Community Relationships Formed around Bed Bug Management and Spanish Language Video
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After receiving a 2013 Partnership Grant from the Northeastern IPM Center, Dion Lerman and Lyn Garling developed a bed bug task force that includes a landlord, a pest control company, a tenant rights group, and university researchers. The group has been focused on working with childcare providers and schools, as important “transmission trails” to educate about bed bugs. In addition, the project leaders have developed two pilot site-based “Bed Bug Response Action Teams” (BRATs), one at the Norris Square Community Alliance (NSCA), a community-based development agency in Lower North Philadelphia, and another at the People’s Emergency Center, a homeless agency in West Philadelphia. The purpose of the BRAT is to implement education and bed bug management plans across links/units.
In addition, they developed a video in Spanish, “Conversación Intima entre Amigas sobre las Chinches de Cama”, which focuses on managing bed bugs and trying to decrease the stigma associated with bed bugs.
Though the grant has ended, they expect to continue their work in helping the community manage bed bugs effectively and safely.