It’s enough to keep you awake all night

The coast is now clear at Cedar and Afton avenues, but the pile of bed bug-infested trash dumped in the residential east-end neighbourhood has residents and city staff shuddering about the bed bug problem.

Its a problem Hamilton and other cities in Ontario say would be a lot easier to tackle with provincial funding that ran out in March.

The funding stopped as if the problem had been solved and, of course, it hadnt been, said NDP poverty critic Cheri DiNovo.

The provincial government doled out $5 million in 2011 to public health departments across Ontario to combat the bugs. But it was a one-time deal when the money dried up in March, so did the resources, which included advertising and educational outreach projects.

There needs to be simpler access to information people are in the dark about the proper way to deal with it, said Cedar Avenue resident Heather Clayton.

Clayton was horrified Wednesday after tenants in the building across from her house, near Gage Street and Cumberland avenue, fled their infested apartment and left their bug-ridden belongings all over the buildings lawn.

City staff agree the community desperately needs those information resources, said Matt Lawson, a manager in Hamiltons public health department.

Information is the key in this fight. The more people know about it, the more often they wont get confused or angry and throw their stuff out on the lawn.

A large part of Hamiltons funding was also used to help vulnerable members of the community (the elderly and people with disabilities or mental health problems) prepare their units for spraying.

But the city has never had a special collection program for infested trash. So, where should it go?

Originally posted here:
It’s enough to keep you awake all night