations were treated with Tempo Dust and Drione Dust. Furnishings were inspected and treated using Bedlam and other suitable products.
?One of the challenges of this situation was training otherwise inexperienced people to become efficacious pest management technicians. Thankfully, the staff of the facility and the maintenance manager was eager to take on this work. He picked up the training well and did a great job for us,? said Bello. With a team of nine technicians a great deal of work was completed in just two days? time. ?It was a lot of work but we had a lot of great people to do it thanks to the folks at CPCO and GPMA. From prep work to application work to training the facility staff one on one, each person handled a specific task which helped to make us time efficient.?
After the work completed the and regularly scheduled follow up inspection and monitoring the facility remains bed bug free to date. ?We went from a location where we observed sleeping residents being bitten by multiple bed bugs during our noontime inspection to a place where none are being seen at all?, said Clark.
Volunteers inclulded: John Bevich of Bugs Burger, Ron Green of Cleggs Termite & Pest Control, Garey Clark, Matt Clark & Mark Gibson of Clark Pest Remedy, Fred Ascarra of Fred?s Pest Control, Marquire Conner of Trinity Pest Management and Willie Anderson of NOW Pest Management.
Allied member contributors included AMVAC, which provided Prelude insecticide and Nuvan Prostrips; Atrix International which provided vacuums; Bayer, which provided Temprid SC, Drione Dust and Tempo Dust; Catchmaster, which provided BDS monitors; Mattress Safe, which provided encasements; MGK, which provided Onslaught and Bedlam; Oldham Cehmical & Equipment, which provided an S-4000 steamer and a compressed air sprayer; and Actisol, which provided a ULV unit.
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