College student project-Bedbug Taskforce

Brief slideshow presentation about the Bedbug Taskforce

In recent years, cities across the country have experienced increased bed bug infestations and have been striving to address this complicated situation. In the last year, Meadville has experienced difficulties with bed bug infestations across the city. A recent article from the Meadville Tribune highlighted issues that have been unfolding at the Housing Authority’s Holland Towers and William Gill Commons apartments. For the past year, tenants have protested on several occasions over living conditions due to infestations and as of November 2021, 39 of the 132 units (30%) in Holland Towers have received treatment for bed bugs and cockroaches (Crowley, 2021). That same year, 41% of units at William Gill Commons apartments were also treated (Crowley, 2021). In addition to the sheer amount of units receiving treatment, it is reported that between the months of May and June of 2021 that about $30,000 had been spent in extermination efforts (Crowley, 2021). Conversations with exterminators have revealed that they are at capacity responding to bedbug concerns from both private homeowners and renters across the county (pers comm, 2021). Our goal is to help stop this cycle of bedbug infestations by creating a Meadville Bed Bug Task Force made up of representatives of a wide range of social service organizations and community members, responsible for adopting and implementing heat treatments for infested buildings and developing an associated educational outreach program. The proposed method relies on heating units (Green Tech Heat Solutions) that heat an apartment or home to >130 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that can kill all life stages of the bedbug (adults, nymphs, larvae, and eggs).  Unlike a pesticide-based chemical response, bedbugs would not be able to build a resistance to the heat level which would mean less opportunity for re-infestation. And with an approach designed to treat units throughout a multi-unit building, reinfestation from adjacent units would also be reduced.  This project would establish an opportunity for community employment and provide a low-cost solution for the pervasive problem of bed bugs.