IHM News, Volume 42, Winter 2010

Volume 42, Winter 2010

Canadian Publications Mail Agreement # 40739009

ENHANCING THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

Inside President's Message

2 Bed Bugs - Practical Solutions

3 IHM Certificate in Property Management & Course Completions

5 A Collection of Thoughts: Living with a Hoarder

6 Welcome to Our New Members

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P r e s i d e n t ’s M e s s a g e

Dear Members, It is time to celebrate our 2010 successes and achievements and then reflect upon the learning and experience gained in other areas. The new year may bring opportunities to embrace change, develop our skills and encourage a future-focused organization that looks for proactive methods to set a vision for the best possible future.

Review is important at an individual level and critical for a member organization in order to ensure that member needs are being met. With this goal in mind, several Past Presidents and current Board Members recently gathered for a strategic planning session. We kept it simple. We looked for greater insight by discussing our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) and then worked from these analyses to identify specific objectives and areas we need to monitor as our organization evolves. We look forward to bringing the membership an updated Blueprint for Success at the next Annual General Meeting and continue to welcome input from all members.

We look forward to another busy and exciting year for the Institute of Housing Management and thank you for your continued support through volunteer efforts, newsletter contributions, conference attendance and renewed memberships. On behalf of the Institute’s Board of Directors, may each day of the new year 2011 be vibrant and new, bringing along many reasons for celebration.

Sincerest regards,

Deborah Filice, FIHM, RSSW President

IHM Strategic Plan Paves The Way

The IHM Board of Directors and several Past Presidents got together for an intense one-day session to develop a strategic plan that focuses on four main areas – Partnerships, Accreditation, Education and Marketing.

This plan identifies the goals, strategies, responsibilities and timelines over the next two years. Look for more details in future issues of the IHM Newsletter.

Front Row - left to right: Deborah Parker, Lynn Alexander, Deborah Filice, Connie VanSickle Back Row(s) left to right: Sennan Vandenberg, Terry McErlean, Greg Grange, Jim Steele, Kathi Zarfas, Lola Dudley, Doug Rollins, Harry Popiluk and Kevin O'Hara.

Absent from Photo: Michelle Waye

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IHM News • Winter 2010

Feature

Bed Bugs – Practical Solutions

By Meigan Seto, RN, BScN.

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n these latter years, bed bugs have been a common enemy amongst landlords, residents and to the public in general. These infestations are now not only linked to low-income housing but are now being linked to public places such as restaurants, laundromats, hotels, and movie theatres. Any infestation can lead to distress, discrimination and mental health issues. Male and female insects emerge at night, with a peak attack time at around one hour before dawn, to feed on warm-blooded animals. They are attracted to the warmth and carbon dioxide. Although the host does not necessarily feel the bites, the signs and symptoms associated with bed bugs feed into certain individual’s paranoia, delusions and hallucinations, leading to a visit to the Emergency Room at the local hospital.

Bed bugs are not considered to transmit disease such as other related ectoparasites that live on the body, clothes and beds; however, it has been suggested they play a role in the transmission of Hepatitis C (World Health Organization, 2009). The most noteworthy effects on health appear to be the onset of anxiety, stress, depression and fatigue caused by the presence of bed bugs in the home.

Public Health offices have received abundant and overwhelming numbers of distressing complaints associated with bed bug infestations. The associated health effects aforementioned serve as stressors to all stakeholders, which may lead to a crisis for any individual. Crises lead to increased hospitalizations (CIHI, 2010), which in turn increase strain on our already exhausted heath care system. As a response to this public health issue, nurses and physicians are now

IHM News • Winter 2010

‘The most noteworthy effects on health appear to be the onset of anxiety, stress, depression and fatigue caused by the presence of bed bugs in the home.’ shifting focus to education and prevention.

The most common places for infestations to present themselves are: • Dormitories • Hotels • Rooming Houses • Shelters • Single family houses • Apartments • Hospitals • Restaurants • Public Transit The “bed bug infestations” are on the rise due to pesticide resistance, increased travel between and within cities and countries, reluctance to use professional help to eliminate bugs, fear of using pesticides, and growing rates of shared accommodations and poor housing conditions.

Once a costly health issue to address, research now demonstrates that educating the public is one of the most successful means of preventing infestations.

In prior publications, information has been provided by Health Canada (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cpsspc/pubs/pest/_pnotes/bedbugs-punais-

es-lits/index-eng.php) to assist the public in managing bed bug infestations.

With the ban of pesticides in Ontario in 2008, treatment options have been limited, leading the public to resort to other measures.

The misinformation provided to the public leads to associated increases in health issues. On a positive note, individuals who have the dedication to inform the public regarding these issues have positively contributed to the decrease of fear, anxiety and stress among individuals facing an infestation.

There is an upside to “bed bug infestations”: landlords, residents and the general public are now becoming more informed and are seeking viable solutions to handle the epidemic. As front line workers, we are able to reassure and educate individuals in terms of handling bed bugs. A visit to the local ER can result in quick discharge with simple hygienic instructions to manage an infestation. By educating the public, we will be able to prevent hospitalizations of individuals with mental health issues. It is now left up to landlords, tenants and the public to be socially responsible to assist those facing this issue.

In the hospital setting, we have provided some guidelines and precautions for staff, which can be generalized to any environment: • Bed bugs do not stay on a person’s skin and clothing (unless the environment is extremely infested); they do not jump or fly; there are no known special precautions that continued on page 4

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are used by health care providers and staff; • If there is an extreme infestation, this must be addressed by local Pest Control; • Seal belongings in clear garbage bags until such time as they can be placed in a hot temperature dryer for a minimum of twenty minutes; after which these items would subsequently have to go through a full wash and dry cycle again; • Examine any transport vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and transport aids such as wheelchairs and crutches; • Routine skin assessment for bites and inflammation should be part of any person’s assessment. If there are bites and inflammation, please follow up with your family physician after an inspection of the living quarters is completed; • The treatment of bed bug bites, local inflammation and other symptoms can be easily treated with topical emollients and corticosteroids, which in turn will decrease an individual’s distress.

You are able to educate anyone suspected of having a bed bug infestation. In a hospital setting we provide patient education as it is important in reducing the bed bug infestations and associated side effects such as psychological and physiological distress. Some strategies that we provide include the following: • Inspect furniture in locations where a bed bug is known to hide (e.g. wood furniture and mattresses).

• Seal cracks and crevices in furniture.

• Vacuum mattresses and all objects close to the bed on a daily basis (e.g. bedside tables), change the vacuum bag immediately following treatment.

• Linens should be washed in hot water and dried for at least twenty minutes at a temperature of 120ºF (49ºC).

• Set sticky tape or glue boards close to the bed to monitor and catch

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bed bugs.

• An economical steamer can be purchased and all areas should be treated with steam.

• In extreme infestations wooden furniture and mattresses should be disposed of and metal furniture is encouraged.

• Ensure that all borders around rooms are properly sealed to avoid transfer of transmission to adjoining units. Borders can be sealed with silicone.

• Discourage individuals from purchasing furniture at second-hand stores unless the items have been pre-treated (with steam or pesticides - Pyrethrum). Pyrethrum is a mammal-friendly pesticide with no effects on individuals and pets.

CALLING ALL PROPERTY MANAGERS ...with stories to share!

• In severe infestations where all other measures have been exhausted, consult Pest Control and professional exterminators.

By sharing this information with the public, we have seen a decrease of mental health hospitalizations. As a psychiatric nurse, we have previously made the error of assuming that individuals with a previously-diagnosed psychiatric condition, scratching at their body parts, are suffering from delusions or hallucinations (e.g. bugs under the skin, or implanted microchips). We have been quite embarrassed by our lack of knowledge surrounding bed bugs and I am quite apologetic to these individuals who subsequently would have been hospitalized for this false symptomatology.

On the negative side of things, there are individuals who are quite ill and do require hospitalization and are not organized mentally to be able to handle bed bug infestations. These individuals may include but are not limited to hoarders. Should this be suspected please report this to Public Health and should their personal safety be suspected to be at risk, call the local law enforcement. Beg bug infestations can be prevented and treated; it just takes one individual to care and that individual can be you. ■

We know that a Property Manager’s job can be both challenging and interesting.

How often have you come to work with your day all planned in your head only to have something unexpected come along …

We are looking for some stories to share with your colleagues in the Property Management field.

If you have an interesting story that you would be willing to author, please contact the Newsletter Committee at ihm@taylorenterprises.com

IHM News • Winter 2010

Education

IHM Certificate in Property Management & Course Completions Human Relations for Property Managers Nancy Beatty Emile Boulley Tina Buono Dana Caputo Michelle Corley Luc Cyr Antonia David-Yap Shena Grouse Rick Henderson Kelly Jackson Donna Kirchknopf Carole Kozlowski Dianne Lampi Edina Mulic Steve Nalli Bardha Oka Michael Oswin Suntharalingam Rasamani Aurora Voicu Tatiana Vostrikov Michael Zottarelli

IHM News • Winter 2010

Strategic and Financial Planning for Property Managers Sugumar Balasingham Harmony Brown Josh Browne Rick Henderson Dianne Lampi Marcela Peana Ben Reubeni Bob Theisz Monique Tremblay Kerwin Vuo Lauren Walmsley

Property & Building Administration Michel Assaly Kelly Black Dana Checiches Richard Clarke Elena Gheorghian

Tracy King Lyne Labelle Marlane Liebusch Elena Maximova Lisa Mulholland Lisa Murzin Yana Nile Bardha Oka Alexandra Paduraru Vicki Perrault Sean Perry Denyse Provost Patrick Ribbons Cindy Sceviour Anastasia Sharkova James Slingerland Aurora Voicu Tatinana Vostrikov Peter Walberg Jeff Waldron Jack Wong James Zourntos

Building Maintenance for Property Managers Michel Assaly Christine Brutin Tina Buono Kathy Dimassi Valerie McGlynn Chandrashekhar Nagarajan Mircea Pilaf Suhaib Radwan Sandra Stiff Monique Tremblay Sennan Vandenberg Tatiana Vostrikov Jing Zhu

Program Completion Certificate Iladia Bove Josh Browne Alexandra Paduraru Aurora Voicu

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A Collection of Thoughts:

Living with a Hoarder

By Mary Finlee ave you ever had that thought, when you were at your parents’ house, where you look at a certain door and ask yourself “If I open that door, will I turn into a pancake?”

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amazing…. when they are being used.

Sitting in the middle of the living room in a big pile is not called “being used”.

But they will probably be kept there for a while.

Hoarders are a species in the human race who are convinced that they need to keep and collect certain items for life.

I’m not talking about parents who keep sentimental objects, like the first missing tooth of their child or their first bike. I’m talking about weirder or even dangerous obsessions.

As will my toys from my childhood, which include my Barbies from when I was younger. I recently found them and gave them better haircuts. But if I told my mother I wanted to give my toys away, I would probably get a very loud “no”. Her firmness in keeping everything she has is scary.

Some collect bills or things on the street.

Some collect abandoned pets or keep broken artifacts. Of course, some are worse than others. I live with a hoarder.

The room that will turn me into a pancake? That would be my mother’s study room.

I could also probably tell you what our bills were in 2002. That’s if I find them in the study. We also have the new bills lined up next to our phone, so once in a while we have to push the phone back a bit or it falls and paper flies everywhere. It wouldn’t be too hard to put them back in order, though. My mother carefully noted the day, month and year we got that exact letter or paper.

The door cracks open just enough for you to squeeze yourself in and sit at a computer that has no internet. The entire room, which is pretty big if empty, is filled with cookbooks, books from her book club, university books and notes, pictures, and a whole lot of envelopes. Do not ask me where her DVD collection is, because she packed it away in boxes. Boxes are also covering the house because she used to bring 2 or 3 boxes home from her old job, for no apparent reason except that she was convinced we were moving sometime soon. This was a year and a half ago. We are not moving any time soon.

Apart from the housewife and student material she keeps, my mother has hair from my first haircut and practically every tooth I have lost. I had to convince

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her to not collect the hair from my other haircuts, too. My life has been documented since I started growing in her stomach with clothes, books and pictures. She still has all of those. When we got the idea of giving the clothes away, we managed to pack 4 garbage bags and she still didn’t want to give up some of it. It’s currently sitting in a pile in our kitchen. She refuses to give it away.

Same thing with the books that are for two-year-olds and video cassettes that were probably discontinued 20 years ago.

Now, I know it’s nice to have a few mementos here and there, but a table from the 1930s is quite scary. It shakes, it’s broken, and I’m pretty sure that one day our cats will jump on it and it will just collapse under their padded mittens. We also have things from her recently-deceased parents, which look

Ironically, me being the teen in the house, I’m still told to clean my room all the time. The only thing I collect though is newspaper articles that amuse or fascinate me, movies, games and books that are on sale. Compared to some rooms in the house, I’d say my room is spotless.

I don’t really mind the messes that much. I always tell myself it could be worse. But my mother’s attitude towards them is frustrating. Not only does she rarely get rid of the mess and let it pile up, but she refuses to let any of my friends come over because of them. She will rant for hours on end about how if people come over, they will talk bad

IHM News • Winter 2010

about our house and say we don’t know how to live. But whenever I tell her to clean or get rid of some things, she says “later”.

It simply hurts me that she refuses to clean or let me clean her collection of things and turn them into useful things.

It hurts me even more that she won’t stop but will scream or yell when other people don’t clean up after themselves.

She also says the sentence “When I die, all of this will be yours” as if I asked for things that are older than “The Price is Right”.

Which leads to my main fear. My main fear is what will happen when she dies and all this belongs to me. Will I be able to bravely clean the rooms of the house and survive? Or will I turn into someone’s breakfast if I am not too careful with my steps? Let’s hope she stops collecting things soon before we can’t walk around the house. ■

IHM News • Winter 2010

Welcome to Our New Members New Candidate Members Paul Ardley Joanne Beaton Lida Bergeron Lorene Carvalho John Cooke Marcia Cote Jean-Pierre Drapeau Cynthia Heard Jacki Hussey Corey Johnstone Adam Kitchener Kerrie Michelutti J. David Morante Torija

Chance Priddle Greg Reynolds Vasile Ripeanu Lynn Rochon Mercedes Romero Zamfira Sandor Debbie Watters New Accredited Members Julie Bertrand-Rioux Josh Browne Christine Brutin Julie Rotolo Bob Theisz

Correction Notice - It was brought to our attention that a list of new students was inadvertently included with the list of course completions in the Fall 2010 issue of the IHM News. IHM regrets this oversight and any confusion it may have caused.

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Institute of Housing Management

2011 Annual Educational Conference April 27th - 29th, 2011 Holiday Inn Kitchener-Waterloo Hotel & Conference Centre 30 Fairway Road South, Kitchener, ON N2A 2N2

Mark Your Calendars!

2010-2011 Board of Directors www.ihm-canada.com PRESIDENT:

SECRETARY/TREASURER:

Deborah Filice, R.S.S.W, FIHM City Of Brantford Director of Housing Public Health, Safety, Social Services 220 Colborne Street (Office) P. O. Box 845 Brantford, ON N3T 5R7 Tel: (519) 759-3330, Ext. 6241 Fax: (519) 759-5796 Email: DeborahFilice@brantford.ca

Harry Popiluk, FIHM Victoria Park Community Homes 155 Queen St. N., Hamilton, ON L8R 2V7 Tel: (905) 527-0221 Ext.215 Fax: (905) 527-3181 Email: hpopiluk@vpch.com

VICE-PRESIDENT Kevin O’Hara, AIHM, D.P.A. Conference Committee Region of Waterloo Waterloo Region Housing 235 King Street East, 6th Floor Kitchener, ON N2G 4N5 Tel: (519) 575-4800, ext. 1218 Fax: (519) 893-8447 Email: kevino@region.waterloo.on.ca

IHM OFFICE:

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DIRECTORS: Lynn Alexander, AIHM Communications Chair Region of Durham Housing Services P.O. Box 623, Whitby, ON L1N 6A3 Tel: (905) 666-6222 Fax: (905) 666-6225 Email: lynn.alexander@durham.ca Terry McErlean, FIHM Education Committee Social Housing Division, County of Simcoe 136 Bayfield Street, 4th Floor Barrie, ON L4M 3B1 Tel: (705) 725-7215 ext. 1846 Email: terry.mcerlean@simcoe.ca

Lynn Morrovat, Administrator Carolyne Vigon, Operations Manager Josee Lefebvre, Administrative Assistant

Deborah Parker, AIHM Marketing/Membership Co-Chair Girl Guides of Canada 50 Merton Street Toronto, ON M4S 1A3 Tel: (416) 487-5281, ext. 209 Fax: (416) 487-5570 Email: parkerd@girlguides.ca

Kathi Zarfas, AIHM, MPA Education Committee Chair Social Housing Services Corporation 390 Bay Street, 7th Floor Toronto, ON M5H 2Y2 Tel: (416) 594-9325 ext 215 Fax: (416) 594-9422 Email: kzarfas@shscorp.ca

Doug Rollins, AIHM Education Committee City of Toronto, Shelter Support & Housing Administration Metro Hall, 55 John Street, 6th Floor Toronto, ON M5V 3L6 Tel: (416) 392-8638 Fax: (416) 392-0548 Email: drollin@toronto.ca

CANDIDATE REPRESENTATIVE

Connie Van Sickle, AIHM Education Committee County of Lambton Housing Services Department 150 North Christina Street, 2nd Floor Sarnia, ON N7T 7H3 Tel: (519) 344-2062, ext. 2040 Fax: (519) 344-2066 Email: connie.vansickle@countylambton.on.ca

Sennan Vandenberg Marketing/Membership Co-Chair St. Lawrence Youth Association P.O. Box 23003 Amherstview RPO Kingston, ON K7N 1Y2 Tel: (613) 384-4869, ext 110 Fax: (613) 384-8873 Email: svandenberg@slya.ca Michelle Waye Marketing/Membership Co-Chair City of Toronto Policy Planning & Project Consultant Shelter Support & Housing Administration Division Metro Hall, 6th Floor 55 John Street, Toronto, ON M5V 3C6 Tel: (416) 392-0601 Fax: (416) 338-1144 Email: mwaye@toronto.ca

2175 Sheppard Ave. East, Suite 310, Toronto, ON M2J 1W8 Tel: (416) 493-7382 / 1-866-212-4377 • Fax: (416) 491-1670 • Email: ihm@taylorenterprises.com

IHM News • Winter 2010