Jan 27 2009
Sleep Lab finds Bedbugs feeding on participant
Source: GlobalTV.com
An Edmonton woman who took part in an overnight sleep study awoke to find herself covered in bed bug bites.
Dawn Blue’s constant exhaustion prompted her doctor to refer her to the sleep disorder clinic at Edmonton General Hospital. It is overseen by Alberta Health Services, formerly Capital Health.
During the night, said Blue, a distraught technician woke her, telling her she had to leave because another participant in the next room had spotted bed bugs crawling up the wall.
Blue said the technician told her a possible bed bug infestation was first noticed in the clinic before Christmas.
Blue was sent home in a taxi at 2 a.m. wearing hospital scrubs, her belongings sealed in a blue recycling bag.
The next morning, said Blue, the itching started, on her arms, her legs, her groin, her upper back.
A visit to the doctor confirmed what she already suspected — bed bug bites. She left the office with a prescription for antibiotic cream.
“I was angry and it didn’t help knowing that I had to pay for the privilege of being bitten by bed bugs.”
According to Alberta Health Services spokesman Rob Stevenson, Blue was the victim of “a terrible coincidence.”
He said in order to replicate a natural sleep experience, clinic participants need to be comfortable. They have been permitted to bring their own pillows, blankets and pyjamas with them.
When staff members first noticed bed bugs Dec. 17, they immediately closed the clinic, contacting both a public health inspector and a pest extermination company.
The mattresses and furniture were sprayed and the rooms were fumigated.
The clinic remained closed for its annual Christmas hiatus, from Dec. 19 to Jan. 5, during which time it was sprayed again.
The public health inspector and the exterminator returned before it reopened, and, following a thorough examination, gave the clinic a clean bill of health.
It resumed normal operations, until Monday, that is, when Blue was sent home and the clinic closed once more to allow for more fumigation.
“In the most unfortunate of coincidences and, despite the fact that every day all of the material in the clinic goes through a specific laundering process, between Jan. 5 and Jan. 19, one of the participants brought bed bugs in with their belongings,” Stevenson said.
The incident has already prompted a review of the clinic’s policies and procedures. Effective immediately, clinic participants will no longer be able to bring their own belongings with them and must make do with hospital-issue pillows, blankets and gowns.
“It won’t be as comfortable, but we need to do everything we can operationally and procedurally to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Stevenson said.
Covenant Health spokeswoman Monique Trudelle, speaking for Edmonton General, said there is not now, nor has there been, a similar problem in the rest of the building. “The sleep lab is in our building on the eighth floor, but it’s not integrated into the rest of the hospital,” Trudelle said.
The clinic reopened again Wednesday.
Blue, while still a bit itchy, is satisfied that reasonable steps were, and are, being taken. Alberta Health Services has offered to pay to replace many of her belongings, and to pay for transportation to and from another sleep disorder clinic in Calgary.
