A bed bug epidemic can happen anywhere as this article found on publicopiniononline.com clearly shows.
More than a dozen people living in a personal care home in Path Valley are looking for other places to stay after the home was cited for having bed bugs.
The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare on Tuesday inspected the Gold N’ Gray Retirement Home at 18801 Main Street.
“There are bed bugs in the home,” DPW spokesman Michael Race said. “You can’t have bed bugs in a personal care home. They have to be eradicated.”
DPW will help residents find new homes if they choose to relocate and will pay for their new clothing and belongings, he said. The money for the assistance comes from fines levied against homes for violating regulations.
“People can’t sleep at night,” former resident Audrey Daley said. “They have sores on their arms and heads.”
Daley said she moved out of the home in June, in part because of the bed bugs. She notified the Area Agency on Aging and the Department of Public Welfare. For several months, she was a resident while recovering from surgery and the side effects of medicine. She moved to a nearby apartment and continued to visit residents at the home.
Gold N’ Gray has been waging an expensive fight against the bugs for a year, according to owner/administrator Tressia Day. She plans to close the main building and treat it. The 14 people living there must find other homes.
“It’s devastating for my residents,” Day said. “They’re scared to death to go somewhere else. We’re like home to some of them.”
