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CCA battles bedbugs
YOUNGSTOWN
The Community Corrections Association has been taking remedial measures after bedbugs were found in recent months in two of its Market Street residential facilities.
“We are working diligently with Grace exterminators and taking preventive measures to ensure the health and well-being of our residents,” said David Stillwagon, chief executive officer of the association, which serves as a halfway house for criminal offenders.
Preventive measures include discarding the wood-frame beds the bugs are attracted to and replacing them with metal-frame beds in affected areas, he said.
Initially, bedbugs were reported in late December in a four-bed intake room at 1608 Market St., and the bugs spread to two other four-bed rooms there.
After that incident, two residents were given an anti-itch skin cream, Stillwagon said.
After the exterminator sprayed insecticide and beds were replaced in the three affected rooms and three nearby rooms, the bugs were eradicated there, Stillwagon said.
This past Saturday, however, traces of the bugs were found in a six-bed resident reception room at 1764 Market St. There, the wooden beds were temporarily replaced with metal-frame cots until metal-frame beds can be acquired.
Once again, the exterminator, who makes monthly visits to CCA, was called to spray the affected premises.
The association has 201 beds in four residential buildings on Market Street.
CCA officials notified the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction about the problem on both occasions.
“We are satisfied with CCA’s initial response and will continue to monitor the situation,” said JoEllen Smith, an ODRC spokeswoman.
ODRC contracts with CCA for the housing of probationers and former inmates on post-release control.
Erin Bishop, city health commissioner, said her office received a complaint about the bedbugs Monday and will send a nurse to inspect 1764 Market St. and educate residents and staff on how to avoid the spread of bedbugs.