Visitations are temporarily on hold at the Pleasant Acres Nursing & Rehabilitation Center due to an outbreak of bed bugs. The bugs were found within separate resident rooms on Sunday July 20 and Tuesday July 29. Nursing home staff believe visitors transported the bugs into the facility within clothing brought for a resident.
Following the initial discovery on July 20, the affected resident’s room, an adjacent room and a visitor lounge used by the resident’s visitors were each vacated, isolated and treated by a pest control company. Additional bugs were subsequently found in the second room on Tuesday, July 29. The room has been isolated pending further inspection and treatment by the pest control company.
No additional bed bugs have been found within the facility.
Bed bugs are not known to spread disease, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, and have been found in luxury hotels and resorts. Their presence is not a reflection of the cleanliness of conditions where they are found.
The nursing home as a precautionary measure at noon on Tuesday halted all visitor access to the facility to allow for a building-wide assessment by the staff and pest control company.
The restriction was put in place to reduce movement so the pest control company can determine whether any additional pest control is necessary. Visitation will be restored pending completion of the assessment and treatment, if required.
The nursing home staff is also conducting assessments on each resident to verify no signs of bedbug bites. No bites have been found.
“Bed bugs are a common problem across the United States, particularly in facilities like nursing homes, dorm rooms, hospitals and hotels where they can be easily introduced by visitors,” said Marlin Peck, Pleasant Acres administrator. “We regret the inconvenience of this restriction on our residents and their visitors and ask for their patience as we take steps to ensure we’ve eliminated these pests from our facility.”