A Sarnia mother of two is at her wits end as she deals with a bed bug infestation in her apartment.
Nicole Knight, 35, said for several years, she's been forced to live with bed bugs at her Queen Street apartment.
She said despite the property manager having the unit sprayed over a dozen times over the years, the critters keep coming back.
Knight said within a week of moving into the two bedroom unit from a one bedroom within the building, she started getting bites.
"Push forward, that's been four years now and about 17 or 18 sprays and two different pest companies later and I'm still dealing with the issue," she said.
Knight said in the meantime, she's staying with the child's father, and is hoping to rectify the situation.
"Honestly I'm quite upset with the fact that I've told my Ontario Works worker, I've called housing and explained what's going on to them, and over the past four years I've called Bob Bailey's office and they told me to go to Community Legal Assistance, and that lady told me it could take four to five years to go through the courts."
Knight, her five-year-old son, and nine-year-old daughter (who is deaf and has Autism) have been staying with family. Knight said unfortunately for financial reasons, moving is not an option.
"I've even asked if I could transfer to another building and stay with the same company and they've refused to do that," said Knight. "They say they don't want to risk the chance of me bringing bed bugs to another building, which I understand. But at the same time I should not be forced to have to live like that. Especially when I'm paying over $1,000 a month, I would expect that it's clean and safe for me and my kids."
She said the ordeal has taken it's toll on her, not only physically, but emotionally.
"You feel vulnerable and paranoid constantly," said Knight. "Mentally, I am paranoid all the time. I constantly look under my beds and on the floor, I won't let my kids on the floor, and I have to live out of bins. I'm constantly paranoid that I'm going to get bit or that they're going to come back, and they always come back and it doesn't matter how much I throw out, or what I do for precautionary reasons its just always seems to never get fixed."
In an email to Sarnia News Today, Lambton Public Health said that as bed bugs and lice do not carry or transmit diseases of public health significance under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, they would not be reportable to public health.
The health unit said it occasionally receives phone calls from individuals inquiring about bed bugs.
In those instances, they provide guidance to the caller around steps they can take to mitigate or remediate the situation, which can involve both the landlord and tenant including regular cleaning, disposal of infested items and pest control services.