Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite
Tis the season for spending entirely too much on books, cramming for exams, and buying new bed sheets. College is right around the corner, and while returning students know the ins and outs of getting ready for the year, freshmen might be more overwhelmed by the process. We aren’t here to give you hints on how to avoid the freshman fifteen, or what professors to avoid; we are here to help you avoid an infestation from one of the peskiest pests we know, the bed bug. You might be leaving the nest, but you’ll never forget good old advice from mom and dad; “Don’t let the bed bugs bite” now has an entirely different meaning. College does not make you invincible to pests, if anything it can increase the chance of rapid spread to your peers and back to your residential home. According to the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky, 47 percent of pest management companies responded to reports of infestation in college dorms and 21 percent responded to infestations on public ground transportation. Infestations are spread by you. Let’s say you hop on a bed bug ridden bus driving around campus, go straight to your friend’s apartment, and take a trip back home the following weekend. You do the math.
Pest Identification
The first step in preventing a rude awakening in your college bed is knowing what to look for. Depending on where the bed bug is within its life cycle (Image 1), it can be relatively easy or near impossible to identify them with your own eyes. Adult bed bugs are wingless, 3/8 inches long, and have a deep red or brown color. Immature bed bugs are a lustrous pale yellow color and slightly smaller than the adults. The first instar nymph stage of the bed bug life cycle is when you run into problems. They are only somewhat visible if they were just eating because they turn blood red in color. In fact, in any life cycle, feeding can change the color and shape of the bed bug. Eggs take on the shape of a grain of rice and are pale white.
If you don’t notice any living bed begs, you can try to look for their molted skin. Check your belongings, baseboards, mattress seams, behind bed boards, and ceilings.
The least pleasant way to identify an infestation is to look for fecal waste. Since their diet consists of blood, and more blood, their waste is a semi-liquid blood that is black in color and smooth to the touch. Their feces are usually found in the same locations as molted skin, in addition to tags on your mattress, outlets, and curtain rods and seams.
Pest Control
Now that you know what to look for, we can focus on controlling an infestation or preventing one altogether. Before packing to go to and from school, inspect your suitcase. Make sure to examine the hot spots for bed bugs, skin, and feces before unpacking. Simple enough, right? Let us move on to how to take care of your dorm or apartment. If you are a messy student, you might have to clean up your act. Reducing clutter could reduce your chances of an infestation. Bed bugs need places to hide, and you are providing them with more places to do so if your room is unkempt. If you have the wallet of a typical college student, you are probably going to pick up some second hand furniture from the sidewalk down the street. There shouldn’t be a problem with that as long as you inspect the furniture for signs of bed bugs before transporting it anywhere. You can also go one of the safest routes and get a certified mattress encasement (Image 2). This will help prevent an infestation of your mattress and make it easy to find trapped bed bugs if they attempt to infiltrate.
Pest Services and Treatment
Once you have discovered an infestation that you weren’t able to identify and control in time, a professional will need to apply pesticides to your home, dorm, or apartment. Your job will be to do some intense vacuuming, and taking care of clothes and other washable items. Bed bugs can’t survive in water above 120 degrees F, so you should wash everything on high heat, followed by placing them in the dryer. Freezing items has the same fatal result. Placing clothes in the freezer is another way to ensure home treatment.
If you are a Pest Control company like Universal Pest Control and you need an online presence, consider consulting with Axiom Internet Marketing. Using the social media, and proper search engine optimization techniques, we can bring your business growth and success.
Good luck at school, and inform your parents about bed bug identification and control so they can’t blame you for bringing home unwanted visitors!
References:
“Attention College Students: Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite.” Attention College Students: Don’t Let Bed Bugs BItes. National Pest Management Association, 26 Aug. 2011. Web. 02 Aug. 2013. <http://www.pestworld.org/all-things-bed-bugs/bed-bug-blog/posts/attention-college-students-don’t-let-the-bed-bugs-bite/>.
“Bed Bug Certified.” Bed Bug Certified RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2013. <http://www.bedbugcertified.com/mattress-protection/>.
Miksen, Chris. “What Are the Chances of Getting Bedbugs?” Animals. Demand Media, 2013. Web. 01 Aug. 2013. <http://animals.pawnation.com/chances-getting-bedbugs-5190.html>.
Miller, Dini M., Ph.D. “How to Identify a Bed Bug Infestation.” Diss. Virginia Tech, n.d. Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Web. 01 Aug. 2013. <http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pesticides/pdffiles/bb-identify1.pdf>.
Staff, Mayo Clinic. “Bedbugs, Treatment and Drugs.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 02 Aug. 2013. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bedbugs/DS00663/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs>.
The Future of Marketing is Here
It is the year 2013, so you shouldn’t surprised by how many individuals, young and old, receive their news and future physicians by browsing Facebook, Google + etc. Connect with new and returning patients via Social Media Networking sites with the Help of Axiom. Learn more!
Make the Most of Social Media
Like many other businesses in the United States and throughout the world, medical practices have embraced the Internet as a way to advertise and market their services and reach out to communicate with potential new patients. A 2012 survey by Vanguard Communications of 300 medial specialists (OB/GYNs, urologists and orthopedic surgeons) in Boston, Denver, and Portland showed that 70% of those physicians maintain websites. The numbers for the medical profession as a whole is even higher. Clearly, many doctors consider having an online presence to be critical for the success of their practices.
The Social Media Explosion
One area of online communication that has grown with amazing rapidity among physicians in the past few years is the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. A recent study of Dr. Gabriel Bosslet, an internist at Indiana University Health, reveals just how fast that growth has been. Between February and May 2010, Dr. Bosslet collected data on Internet and social media use among physicians and posted his results on the website of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. At that time, he discovered that just over 40% of physicians used social media sites. A similar study conducted by the consulting firm Frost and Sullivan just a year later found that some 84% of doctors were active users of social media. Another survey later that year by the online physician collaborative QuantiaMD recorded the figure at over 90%.
Those numbers are eye-opening, especially considering that the Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated last year that about 65% of the general population use social media. Clearly, doctors are ahead of the curve when it comes to being active in this fast-growing segment of the Internet.
Online But Not In Touch
Hidden in these numbers, however, is a dirty little secret: while 90% of doctors are active users of social media, less than two-thirds of them use these sites professionally. And those who do use it often fail to take advantage of social media’s potential to reach out to potential patients. The QuantiaMD survey revealed that on 15% of doctors use Facebook professionally, and only 3% used Twitter to communicate with patients. Only one-third of the respondents in the survey said that they had received a “Friend” request via Facebook from a patient, and three-quarters of those who did actually declined the request. Why are physicians as a group failing to take advantage of this powerful marketing tool?
Part of the answer is a concern about liability and patient privacy. Many physicians are reluctant to discuss patient health issues over social media for fear that they may reveal confidential information that could lead to a potential lawsuit. This is borne out by the fact that physician-to-physician communication via social media far outstrips physician-to-patient interactions. These interactions most often occur in closed social media communities that are not open to the general public. While doctors feel comfortable sharing professional information with peers, they are more reluctant to share this information publicly. Of course, for others, limited social media use is largely a matter of time management. Many doctors simply don’t have enough hours in the day to run their practices and be active on social media sites.
The QuantiaMD survey found that physicians had little knowledge of online patient communities on social media, but those who were familiar with them considered them important channels for doctor-to-patient communication. Online research companies also found that there is a growing demand among patients for more contact with physicians on social media. Patients are hungry for the kind of two-way communication enabled by social media; they want to be able to talk with their doctors, not just be talked to by them. Despite the fears of many doctors about communicating on public forums, patients clearly are clamoring for this type of interaction.
Social Media Marketing With Axiom
If you currently maintain a website but have been reluctant to make the foray into social media, you could benefit from a strategic partnership with a company that is experienced in social media marketing. That’s why you should get in touch with Axiom. Not only are we a leading provider of top-notch web design and search engine optimization services including social media marketing, we also know healthcare. In addition to having the best IT professionals in the business, Axiom staff knows the healthcare industry and the challenges faced by physicians in running their practices. Let us help you develop a social media plan that will increase your ability to keep in touch with your current patients as well as reach out to potential new ones. With Axiom, social media can be the ideal solution to expanding the reach of your practice.
Posted by: Axiom Healthcare Marketing
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