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Bedbug prevention



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frumPA




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 26 2016, 6:51 pm
So I am a pa (as u can tell from my sn) in a city hospital with many low class patients from shelters... and had bedbugs twice within about a year. I did heat treatment and aucceafully got rid of them though it was a big stress, big job and very expensive. Was wondering if anyone knows of anything I can do to prevent bringing it home. I try to minimize contact woth patoents as much as possible and wear dispoasblw gowns. I cant bag all my clothes and come home and dry it every day its not realistic for me. Anyone know if there is a spray I can use on me out there or any other suggestions? All would be appreciated!
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gande




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 26 2016, 7:30 pm
Firstky, make sure you have plastic protectors on your matresses and box springs. If they don't know where to hide they will not bite and multiply. There is a powder that the exterminaters used to kill bedbugs. I think it's called diamoteous earth. Also avoid contact with your clothes and linens or beds.

A good idea would be to have a special hamper with this powder in it where you put only your clothes and wash them separately from everyone else's.

I read that bed bugs are sensitive to the smell of peppermint oil, if you don't might the smell you can try that.
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LittleDucky




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 26 2016, 7:55 pm
Try to stay away from any cloth materials clients may utilize, including the chairs in the waiting room/lobby. They like to hide inside the fabric- there was something on the news about someone claiming they got bedbugs from a motorized wheelchair at a store. When they looked at the chair, they saw them crawling all over!!
I echo not washing your clothes with anything else.
But there isn't anything foolproof. Even bagging your clothes every day and washing/drying on hottest settings. But it might seriously help if you think that is where the bugs are coming from- although they can just be living inside your walls.
Being in a shelter isn't a guarantee that they will have bedbugs and neither is being wealthy enough to stay in five star hotels. Some of the fanciest hotels had an infestation... all it takes is one little bug to crawl into your suitcase. Its enough to not want to ever leave your house!!!
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MagentaYenta




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Oct 26 2016, 7:57 pm
frumPA wrote:
So I am a pa (as u can tell from my sn) in a city hospital with many low class patients from shelters... and had bedbugs twice within about a year. I did heat treatment and aucceafully got rid of them though it was a big stress, big job and very expensive. Was wondering if anyone knows of anything I can do to prevent bringing it home. I try to minimize contact woth patoents as much as possible and wear dispoasblw gowns. I cant bag all my clothes and come home and dry it every day its not realistic for me. Anyone know if there is a spray I can use on me out there or any other suggestions? All would be appreciated!


I think you would be most successful finding work where there aren't so many low class patients.
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amother
Ginger


 

Post Thu, Oct 27 2016, 11:51 am
frumPA wrote:
So I am a pa (as u can tell from my sn) in a city hospital with many low class patients from shelters... and had bedbugs twice within about a year. I did heat treatment and aucceafully got rid of them though it was a big stress, big job and very expensive. Was wondering if anyone knows of anything I can do to prevent bringing it home. I try to minimize contact woth patoents as much as possible and wear dispoasblw gowns. I cant bag all my clothes and come home and dry it every day its not realistic for me. Anyone know if there is a spray I can use on me out there or any other suggestions? All would be appreciated!


I am not here to offer bedbug removal advice but to kindly ask that you learn to be less rude about patients, even though your job is PA not nurse. I'm now a respectable middle class woman with five children, living in a big house with two cars. However, not so long ago I had a short experience living in a shelter. It was not my finest hour. On top of such a life experience, how horrifying for me to see people like you view people like me so negatively I.e. low class patients from shelters. As other posters have said in this and other bedbug posts - you can get bedbugs in pristine clean middle class houses. It's about the environment they thrive in. I am thrilled you minimize contact with patients as I'd feel so sorry for them for you to be around them. The phrase "low class patients from shelters" just makes me shudder....

Good luck getting rid of your bedbugs. And even more luck getting rid of your biased attitude to those of us who have unfortunately had to spend time in shelters before.
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frumPA




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 28 2016, 6:17 am
I am sorry to have offended you. The patients I have are indeed very low class as they are polysubstance abusers and neglect themselves hygienically and health as well so at times they show up to the ED with bugs crawling on them and they dont care which is the biggest part of the problem. I am quite sure that you were not like them and had personal dignity... sorry you have been through that.
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sweetpotato




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 28 2016, 8:00 am
OP, it's pretty uncommon for bedbugs to actually live or travel directly on people's bodies. They do not move very fast, and they avoid risky situations (like being directly on a person during the day time, being on something that moves). They do get into stationary clothing (like clothing on the floor, a bag, a coat). So they do travel on bags and outer clothing, so it is possible that the patients you are treating are coming in with live bugs on them. But even so, it would be unlikely for the bug to get onto you (they don't fly/jump) unless you are standing very near them for a long time. So I doubt wearing gowns or avoiding contact will help much.

More likely is that the patients (or whomever) are bringing bugs (on their bags/coats/outer clothing) and transferring them to chairs, etc. in the office, and possibly your office itself is infested.

Does the office where you work take any precautions to treat the furniture/rooms? What is their protocol? The steps you should take in the interim are (in this order):

-ensure you are only being exposed at work, and not from another source (do you live in an apartment building)?

-Are you certain your bedbugs at home were fully treated/cleared?

-Have a reputable exterminator put you on a maintenance inspection plan. The one I have worked with will come an do a full inspection once a month and put down barrier treatments (DE), for about $50 a month. This ensures that you catch any new problem early and prevent a full blown infestation from developing.

-If you can't afford an exterminator to inspect regularly, then do your own routine inspections and keep your house free of clutter. Bed bugs are visible to the naked eye. There are guidelines for inspecting/vacuuming.

-Keep your coat/bags/belongings in a sealed plastic bin while you are at work.

-Have a plastic bin by your home entrance where you transfer your coat/bags when you return home.

-have your car inspected to make sure you haven't brought bugs there, and have it treated, if needed.

-Again, it's unlikely you would actually pick up bugs directly onto your body/clothing (this is not how they behave), but as an extreme precaution you could keep separate sets of clothing at work. Change when you arrive (keep your "home" clothing in a sealed plastic bin), and change back when you leave. Bring the worn clothing home in a plastic bag and run it through the dryer on high for 30 minutes. (This would only need to be the outer layers of clothing--not underwear/tights etc.)

-There's no spray you can use that would have any effect. Alcohol is a contact killer (it will kill bugs if you spray it directly on them), but it's not preventative. It's also dangerous to spray alcohol on yourself/clothing. Most "bed bug sprays" you can buy at the hardware store are ineffective (the bugs are resistant to them) and can just cause the bugs to disperse.
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amother
Ginger


 

Post Fri, Oct 28 2016, 8:53 am
frumPA wrote:
I am quite sure that you were not like them and had personal dignity...


Ah you see, this is the part that offends me the most. The "us" and "them" attitude because a nice frum girl couldn't possibly be like "them" - perhaps there is more to these other people than the negative opinion you have of them. Oh and actually, I was like them because when you are in that situation, you are one of "them" not one of "us".
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LittleDucky




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 28 2016, 9:37 am
About the bedbugs not being on people during the day... My Dr showed me one they pulled off a patient's body (it was in a sealed Petri dish). They use it to ask patients if this is what they found at home to better treat the itchy bites...
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