Beware
of Fire Ants at Nursing Homes
Whether recovering from
a medical procedure or simply too frail to move, the
elderly at nursing homes and assisted living facilities
in the South should take precautions against the potential
serious health threat caused by fire ants. Recently,
a number of long-term care facilities felt the sting
associated with not being prepared for fire ants in
their facilities. In June 2004, a Florida jury awarded
$1.2 million to a 93-year-old woman who was stung
by fire ants in her nursing home bed. And in January
2004, the family of 73-year-old retired postal worker
filed suit against a Melbourne, Fla. nursing home
because fire ants swarmed the man’s bed and,
ultimately, caused his death the following day.
Recent studies indicate that fire ants, which infest
more than 325 million acres across the southern United
States, sting more than 20 million adults and children
each year. The elderly are considered especially vulnerable
due to their inability to move quickly, or at all,
when bedridden. A 2004 study by the Medical University
of South Carolina shows that 10 to 15 percent of those
stung by fire ants will experience severe localized
allergic reactions, with one to two percent experiencing
dangerous systemic reactions that, in rare cases,
result in death.
Although fire ants traditionally
live outside, they will enter buildings when foraging
for food. “Unfortunately, long-term care facilities
are inviting targets for many pests, including fire
ants,” comments Frank Meek, Technical Director
for Orkin, Inc. “Heavy traffic in and out of
multiple entries, combined with busy food service,
laundry and storage areas, make effective pest prevention
daunting.”
Meek offers a few tips on practices
to keep fire ants out of nursing homes and long-term
care facilities:
* Make sure that all exterior
doors fit tightly and caulk any crevices, especially
those on the exterior of the buildings
* Keep floors free of litter,
food and other debris
* Cover and seal bulk-food storage
containers and garbage containers
* Do not place storage racks
flush against the wall. As a general rule, keep an
18” gap between the wall and the rack.
* Learn more about treatments
control methods.
Preventing fire ants from building
mounds on the grounds outside a nursing home facility
is another key to safety. There are over 150 products
labeled for fire ants, but few offer long-term control.
One new way to control fire ants is with a preventative
product like TopChoice, available only through lawn
care and pest control professionals. “It is
a low-dose, granular insecticide that is spread over
lawns and plant beds like fertilizer, creating an
exclusion zone where no fire ant can survive,”
explains Gooch. A single professional application
both cures existing mounds and prevents new mounds
from forming for one year.
“With the health threat
they pose to the public, there is an immediate need
for a product that offers effective, yearlong fire
ant control,” says Gooch. “While medical
science will continue to treat the after-effects of
fire ant stings, TopChoice provides ‘an ounce
of prevention’.”
