In this letter, Local 79 President Ann Dembinski urges the City to accept the offer of three public health nurses from the Province.

Councillor Mike Del Grande, Chair
And Members of the Budget Committee

RE: BU13.4 – Budget Adjustments to the Toronto Public Health 2011 Approved Operating budget

The City desperately needs the addition of the three Public Health Nurses being offered by the provincial government to tackle Toronto’s insidious bed bug infestation. CUPE Local 79 has supported Toronto Public Health’s call for the province to provide resources to fight this public health threat. The province has committed to funding these three Public Health Nurses on an on-going, permanent basis to help address the health components and impacts of bed bug infestations on the City’s most vulnerable residents and alleviate potential re-infestations.

 The urgent and growing problem with bed bugs has created critical health and safety problems for many of our members who work in the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Employment and Social Services, Toronto Public Health, Shelter Support and Housing, Long Term Care Homes and Services, Toronto Building and Municipal Licensing and Standards. Workers run the daily risk of coming into contact with bed bugs while performing their job duties. Unfortunately, several of our members have already had their homes infested as a result of work-related contact.

 Bed bug infestations are dangerous. The World Health Organization (WHO) outlined the public health hazards associated with bedbugs in their publication, The Public Health Significance of Urban Pests (2008). The WHO’s key findings identify bed bug infestation as posing great harm in terms of exposure risk and as a health hazard to individuals. The WHO’s publication expressly notes the severe impact bed bug infestations pose to the quality of public housing.

 The City cannot solve this problem alone. Toronto Public Health and the City of Toronto have asked the Ontario government for help and these three nurses are part of the assistance being offered in the province-wide strategy to fight the scourge of bed bugs. We need these nurses. The Budget Committee must vote to accept them as part of the Toronto Public Health 2011 approved Operating Budget.

 Yours truly,

Ann Dembinski
President