Health authority confirms cockroaches at B.C. hospital, insists they 'do not bite'
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Sources tell CTV News several patient rooms, the nursing station, the medication centre and the sluice room were full of the pests earlier this month – with cockroaches crawling on walls and burrowing into laundered linens – and that management asked staff to collect them.
“These bugs do not bite and do not transmit disease,” wrote a spokesperson for Island Health, confirming the insects are German cockroaches.
“A pest control contractor was immediately contacted and continues to visit the site twice a week to monitor traps and advise.”
The spokesperson said there have been no cockroaches spotted at the hospital since April 22 – last Monday – but that the pest control measures are still ongoing.
Health-care workers said they are “emotionally distraught” at finding the creatures on patients, and described at least one manager being dismissive of the insects, even though they observed dozens of cockroaches.
“What I've heard is that the cockroaches have been like climbing on bedding and on curtains in between patient rooms and just like very visible and that is disturbing,” said BC Nurses Union president, Adrian Gear.
She is urging the health authority to take the situation seriously and try to determine how so many of the pests were able to infest that area of the hospital.
“Saanich Peninsula Hospital remains a safe place to access care,” insisted the VIHA spokesperson.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Custom baseball card released of Blue Jays fan struck in the face with foul ball
Liz McGuire, the Blue Jays fan who was struck in the face with a 110 m.p.h. foul ball last week, has been pictured on a custom baseball trading card applauding her fandom to the game.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
As Canada warms, infectious disease risks spread north
Cases of Lyme disease have now increased more than 1,000 per cent in a decade as the warming climate pushes the boundaries of a range of pathogens and risk factors northward.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Why did the French Open cancel a farewell ceremony for Rafael Nadal? And why is he unseeded?
The French tennis federation put off holding a ceremony to celebrate Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros this year, because he has said this might not necessarily be his final appearance at the tournament he has won a record 14 times.
12 people injured after Qatar Airways plane hits turbulence on way to Dublin
Twelve people were injured when a Qatar Airways plane flying from Doha to Dublin on Sunday hit turbulence, airport authorities said.
NEW 'Language is identity': Indigenous Ontario legislator to make history at Queen's Park
Decades after being punished in a residential school for speaking his own language, Sol Mamakwa will hold the powerful to account at Ontario's legislature in the very same language past governments tried to bury.