Every few weeks we take a moment to introduce yet another exceptional person who exemplifies the best of IPM — and receives an award to honor it.
The year: 2008. The place: Nassau County, New York — the Village of Hempstead in particular. As Nassau’s assistant district attorney (ADA) for community affairs, René Fiechter wanted to address issues that most affected quality of life in Hempstead.
Fiechter’s conversations with community leaders revealed that bed bugs ranked high among issues that tenants often felt powerless to control. So he lost no time in convening a sixty-member Bed Bug Task Force to help landlords and tenants better understand and manage this scourge.
Fast forward to March 24, 2017: the day Fiechter received his Excellence in IPM award for nine years of focused leadership and his commitment to Hempstead and Nassau County — as well as to IPM.
“From day one, René wasted no time in learning everything he could about bed bugs,” says Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, IPM’s community IPM coordinator and a task force member. “He’s also just a thoughtful, friendly person.” Those, of course, are attributes you need if you’re going to bring together such an array of tenants, landlords, pest professionals and community agencies — and make it work.
Much of public awareness about bed bugs is wrapped up in myths and misconceptions. Helping people get past them was among the most important issues the task force faced.
Myth number one? If you have bed bugs, your house is a mess. Not so. Anyone, anywhere is fair game for bed bugs. Lots of practical IPM advice here.
“René is one of those special people who saw a problem affecting the quality of life in his community and decided to tackle it,” says Jennifer Grant, director of NYS IPM. “He sought knowledgeable people — knowledgeable about both pest management and the community — and brought them together with a common cause.”
We at NYS IPM are grateful to you, René Fiechter. Thank you for all you have done.
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Check out the full news release.