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Philadelphia IPM Partnership Benefits from New Team Member - July 2005

July 13, 2005

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Rhonda Griffin, co-owner of Pest Free Maintenance in Philadelphia, has joined the Pennsylvania IPM Program to help solidify the program's urban IPM efforts.

The Pennsylvania IPM Program (PA IPM) became interested in working with an urban community to show how effective integrated pest management, or IPM can be as a least-toxic method for controlling pests. The program formed the Philadelphia School and Community IPM Partnership (PSCIP) with other community groups and won an EPA grant to fund an innovative, educational, community outreach project with the focus on a low-income row house community in West Philadelphia.

The project aims to educate the community about how to deal with common household pests using IPM. With IPM, residents can manage pests while lessening the potential health side effects of using pesticides. In addition, IPM can eliminate the sources of indoor air pollutants such as pest and animal dander, cockroach allergens and rodent droppings, most of which are asthma triggers.

Griffin has been working closely with PA IPM in an ongoing row house project in West Philadelphia. The residents of the row house were being overwhelmed by their pest problems, and spraying pesticides was out of the question due to asthma and other health concerns. According to Lyn Garling, PA IPM education specialist, row house communities can have unique pest problems due to their close proximity. "What affects one resident will affect another because of their shared walls. By working within the row house community, we hope to spread the message of using IPM to manage pests safely and effectively," Garling explains.

Initially, Griffin assessed the pest problem in the row house and advised the residents about safe pest management and explained how they can take part and gain control of their environment. "Remediating pest conditions by eliminating food sources and storing all non-refrigerated foods in tightly sealed containers is key. Preventative actions like these can stop a pest problem before it starts," she explains.

Then Griffin began the initial cleanup of pests. "Since the residents had asthma and other health issues, we couldn't just go in and start spraying pesticides. We used a hairdryer to flush out the roaches and swept them up with a special HEPA vacuum," Griffin explains. After the cleanup, Griffin and her crew set up cockroach traps with baits and used gels at entry points to eliminate any remaining cockroaches. They also set up roach monitors to determine population levels and locate areas that needed the more attention.

According to Griffin, the results have been amazing. On her last visit to the residence, she only found three cockroaches where previously the row house had been infested. The pilot project was so successful, PA IPM is expanding the program to the entire row house community.

Griffin says she is excited about the project expansion. "We'll have an opportunity to influence an entire block at once. We're so sure that once the community sees the positive effects of IPM and working together, it will encourage other neighborhoods to do the same," states Griffin.

PA IPM recently distributed questionnaires to residents and organized a block meeting to inform them about the project. So far, the response has been enthusiastic. "People have seen how successful we've been with the initial row house and can't wait to get started," Griffin reports.

Griffin says their biggest challenge is getting residents to abandon their misuse and overuse of chemicals, primarily foggers, as a cure all and accept the concept that less can be best. Ultimately, PA IPM is hoping to dispel some of the stigma related to pest problems and create an empowered community, one that is informed and taking control of their environment.

Griffin has been using IPM to manage pests since forming her company with her husband Keith in 1989. She was first exposed to the pest control industry as a young girl doing paper work for her father's exterminating business. After college she began a career in advertising, but made the switch pest control when Keith, who worked for Universal Pests, suggested they form their own pest management company.

The couple began servicing residential units, and then became certified by the Philadelphia Minority Business Enterprise Council. This enabled the couple to submit bids for work in the city and were awarded contracts with prisons, fire and police stations, and recreational centers. Currently, they are servicing over 500 residential contracts, two prisons, charter schools, churches and a number of housing facilities.

Griffin says that Pest Free Maintenance is committed to bringing professional pest control services to those who can least afford it. In addition to their services, the Griffins operate a store in North Philadelphia, where customers can purchase products and receive free professional advice on how to safely solve their pest problems. "We believe that when people know better, they do better and make safe, healthy homes for themselves," Griffin explains. For more information on Pest Free Maintenance, contact Griffin at (215) 225-3896, e-mail pestfreemaintenance@verizon.net, or visit their Web site at http://www.pestfreemaintenance.com.

The Philadelphia School & Community IPM Partnership is dedicated to partnering with others to overcome obstacles and to promote IPM education and use in both schools and urban communities. For more information on the partnership, visit their Web site at http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/community/pscip.html. For more information on the Pennsylvania IPM Program's community IPM efforts and the row house project, see Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/community.html. Or, you may contact
Michelle Niedermeier, PA IPM community IPM coordinator, at the Philadelphia Cooperative Extension office at (215) 435-9685, or e-mail mxn14@psu.edu.

The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu. To view our archived news releases, see Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/newsrelease.html.