Hannibal foster care companies have new mattress bug prevention machine

QUINCY (WGEM) – Following a spate of bed bug infestations in nursing homes around Hannibal, the United Way of the Mark Twain Area has purchased a new solution.

Manager Denise Damron said they were raising money to rid a foster family of bed bugs, but when they discovered at least three other homes also had a similar infestation, they decided to buy a bed bug bag.

She said items like toys, clothes, blankets and bedding can be put in the bag, which is heated to kill bed bugs.

“We must prevent situations like this from occurring and not react but prevent them and so one of our agency partners, Avenues, our local Domestic Violence Shelter and Advocate Service, when women and children move into their homes, must require that each property goes through a bed bug pocket,” Damron said.

Brittany McCaskey, area coordinator for Coyote Hill Nursing Services, said this bed bug bag will be extremely helpful for families because bed bugs can spread very quickly around the home through clothing, toys and blankets that foster children may bring with them.

“It could be unhygienic living situations. It can be a variety of things and when a child first comes into a home the case worker is told what is happening, the investigator is trying to piece everything together so often a foster family doesn’t know exactly where a child is from that first night,” McCaskey said.

Damron says this can be a huge financial drain on foster families who have limited funds to care for the foster children, as an extermination job can cost as much as $2,000, while the beg bug bag costs $400.

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