When Jerry Moves In: Organizing a Pest-Infested Home

Guest blog post with Rose Pest Pest Control

As professional home organizers, SimplyOrganizedCo handles a lot of different jobs. Located out of Glenview IL, and servicing the entire North Shore, the Chicagoland home organization business had to begin thinking strategically about how to handle homes with pests.

We recently spoke with Irene Lo, owner of SimplyOrganized. 

Rose: Irene, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. Can you tell me about your experience in decluttering a pest-infested home you encountered? 

Irene: At the time, a team of us were all working independently in areas throughout the home. Each of us encountered droppings in the areas we were working in - specifically the basement and garage. We thought it wasn’t a big deal since, and that the mice were localized to one or two areas. However, as we began discussing the job over the course of a few days, we realized that the home owners had a full infestation on their hands.    

Rose: Are you saying the home owners were unaware of the situation?

Irene: Yes, the home owners are snow birds, who were spending more than half of the year in a second home. They had also spent most of the pandemic years away as well.  

The ordinary job quickly became a shockingly dangerous situation – both for my team as well as the home owners.

Rose: That’s terrible, I’m sorry to hear that. What happened? 

Irene: Unfortunately, one of my organizers got a tiny cut on her hand. At first, she didn’t think anything of it, and didn’t even mention it. The next day she mentioned she didn’t feel well and her hand was looking red and swollen. By the end of the job the next day, her whole arm was starting to hurt, the swelling increased, and she honestly didn’t know why. She mentioned she was going to go to immediate care to see a doctor that afternoon. When the doctor asked if she happened to be exposed to rodents, it was a huge light bulb moment. She was sent to the emergency. By this time her whole arm was beginning to swell and felt firm to touch. At the hospital, she was actually admitted and stayed for two nights to be observed by a hand surgeon for Necrotizing Fasciitis, known as the flesh-eating disease! This scary diagnosis was caused by a tiny (less than a centimeter) cut which looked like a papercut.  

Interestingly enough, one of the home owners was also experiencing side effects as well. Right before my team member went to the hospital, one of the home owners had taken a sick day off of work. He was having respiratory issues, extreme lethargy, and feeling almost flu-like symptoms. He had come downstairs to chat with me as I was working in the garage. He was so tired and felt so terrible, that he actually had to sit on the garage steps to have the 5-minute conversation. 

After learning more about my team member’s illness and hospitalization, I became very worried about this homeowner’s health. So I put my worry to good use, and started to research more into the kind of illness that can come about due to mouse infestations. I found so many possibilities, I couldn’t believe it! In this case, I thought it could be Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) and let him know there was a chance this condition were the cause of his symptoms. 

Rose: Rodents spread so many diseases, especially when large populations are present, but the consequences are real. Clearly your team experienced those consequences first hand. 

We had a team discussion and made the decision we needed to stop work. We immediately recommended Rose Exterminators as a local company many of my organizers already had positive experiences with. We learned a very valuable lesson when dealing with mouse droppings and rodent infestations.

Rose: It does not take direct contact with mice to spread bacteria, parasites like mites and ticks, and a bunch of different viruses through their feces and urine. It’s best to have a professional who is well versed and experienced in remediation to handle the infestation. We can also guide the homeowner on the best methods for cleaning up and provide additional resources. 

Irene: In the end, I’m grateful to my team of dedicated and professional home organizers – and I’m also grateful to Rose Exterminators for being available during a time of great need. 

Rose: If you’re struggling with a mouse infestation and need help to keep your family and home safe and healthy, please contact us for immediate assistance.

To learn more about Irene Lo of SimplyOrganizedCo, please visit her website: https://simplyorganizedco.com/