Pest Control for Healthcare Facilities in Sacramento
At Earthwise Pest Management, we understand the unique difficulties and challenges that healthcare facilities and hospitals face when it comes to pest control. With cleanliness at the forefront of everything that you do, you can’t risk a pest infestation or endangering your patients or employees with dangerous pesticides. You need a company that has extensive experience, training, and knowledge in the pest management field, like Earthwise Pest Management.
If you work in the healthcare industry and need pest control for your doctor’s office, health clinic, hospital, or another healthcare facility, contact the Sacramento pest control experts at Earthwise Pest Management today. We can safely and efficiently remove any current infestations and help keep pests away from your healthcare center in the future.
Our Integrated Pest Management Program
At Earthwise Pest Management, we believe in removing and preventing pests in an environmentally-responsible and safe way. That’s why we use our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. This allows us to minimize the number of pesticides we use while effectively removing and preventing pests in your healthcare facility.
Our IPM program consists of three steps in which we learn everything that we can about the pest, the infestation, and any factors that may make your facility particularly vulnerable such as holes in window screens, cracks in the foundation of your building, or other possible entrance areas for pests. We’ll also determine where they are finding food and water, where they are nesting, and how mature the nest is. These are all factors that will help us treat the infestation in a safe and effective manner.
Step 1: Detailed Inspection
We always begin our IPM process with a detailed inspection. This allows us to identify how the pests got in, their food and water source, and how we can remove any elements that are attracting pests to your healthcare facility or hospital. In order to rid your facility of a current infestation and prevent future ones, it’s important to understand how pests entered your building in the first place, and why.
Step 2: Pest Identification
The next step in our IPM program is pest identification. While this may seem like a no-brainer, it’s actually extremely important that we understand exactly what pest we are dealing with. Just because you have seen ants does not mean that the pest is identified and we don’t need to look into it any further. Our Sacramento pest control experts need to identify the exact species of ant so we know what treatment will work best. Identification is imperative for effective treatment.
Step 3: Treatment
In the last step of our IPM program, we will treat the infestation and work with you to help prevent any future pest problems. During this step, we may advise you on certain pest-control prevention methods such as replacing damaged screens where pests can get in, changing hygiene habits such as leaving food out in the breakroom, and other small changes you that you can implement to will make your healthcare facility a less hospitable home for pests. We will also completely rid your facility of any current pests at this time.
Follow-Up Maintenance and Management
After we are finished with our IPM process, we always recommend follow-up maintenance and pest management. We want to ensure that the pests do not make their way back into your healthcare facility ever again. We understand how important a clean, pest-free facility is when you are in the healthcare industry, and our Sacramento pest control experts can help you keep it that way with our follow-up maintenance and management services.
Why Professional Pest Control Is Necessary for Healthcare Facilities
Healthcare facilities and hospitals are held to high sanitization standards. And while this does help keep your facility pest-free, it is not always enough. Anywhere there are people, food, water, and dark hiding places present, pests may consider making a home. When you hire a professional pest control company for your healthcare facility pest control needs, you are taking an extra step to ensure the cleanliness and safety of your space.
Pests can make patients and employees sick and contaminate medicine and food. The last thing you need in your healthcare facility are rodents, cockroaches, bedbugs, ants, or another type of pest endangering the health of your staff and patients. Continue reading to learn more about why professional pest control is so necessary for healthcare facilities and hospitals and when you are ready to take the necessary steps to keep your facility pest-free, contact Earthwise Pest Management.
Protect Your Employees and Patients From Pests
Pests like rodents, cockroaches, and ants, spread disease. They crawl through your trash cans and dumpster looking for food and then crawl on countertops and other surfaces leaving behind the bacteria that they picked up from the garbage.
One of the biggest concerns for a healthcare facility is cleanliness, and if you have a pest infestation, areas that would be sanitized and safe could be unknowingly contaminated. Pests have been known to spread around salmonella, plague, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, the bacteria that cause staph infections, and more. The last thing you want is for pests to be spreading dangerous diseases around your healthcare facility making the staff and patients sick.
When you hire a professional pest control company like Earthwise Pest Management, we can ensure that your healthcare facility is free from pests and continues to be so with our pest management services.
Protect Your Employees and Patients From Pesticides
While pests can spread disease and make patients and employees sick, pesticides can be dangerous as well if they are applied by someone with little to no experience or training. The Sacramento pest control experts at Earthwise Pest Management always minimize the number of pesticides that we use with our IPM program and when we do use pesticides, we do so in a safe and efficient manner. We are educated, trained, and experienced in handling pest control chemicals. We will not endanger your staff or employees — we will only eradicate the pests leaving your healthcare facility pest-free.
Protect Medicine and Other Inventory From Pests
Some pests like to chew through boxes and bags while they are searching for food. Rodents and ants are two of the most common pests that do this. You don’t want them ruining medical supplies or contaminating medicine. When you bring in a professional pest control company, you won’t have to worry about damaged inventory or the monetary loss that comes along with it.
Pests Common in Sacramento Healthcare Facilities
While we hope that you never have to see a pest in your healthcare facility or hospital, there are some pests that are more common in these types of spaces. Rodents, ants, cockroaches, fruit flies, and even bed bugs can make a home in your facility. While the cleanliness of most healthcare facilities deters pests to a certain degree, there are certain aspects that can still attract some pests. Break rooms and cafeterias contain plenty of food, and storerooms provide a dark place for pests to hide. Even the cleanest healthcare centers need to be proactive about protecting their facility from pests. Continue reading to learn about the pests that are commonly found in healthcare facilities and hospitals in Sacramento.
Rodents
Rodents are not a pest that you ever want to see at a doctor’s office, health clinic, or hospital, yet they may find their way in. Rodents can find food in trash cans from the cafeteria and love dark places to make their nest like behind and underneath shelves holding medical supplies.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are known for spreading a multitude of diseases. They are also commonly referred to as indestructible, and while that is not entirely true, cockroaches can live up to a month without food. So, once they make a home in your healthcare facility, they can patiently wait for a food source until one presents itself.
Bed Bugs
While hospitals are known for their cleanliness and sanitation, they are also very high-traffic areas. You never know if a patient who has bed bugs at home has brought them to the hospital with them. Bed bugs can be difficult to identify and are notoriously challenging to get rid of.
Ants
Many species of ants are attracted to anything sweet. That can include spilled juice, medicine, or even jello. One of the best ways to keep ants away is by cleaning spills as soon as they happen and keeping food tightly sealed.
Fruit Flies
Fruit flies are attracted to fruit and other sweet substances. They may be attracted to flowers or leftover food in a patient’s room or fresh fruit in the cafeteria. Fruit flies are a nuisance and difficult to get rid of once they find something sweet to snack on in your healthcare facility. If fruit flies are becoming a problem in your healthcare center, the Sacramento pest control experts from Earthwise Pest Management can help.
Common Places Pests Are Found in Healthcare Facilities
There are a few specific areas at healthcare facilities that tend to be the most vulnerable to pests. These include places where there is a food source, water source, and a hiding place for the pests to nest and breed. While the highly sterilized sections of healthcare facilities and hospitals are less likely to have pests, there are some other areas that can be easy to overlook.
Cafeteria
The cafeteria in a hospital or healthcare facility is a great place for pests to find food. Even when these places are regularly cleaned, pests can still typically find standing water and crumbs for food. It’s extremely important that food is always sealed tightly and kept at safe temperatures. Food that is left out at room temperature commonly attracts pests.
Storerooms
Storerooms may not necessarily provide a food or water source, but they do give pests a place to hide and make their nests. Pests can hide underneath and behind shelving units and stacks of boxes. Keep your supplies off of the floor and keep clutter to a minimum to prevent pests from nesting in your storerooms.
Patient Rooms
While patient rooms are kept fairly clean, they become susceptible to pests because patients eat and bathe in their rooms. Crumbs left over from meals and standing water in sinks and tubs can attract ants, rodents, or cockroaches.
Dumpsters
Dumpsters will almost always inevitably attract pests, especially if they contain food waste. Dumpsters should be kept closed at all times except for when they are in use to deter pests and you should also keep them away from the building. Doing these things will help keep the pests out of your dumpster and away from your healthcare facility.
Break Rooms/On-Call Rooms
Break rooms, on-call rooms, and any other areas where employees eat, rest, and relax can be vulnerable to pests. Food occasionally gets left out at room temperature, crumbs can be overlooked, and there can even be standing water left in sinks. These areas should be cleaned frequently to ensure that pests don’t find a hospitable home in your healthcare facility.
