Seattle-Based DESC Uses EcoRaider® to Control Bed Bugs in Homeless Shelters
Bed bugs are a tough problem to deal with in any scenario. But in public shelters bed bugs can could potentially cause the homeless to move away from using the facility, giving it a bad name.
Sondra Nielsen, Director of Facilities and Asset Management for Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), wanted to avoid that situation when she started realizing that synthetic chemicals were unable to kill bed bugs in her shelters because a resistance had been built up to them.
DESC is a nonprofit organization of nearly 600 professional staff, board members, and community volunteers fighting to serve every aspect of Seattle’s homeless. According to Nielsen, once the pesticides were unable to solve her problem she turned to EcoRaider based on a referral.
“It’s been huge for us, it’s been tremendously huge for us,” said Nielsen. “EcoRaider was recommended to me by Dr. Fang Zhu at Washington State University and I then asked our pest management company Eden Pest Control about it and they were preliminarily using it in some locations already.
“But based on Dr. Fang Zhu’s research showing it was very effective against bed bugs I was convinced it would make sense to use EcoRaider and in the end, we would have to perform fewer treatments and save money by using it in our shelter environments. That’s exactly what happened, EcoRaider eliminated the bed bug infestation in our main shelter and two of our smaller shelters and although periodically we have hitchhikers we do not have infestations.”
As Bed Bug Operations Manager for Olympia, Washington-based Eden, Michele Cruzat has been focused on controlling a pest infestation that has been penetrating just about every type of customer sector – from hotels, hospitals and apartments to senior-living centers, residential homes, and apartment complexes.
The strains of bed bugs were completely resistant to pyrethrins and pyrethroids, leaving Cruzat without a solid bed bug solution until she continued using EcoRaider.
“Using EcoRaider made a huge difference for us,” Cruzat said. “We were using conventional chemical products – we tried many things and none were getting it under control and we were treating every two weeks. Once we started using EcoRaider we saw a difference immediately.
“I’d say within a few weeks we a drastic reduction in the bed bug population. We haven’t seen a bed bug infestation again in any shelter – at this point we are spot treating every two weeks with EcoRaider and it’s working incredibly.”
According to Cruzat, who has crews covering much of the Seattle and Olympia markets, her technicians are so convinced that EcoRaider is the product of choice for eliminating bed bugs that it has become part of regular protocol.
“EcoRaider is great to use in sensitive areas. With most products, you can only use them in cracks and crevices but with EcoRaider you can use a broad spectrum – you can spray full areas and that’s super valuable to a pest technician. We love the product.”
EcoRaider, available online and at distributors throughout the country, quickly kills bed bugs on all stages without adversary environmental effects. The product, named “the most effective bio-insecticide for bed bugs” by Entomological Society of America-published lab data in the Journal of Economic Entomology, offers PMPs a variety of benefits. Its uncompromising field performance comparing to leading pesticides are proven in recent report by USDA IR4 Public Health Pesticide Program.
EcoRaider offers ready-to-use, naturally derived bio-insecticide that can be applied anywhere bed bugs are found without restriction. EcoRaider can be used in various sensitive environments, including schools, health-care facilities and public spaces.
For more information, visit https://ecovenger.com/ or call (201) 751-0011. Also, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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