Patients, staff at VG hospital concerned about bedbug infestation

The Nova Scotia Health Authority says there is no longer any evidence of bedbugs at the old Victoria General site in Halifax.

But that answer is not good enough for some patients and staff who are concerned about the stubborn pests.

“Let’s just say we checked everything after,” explains Marilyn Winters, whose husband is a patient at the hospital. “He was up on the cancer ward, the 4^th floor and had his treatment and it’s terrible. It’s terrible to be in there worrying about what you’re going to take home with you.”

The pesky pests were found on floors three and five, both surgical floors, forcing the closure of eight beds.

All of which are being used again.

The exterminator says a total of three bedbugs were found, including one dead in a sink.

He says the problem is a small one.

“If you want to keep bedbugs out of every hospital, then you have to keep the people out of the hospitals,” says exterminator Dave Holland.

Holland recommends staff not re-entera room four hours after it has been sprayed, but the union says staff are concerned about that.

“They don’t want to take it home,” says NSGEU President Joan Jessome. “They don’t want to end up going through the cost of having their home fumigated because the employer is not on top of it.”

A nurse at the VG says she wants people to know that after pest control cleared the room, staff found more bedbugs.

She says there were more than three.

“We thought it was ready to go,” explains Brian Butt, director of services at the Nova Scotia Health Authority. “We put patients back in the room, and on Tuesday night we discovered that there were some more.”

That was only after the room had been exterminated and cleaned several times.

Now, even the electric plates have been removed and checked.

Still this is yet another item on a growing list of issues.

“It certainly emphasizes the fact that we’ve got a multitude of problems at the VG,” says Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine.

But the exterminator says the bedbugs aren’t related.

“It has nothing to do with the building, bedbugs getting in,” explains Holland. “We get these brand new buildings. We get them in prestigious office towers in Halifax, we get them anywhere possible where there’s people.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell.