Health unit holds bed bug summit - THE INTELLIGENCER - By Luke Hendry

Local agencies are beginning a push for more education, not panic, about bedbugs.

The Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit is seeking a provincial grant to study the bugs' impact here and help other agencies deal with them.
And on Feb. 23, the public is invited to learn more about bedbugs at Bite Back, a forum on the topic.
It's being organized by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), the Community Advocacy and Legal Centre, All Together Affordable Housing and Total Pest Management.
"It's to provide some concrete information from people who've worked with it," said Sandie Sidsworth, the new executive director of the CMHA's Belleville office.
"People that do in-home support, especially for marginalized clients, need to have some of the myths removed," she said.
Those on the margins include people with mental health problems and low incomes who either can't afford or don't know how to get help with ridding their homes of bugs.
The session will help guests identify the insects and provide tips on working with clients and pest control workers.
"We're not trying to send panic through the masses," said Bob Pickard, co-owner of Total Pest Management and a co-presenter of the workshop.
"There definitely is a problem," said Pickard, adding he's been dealing with bedbugs for about the last six years.
He said there has been an increase in calls from curious residents and actual cases in the last three years and a further spike in about the last eight months.

Many callers "just need the reassurance" that they don't have bedbugs, he said.

He said there is no one group affected.
"It's every sector of society."
Sidsworth first encountered them three years ago while working as a community relations supervisor for Hastings County.
"Bedbugs aren't a poverty issue," she said. "It only becomes a poverty issue with people who can afford to treat it and those who can't.
"It's heartbreaking to deal with them (bedbugs)," Sidsworth said, recalling extreme cases in which people suffered pain and other health effects from an excess of bites.
She added the anxiety of the problem can cause anxiety — another reason for her agency's concern.
Some people don't report the problem out of fear or shame, partly because of a common belief the bugs are linked to poor living conditions.
Pickard said not reporting a problem is "the worst thing you can do."
Sidsworth said 57 people registered for Bite Back in the first day.
The health unit, meanwhile, is applying for provincial health ministry funding to study the issue and educate residents.
The application isn't scheduled to reach the counties' monthly health board agenda until April.
Eric Serwotka, the unit's environmental health director, said the program stems mainly from an increase in cases and concern in the Greater Toronto Area.
"It's not that we're any different than we were last year or the year before," Serwotka said. "Relative to other communities we have a much lesser problem."
This region could receive a maximum of about $70,000 in funding for one year — or no funding at all.
"Our focus will be on surveillance, capacity building and education," he said.
Pest control isn't part of the health unit's usual mandate.
Serwotka said the health unit will deal with the issue as much as funding allows. Should the province award more cash, staff will study the nature and scope of the problem. They may also work with other agencies to help those groups either deal with bedbugs or help prevent their spread.
"We haven't done any extensive surveillance," Serwotka said. That makes it difficult to gauge the extent of bedbug infestation locally, he said, but should funding be granted, "we'll try to get a sense of what's going on."
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The Bite Back forum will be held between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Christ Church Anglican, 39 Everett St. (just west of Coleman Street).
A $5 fee covers lunch and a CD of workshop information.
Call the CMHA at 613-969-8874 to register.