Why Your Healthcare Facility Needs Pest Control

staff walking through a healthcare facility

As a healthcare professional or administrator, your goal is to deliver top-quality care to your patients. However, the presence of pests in your facility can undermine this goal. Pests spread bacteria, presenting a serious threat to patients with compromised health. In healthcare settings like hospitals, clinics, doctor offices, and hospices, pests are particularly hazardous. Effective commercial pest control measures are essential to ensure a sanitary environment for patients and staff.

Without proper pest control, the risk to patient health and safety increases significantly. These are the key reasons why pest control is essential in healthcare environments:

  • Preventing Disease Transmission: Pests such as rodents, insects, and birds can carry and transmit bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, posing significant health risks to patients, especially those with compromised immune systems.
  • Protecting Sensitive Equipment and Supplies: Sensitive medical equipment and supplies can be harmed by pests like rodents and insects, leading to costly repairs or replacements and putting patient care at risk.
  • Compliance With Regulations: Healthcare facilities must adhere to strict health and safety regulations. Effective pest control ensures compliance with these regulations and avoids penalties and legal issues.
  • Enhancing Patient Comfort and Trust: If a patient spots a pest in your facility, it will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression. Maintaining a pest-free environment helps patients feel secure and well-cared for, which is crucial for their recovery and overall satisfaction.
  • Avoiding Allergic Reactions: The presence of pests like dust mites, cockroaches, and rodents can lead to allergic reactions and intensify respiratory problems for both patients and staff, impacting their overall health.
  • Preserving Facility Infrastructure: Pests can cause structural damage to buildings, medical equipment, and electrical systems, leading to costly repairs and potential safety hazards.

Common Pests in Healthcare Facilities That We Treat

Pests are never welcome in healthcare environments, but some are more frequently encountered than others. The good news is that we have extensive expertise in eliminating these common pest threats: 

  • Cockroaches: In healthcare facilities, cockroaches signal not only poor hygiene but also heightened asthma risks. These disease-carrying pests contaminate hospital or clinic food and sterile spaces, posing patient health threats.
  • Flies: Similar to cockroaches, flies pose a persistent concern for healthcare facilities. They contaminate food and transmit diseases through their feet and saliva, which they use to digest food.
  • Bed Bugs: The presence of bed bugs is on the rise in healthcare facilities, which rank as the second most frequent location to encounter these pests, following hotels.
  • Ants: Diseases such as Salmonella and Streptococcus bacteria can be spread by ants. Pharaoh ants are particularly risky around IV units and open wounds, posing a severe infection threat to patients.
  • Rodents: Among the most hazardous intruders in healthcare facilities are rats and other rodents. They spread pathogens through their droppings and can enter facilities through almost any means. Their teeth, which grow continuously, compel them to gnaw persistently on wires, insulation, and structural materials.

How Do Pests Get into Healthcare Facilities?

Pests can infiltrate healthcare facilities through various avenues, posing significant risks to patient health and facility hygiene. Here are some of the more common entry points in which pests infiltrate healthcare facilities: 

  • Entry Doors: Leaving entry doors open can attract pests into the healthcare facility, increasing the risk of contamination. 
  • Windows: Improperly sealed windows can serve as entry points for pests, allowing them easy access to healthcare facilities.
  • Clothing: Pests such as bed bugs often gain entry into healthcare facilities by hitching a ride on a patient’s clothing, taking advantage of the proximity and frequent movement between different areas within the facility.
  • Exterior Landscaping: Pests find refuge in exterior landscaping and trees. To prevent rodents, including squirrels and roof rats, from entering your facility through the upper floors, ensure trees are trimmed away from windows and rooflines.
  • Deliveries: When receiving deliveries, especially food service deliveries, inspect the packaging thoroughly for any signs of pests before accepting.
  • Cardboard Packaging: Dispose of cardboard packaging without delay. Cockroaches are notorious for hiding in and gnawing on flattened cardboard.

Bed Bugs in Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Hospice Care, and Other Healthcare Settings

Bed bugs are capable of appearing at any location and at any time. Although their presence doesn’t necessarily indicate poor hygiene or cleanliness, the public often perceives it that way. While bed bugs are not particularly dangerous, they can be irritating and pose a greater risk to sensitive populations, causing adverse reactions or triggering allergies in some patients. Moreover, the stigma associated with bed bug infestations can damage the reputation of a healthcare facility. Over the past decade, bed bug activity has surged across various commercial sectors. Beyond hotels and motels, healthcare settings such as doctors’ offices, clinics, and hospitals have seen a more rapid increase.

What’s the Best Pest Control for Hospitals and Doctor Offices?

Environmental Coalition Incorporated’s two-pronged approach to healthcare pest control offers the best possible results. Our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies focus on targeting high-risk pest areas and educating your staff on prevention best practices.

Environmental Coalition Incorporated employs the HealthGuard pest management program to minimize pest presence in your facility. HealthGuard emphasizes control, discretion, and specialized services, such as bed bug management, to create an inhospitable environment for pests. We aim to avoid disruption by scheduling visits at times convenient for you to reduce patient traffic. Our devices can be designed to match your decor, ensuring pest management remains unobtrusive.

Call the Houston Area’s Healthcare Pest Control Leaders

Each day, you aim to deliver a healthcare environment that surpasses patient expectations. It’s crucial to have a hospital pest control provider you can rely on. Environmental Coalition Incorporated (ECI) has provided pest control services to office and medical buildings in the Houston area since 1991. With our expertise in pest management for healthcare providers, we can focus on minimizing pests in your facility, allowing you to concentrate on what truly matters.

Regardless of the pest problem you’re facing, our healthcare pest control experts are highly trained and experienced to ensure your patients’ safety. To learn more about our services for healthcare facilities or to schedule a free consultation, reach out to Environmental Coalition Incorporated today! 

BED BUGS IN HOTELS

Doing a bit of traveling this holiday season?  Staying in a hotel?  Think your hotel is safe from a bed bug infestation?  It’s not.  A recent article published by PJ Media entitled, “10 Hotel Chains with the Worst Bed Bug Infestations” lists some rather well known hotel chains:

Holiday Inn, Days Inn, Hampton Inn, Marriott, Hilton, and Motel 6 to name a few.  It seems like no one is safe, no matter what the cost you pay for a space to lay your head.  But fret not!  You can take control of the situation, making certain that your room is bed bug free.  Just as any pest management professional will tell you – the key to any pest issue is a good and thorough inspection.

LOOK FOR SIGNS OF CURRENT AND PAST ACTIVITY

LIVE BED BUGS: This one seems obvious enough.  If it moves, it is probably still alive.  The common misnomer is that bed bugs are microscopic.  They aren’t.  You can see them, though they are fairly small.  Figure A is an image of a bed bug on a linen sheet.  Bed bugs do not fly or jump, but can crawl rather well.  Keep in mind that bed bugs are nocturnal, which means they are much more active at night.  If you find a bed bug during the morning or afternoon hours, it might be resting and will not automatically move unless prodded along.

DEAD BED BUGS: This sign is just like live signs, but you know… lifeless.  Dead, done, call it a day.  Just because you find dead activity, this does not mean that there are no longer bed bug issues, just as it does not mean that there are current bed bug issues.  All it really means is that you should continue your inspection.

MOLTING:  Bed bugs go through what is called an incomplete metamorphosis.  Instead of egg, larva, pupae and adult, bed bugs go from egg to nymph to adult.  A nymph is basically a small version of an adult bed bug.  As bed bugs grow larger, their exoskeleton becomes too tight, forcing the bed bug to molt from the restrictive skin.  They do this by literally growing out of their exoskeleton, leaving it behind. This molting process will happen many times until the bed bug officially becomes an adult and reaches its maximum size.  The left over exoskeleton, in turn can often be seen in, around and nearby harborage areas.

BLOOD DROPLETS (FECES): Not only do bed bugs consume blood, but they also excrete it in the form of feces.  What goes in, must come out!  The feces may be black, brown, yellow or even red in color and are easily identified.  Small, pinhead-sized dots can cover the area in question, giving proof positive identification of a previous or even current bed bug infestation.

SIGNS OF PREVIOUS TREATMENT:  This is perhaps a harder item to identify.  There are several ways to kill a bed bug and not all of them are pesticidal.  For instance, our organization prefers to utilize steam because the heat not only kills the adult, but also the eggs and leaves no residual trace that we were ever there, nor does it produce any pesticide off-gas.  (A win-win!)  Some pest control companies will prefer to utilize dust, which is typically a white, chalky powder.  It does not take much effort to apply and while it may not kill all bed bugs, it can be more cost effective – though a repeat visit will undoubtedly be required.  If you do see signs of dust, make sure you do not see it on a surface that you sleep on.  You do not want to inadvertently breathe in pesticides while sleeping. It is not necessarily a bad thing if you find residual dust behind wall coverings or headboards.

WHERE TO LOOK FOR SIGNS OF CURRENT AND PAST ACTIVITY

CONCLUSION

There is no law that states a hotel must tell you if they have had a bed bug issue or in which rooms.  Keep in mind that although there may be issues in one room, this does not mean that the entire hotel is infested.  Bed bugs do not typically travel from room to room on their own – they need a host or to be moved unknowingly via janitorial or some other method.  Some hotels are willing to move occupants to another room if there is concern that there may be a problem.  Of course, this starts the inspection process all over again.  When in doubt, find another place to stay or stay with a relative that you know does not have any bed bug issues.  The worst thing you can do is turn a blind-eye to a potential issue.  Most people would rather go through the hassle of inspection than transport bed bugs to their home.

OVERWINTERING RED WASPS

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year – even for us pest controllers, as many insects such as ants become dormant. But is this the case for all pests? One species that seems to increase in numbers are red wasps.

The key phrase is seems to, because by most accounts, red wasps (also known as paper wasps) do in fact decrease in numbers during this time frame. However, young, mated female wasps will look for shelter in cracks and crevices of buildings or homes in order to survive through the fall and winter months. This phenomenon is referred to as overwintering.

According to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, “…in late summer, queens stop laying eggs and the colony soon begins to decline. In the fall, mated female offspring of the queen seek overwintering sites.” Female wasps look for sanctuary and it can appear that their numbers have increased due to the visual barrage of wasps swarming around warmer sides of structures. But the wasps are simply testing the property, looking for small gaps and openings, in search of spaces large enough to squeeze their tiny insect bodies into, giving them the protection they need from the soon-to-arrive colder, wetter climates. Donald Lewis, from the Iowa State University Department of Entomology states, “… the wasps that survive the winter are the fertilized “foundress” queens that will start “from scratch” to build a new nest and colony…. [Subsequently] finding wasps indoors in the spring does not automatically mean there was a nest in the [structure].”  The same goes for finding wasps within the structure in the fall or winter.  Again, the overwintering female wasps are not looking to nest or create colonies – they are simply in search of temporary shelter.

While in the state of overwintering, wasps are sluggish and are not typically aggressive, though that is little comfort to those witnessing their antics.  Pesticides may be used in any visible cracks and crevices and those areas that are within reach, but will do little to deter the pests from flying in and around the area. (If the pest does not land on the topical application, it will not be eliminated.) Unless there are specific gaps or penetrations that can be sealed or addressed through mechanical means, often the answer is simply wait until the first or second cold snap of the season to kick in.  Once the cold weather settles in, those wasps that did not find shelter will die off and those that did will transition into a hibernation-like state until Spring when they will attempt to emerge from their make-shift shelter and fly away.

RODENT BAIT STATIONS

I was in a property managers office some time ago and we were talking about exterior rodent bait stations.  You know – those black boxes you see outside of buildings, medical facilities, retail locations and even around restaurants.

I asked the manager if their current pest control company serviced the stations on a regular basis.  The response was this:

Yes. The applicator tells me he catches and pulls out at least one or two rodents from those stations every month.

Sounds good, right?  All the more reason to have rodent bait stations around your facility, right?  Here is the problem.  I checked the stations before I left and like most exterior rodent bait stations, these were designed to either monitor rodent activity or reduce the population of rodents around the complex by using bait.  The stations were not, however designed to catch or trap rodents.  While there are some rodent bait stations that allow for either a) a glue board or b) a snap trap to be placed inside of the station, most exterior rodent bait stations are used to introduce several ounces of rodenticide into the environment while keeping the rodenticide out of reach from human kind.  Because the bait can either be toxic or non-toxic (US Green Building Council preferred) and because the toxic forms are mammalian toxins, it is always best to use a tamper-proof bait station when utilizing rodent bait around a property.

Pest management professionals can use these stations to prove or disprove rodent activity around a property.  If there is an ongoing issue within a facility and the activity is relatively new, it may be a good idea to introduce exterior rodent stations.  If the activity has been commonplace for some time, introducing rodent bait stations may not do much of anything to the rodents traversing inside.

Below is a basic breakdown of the inside of one of these stations.  It is not complex.  The rodent(s) enter the box through one of two side openings. They travel to the bait, located in the bait chamber.  Again, some stations are large enough to fit a glue board in the bait chamber and some stations are tall enough to fit a snap trap, allowing the bar of the snap to extend fully, killing the rodent once inside.  MOST stations though, are not designed for that purpose.  Most are simply designed for the use of bait monitoring.  If you are not sure which type of exterior rodent bait station your pest professional is currently using, ask them to show you.  Walk down to one of the stations, have him or her unlock it and take a look inside.  You might be surprised by what you find!

LADY BUGS & THE HOLIDAYS

Lady Beetles (commonly referred to as ladybugs) are small, beneficial creatures.  They are typically red or orange, with black polka-dotted markings.  Some cultures consider these highly identifiable pests as lucky. That is not the case, however when it comes to most of our clients as our firm will routinely receive requests from home owners, tenants and building managers during the winter months, to inspect and determine why they seemingly have an infestation.  We usually start seeing the colorful beetles in November and are called upon to address their presence through January.  Inevitably, what our team will find is a fresh delivery of poinsettia plants, which often turns out to be a Trojan horse.

Why are lady beetles associated with poinsettia plants?  To understand that, we need to understand the following: Integrated Pest Management may be all the rage when it comes to pest management in homes and commercial structures, but it actually started in the agricultural industry well before it was introduced to and by pest management firms.  Why spray a bunch of pesticides in and around your farm, when you can alter the surrounding ecology, making the area inhospitable to plant predators and crop killers.  Lady Beetles are beneficial in both adult and larval stages, feeding primarily on aphids. They can also feed on mites, smaller insects, and eggs of other insects if need be.  Farmers will release the beetles into their crops in the hopes that the beetles will keep their crops from becoming overrun by aphids.  If the crop is an indoor crop, the farmer has the added benefit of keeping these tiny protectors in a localized area.  If a farmer has an outdoor crop, he or she may need to release a new batch as often as every few days.

We can thank the farmers for the added business, though if it were up to us, we would let the beetles be.  In the words of some other famous beetles (Beatles): “Let it be, let it be, oh yes, let it be.”

DOING WHAT COMES GNATURALLY

Let’s get this out of the way first – the correct spelling of gnats is GNATS. Over the years, I have seen nats, knats, kats, nagts, nahts and ants. Yes, ants… But no, it is just gnats. The “g” is of course silent. In commercial spaces, fungus gnats are almost always associated with plants. Not always, mind you, but almost always. I’d say somewhere in the 90% range. Fungus gnats breed on microscopic fungi growing within the soil of a potted or atrium plant. In rare cases (think of the other 10%), fungus gnats may be breeding from mold and mildew associated with a moisture issue or water leak. To rid your space of gnats, do not turn towards pesticides. Seems odd that a pest control service provider would tell you NOT to use pesticides, but it is true. Fogging agents and spray pesticides will do little to control these pesky pests. They may kill off some of the adults, if you can get the adult gnat to come in contact with the pesticides, but the larva will continue to grow and within a relatively short period of time – adults will emerge and you will be right back to square one.

So what do you do? Try this recipe:

  1. Baking Soda: 1 Tablespoon
  2. Water: 1 Quart

Mix well, allowing the baking soda to fully dissolve in the water. Pour the mixture over the top of the soil, making sure to get good, even coverage. Remember!! This is a mixture ratio. Not all plants will need an entire quart of water and some may actually need more. The goal is to simply get just enough of the solution into the soil so that the baking soda can react with the mold, mildew and fungus. The baking soda will eliminate the food source, which will then eliminate the larva. Does this mixture kill the gnats? Not directly. Again, you are eliminating their food source, which will starve them out and stop them from becoming adults. Does this mixture have any impact on the adult gnats? No. But the life span of an adult gnat is only a few days, so within a relatively short period of time, you will not see any more gnats in the environment.

It is important to note that if you do use this method, you will need to treat ALL of the plants in the environ with this solution. Gnats fly, so if you do not treat all of the plants, the odds of a re-infestation or a continuance of the same issue will likely take place. Also, this is a REACTIVE protocol. Do not start watering your plants with this mixture every time you water your plants. You may eventually kill the plant. After you get rid of the issue, try to pull back on watering your plant(s) with as much water as you had been. Most plants are resilient, so if you were watering once a day, switch to once every few days or twice a week. If you were watering twice per week, switch to once per week or maybe even once every two weeks.

Of course, the other option is to simply get rid of the live plant(s) and start using fake ones!