[PCT Conference Update] Summer School

In August and September, PCT will bring together two of the industry’s foremost experts on bed bugs in New York City and Las Vegas, two cities in the cross hairs when it comes to this nocturnal pest.

Mike Potter, an urban entomologist at the University of Kentucky, and Richard Cooper of Cooper Pest Solutions, Lawrenceville, N.J., will host two, one-day seminars in the Big Apple and Sin City and discuss how to deal with the resurgence of what Potter calls the “perfect storm” of insects.

“I’ve never worked with a critter that has so many different forces impinging on it,” Potter says of bed bugs. Though the insects don’t transmit disease, they are active at night, harbor in people’s beds and suck their blood, and are becoming resistant to traditional pesticides, he says, giving them a much greater psychological impact on people dealing with infestations. “It’s creepy.”
 
A GROWING INTEREST. Potter says the locations of the conferences are appropriate, because industries ancillary — but still greatly affected by bed bugs — to pest control are becoming more and more interested in fighting bed bugs. Hotels, moving and delivery companies and departments of health are starting to realize just what kind of impact these pests can have on their business and constituents.

The problem is just getting much worse. “This is a big deal,” Potter says, especially in today’s world of drop-of-the-hat lawsuits and increasing customer demands. “People are accustomed to everything in their lives being perfect. It’s going to become chaotic.”

Potter says the seminars will cover how apartment managers, public health officials and PCOs can prevent infestations and deal with bed bugs once they are discovered in hotel rooms, apartment complexes or single-family residences. The seminars also will cover topics such as new bed bug research, the history and biology of the insect, and how to best use new technology to fight back.

“We’re learning a lot from where we’ve been in the past on bed bugs and where we can be in the future,” Potter says.

PESTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH. Also new this summer, PCT contributor and industry expert Dr. Jerome Goddard will host a series of one-day seminars focusing on pests of public health importance, including mosquitoes, ticks, fire ants, stinging insects and many more. Direct and indirect health effects from arthropods and an overview of pest/health issues will be discussed.

Goddard said his seminar will focus on PCOs as the first line of defense when it comes to protecting public health.

“The point of this public health meeting is to increase pest management professionals’ knowledge and awareness of the interface of health and pest control,” said Goddard, Mississippi’s state medical entomologist and an assistant professor at the University of Mississippi Medical School. “I think sometimes, pest controllers don’t even realize they play a role in public health.

Although pest management professionals may not think about their role in public health all the time, they should, because they are often the first person a customer contacts with a potential public health problem.

“I’m not trying to make PCOs doctors,” Goddard said. “But they do need to have a basic understanding about such issues. I want them to know enough to point them in the right direction.”  

TACKLING TERMITES. The third series of training programs put on by PCT this summer are the PCT Termite Inspection Seminars. These seminars will offer pest management professionals a wide range of information and knowledge as they work to fight against the industry’s most destructive and costly insect pests.

Held in four major cities this September, the one-day seminars will focus on termite inspection practices for both residential and commercial accounts, and be customized to the seminar’s geographic area and to specific state regulatory requirements.

The seminars will offer PCOs, home inspectors, QA managers, real estate associations and service managers the opportunity to earn continuing education credits, and will be the only termite inspection-specific seminars where they can meet Dr. George Rambo — one of the country’s most respected termite inspection experts.

Apart from the legal side of termites, there have been many new technical breakthroughs and new research impacting the visual inspection process. These new tools and knowledge could change the way inspections for annual contracts are done.

Each of the four one-day seminars will look in-depth at the following topics:

The inspection process for WDI/Os: Termite inspections should be consistent and efficient. Review of this process is an important first step in developing company policies and protocols, and meeting various report requirements. This session will focus on state forms and other forms your company may use, and offer suggestions to consider in developing field reporting forms and collecting data on the inspection.

How we were sued and why: Protocols are your company’s guide to quality inspections and documentation. This session will use specific legal cases to illustrate the importance of protocols and developing them in your company, from their creation to their implementation.

Current state-of-the-art equipment: Infrared, CO2, canine, motion and acoustical sensors and other inspection aids are coming to the fore in the pest control industry. How do they fit in the process?

Understanding risk management: How to develop a company matrix for assessing risk and evaluating the inspection concerns for structures when your company take over established accounts, and as the contract ages.

Seminar Prices and Registration Info:

The following are the prices for the PCT Bed Bug Seminar — Taking the Battle to Bed Bugs:

• $179 per person
• $159 for the second person from the same company
• $129 for three or more people from the same company

The following are the prices for the PCT Public Health Seminar — Pests of Public Health Importance:

• $145 per person
• $125 for the second person from the same company 
• $110 for three or more people from the same company

The following are the prices for the PCT Termite Inspection Seminar:

• $145 per person
• $125 for the second person from the same company 
• $110 for three or more people from the same company

Registration includes: 

• admission to seminar
• all seminar educational materials  (workbook, handouts, etc.)
• a box lunch
• refreshment service (coffee, bottled water, soda)

Where to go:

The one-day bed bug seminars will be held Aug. 7 in New York City and Sept. 18 in Las Vegas. For more information, visit the seminar Web site: www.bedbugseminars.com.

The one-day public health seminars will be held in July and August across the country:

• July 12 — Chicago
• July 19 — Dallas
• Aug. 16 — Atlanta
• Aug. 23 — Baltimore

For more information, visit the seminar Web site: www.publichealthseminars.com

The one-day termite inspection seminars will be held in four cities in September:

• Sept. 18 — Los Angeles 
• Sept. 20 — Atlanta
• Sept. 25 — Memphis, Tenn. 
• Sept. 27 — Mobile, Ala.

For more information, visit the seminar Web site: www.termiteseminars.com