Healthcare facilities in Southlake are as unique as the patient care they provide. Small hospitals, doctor’s offices, long-term care homes, and outpatient facilities all share the characteristic of being compassionate spaces that are insensitive to any type of insect. To handle the unique challenges posed by the building and its surroundings, every spot requires a different approach. If you want to eradicate pests from a senior healthcare facility, contact Exterminator Services in Southlake.
Ways to control pest infestations in senior healthcare facilities
Knowing why long-term care facilities are an attractive spot for many pests is the best protection against pest problems there. Numerous pest species try to gain access to these areas. Common pests consist of:
- Eradicate Bed Bugs, Reclaim Your Rest.
Since residents often bring personal items into medical facilities, your home may become infected with these pests. Senior citizens may not react similarly to bites, so an introduction can go undetected.
- Prevent the Bite, Preserve the Peace.
In addition to biting people and sometimes causing allergic reactions, mosquitoes can transmit diseases like the West Nile virus. Compared to younger populations, older individuals are often more susceptible to these illnesses and experience more difficult recovery times.
- Eliminating Roaches, Elevating Cleanliness.
Nursing home administrators are more concerned about cockroaches than other pests, which may scare and disgust residents and their families. In spite of spreading bacteria that can cause food poisoning, pneumonia, and diarrhea, cockroach droppings, also known as cast skins, can aggravate asthmatic or allergic reactions.
How to remove pests in healthcare facilities
Pests can enter, hide, and grow in a variety of conditions found in healthcare facilities. However, every unique location presents a unique set of challenges. Which locations in your facility—from the kitchen and laundry rooms to the patient living quarters—are “pain” spots for pests?
- Patient Living/Resident Areas
Combating against pests in private living spaces and patient rooms requires maintaining general cleanliness and controlling food spoilage or storage. Workers responsible for regularly maintaining and cleaning resident rooms must be careful when looking for food remains and pieces that have been out for an extended period. They should also be on the lookout for hidden pests, such as bed bugs.
Medical workers are also required to periodically check medical equipment and supplies for pests or indications of their presence. The most effective barrier against pests is the routine and careful cleaning of the residents’ living areas; this is especially important for patients whose immune systems have been compromised and should not be exposed to diseases and infections that pests can spread, nor should they suffer from the stress and sleep deprivation that pests cause.
- Dining rooms and kitchens
A variety of pests tend to gather in the kitchen and dining rooms of long-term care facilities. These places give bugs food, water, and shelter—the three requirements for survival. They are also going to happily consume food at the exact location as your residents. Thus, make sure that all food is stored in containers and that spills—including water—are cleaned up right away.
Preventing tips in healthcare facilities
Exterior
- Regularly check your building’s exterior for any gaps or openings. To keep pests out of the building, caulk any openings and cracks on the outside.
- Remove leaves and sticks from the area around the building and keep the vegetation cut back about two feet from the structure.
- To seal any gaps, use weather stripping and door sweeps.
- Ensure that all doors close properly.
- On the inside of the facility, install ultraviolet light traps (such as fly lights) next to loading docks and service doors to catch any flying insects that manage to get through open doors.
Storage and shipment areas
- When bringing shipments into a receiving area, check them for pests or signs of pests like gnaw marks, droppings, or exoskeletons (shed skins).
- Verify that the vendors you use are treating and inspecting goods while they are in storage or transit to make sure there are no pests present.
- Before bringing goods indoors, unpack them and get rid of any empty boxes.
