When Your Students are not Sleeping Alone: Bedbugs at

Simon Fraser University

Agenda

• Agenda– Outline SFU Bedbug Problem– Discuss Facts about Bedbugs– Show Bedbug Registry Information– Discuss Media– Share what was Done Right and

what left Room for Improvement– Questions from you

Simon Fraser Situation Fall 2010

• August 2010– Noticed an increase– Used usual pest control

• September 2010– Moved in approximately

1,400 new students in the span of a week

– By mid-September getting even more reports – 2 from rooms already treated

Simon Fraser Situation – Fall 2010

• September 2010 (cont.)– By end of month there

were 12 rooms of 1,766 with reports

– 11 rooms from one building

– We knew we had a problem and began to prepare

– Involved our Public Affairs and Media professions

Simon Fraser Situation – Fall 2010

• September 2010 (contd.)- Invited 330 students to

a Town Hall meeting with experts on hand

- Brought staff up-to-date- Purchased some of our

own equipment- Started K-9 inspections- Treated rooms and

clover leafed

Simon Fraser Situation – Fall 2010

• October 2010– Media hit the day after

Thanksgiving – Had point person for

media ready– Hired a dedicated staff

member– Completed K-9

inspection of all 1,766 rooms

Simon Fraser Situation – Fall 2010

Numbers of Rooms TreatedPer Month – Fall 2010

Bedbug Facts

• Bed Bugs are everywhere even in the most exclusive ($$) places

• On the rise and in the news recently, especially last Fall

• Check the Bedbug Registry for your location

• Great hitch hikers• Greatly distress all involved• Reproduce rather quickly

Bedbug Facts

More Bedbug Facts

Bedbugs Multiply Quickly

SpreOne bug picture = One bugOne egg picture = 10 eggs

Bedbugs in Western Canada Downtown Vancouver from Bedbug Registry

6,589 different buildings

Preparing for the Media

• Determine your 2-3 talking points and stick to them– Worldwide problem– Community not individual issue– We’re on it and have a plan

• Have a person free to answer all TV and radio requests

Media Frenzy

• 12 different newspapers covered the story after our campus paper did it’s own coverage– Campus paper pretty positive– Reposted at other universities

• 2 TV stations came to campus to interview not only administrators but students as well

• 3 radio interviews

Media Frenzy

• All wanted to talk about whether we were the only school having this problem and whether we thought we were doing enough

• MacLean’s Article was posted

Example - Media reports – Kudos from Canadian Pest Management Assoc.

What We did RIGHT

• Had done some work in advance including some policies and procedures

• Realized early on it was going to be bad

• Secured support to go public from top administration quickly

• Agreed to take an aggressive plan of action

What We did RIGHT

• Changed third-party pest control contractor

• Added additional help quickly

• Educated staff members rather thoroughly

• Secured help with media ASAP and thus were ready for frenzy

• Aware of Costs versus Future lost revenue

What could we have IMPROVED

• Did not have a procedures that could be scaled up

• Did not have the right pest control company

• Did not get the word out to students as effectively as could have been

• Staff wasn’t consistently-informed as needed to be at onset

W

Points to Remember

• Know your pest control professionals can handle bedbugs on your schedule

• Have a plan prepared in advance

• Educate students before the problem hits

• Figure out ahead of time who will be redeployed

• Have your media talking points ready in advance

Simon Fraser Situation Fall 2010

• What questions can we answer?

• Jan Flagel, Director– jflagel@sfu.ca

• Chris Rogerson, Associate DirectorRes Life– rogerson@sfu.ca