Our District is fortunate to have attentive, experienced staff dedicated to helping residents with a variety of services. It is not unusual for a staff member to visit a property for a requested issue and notice another issue that they then provide advice and assistance with.

Some examples are:

• Technician Walter and Laboratory Director Angie visited a property where an owner had requested a rodent inspection and property tick check. While they were there, they noticed several plastic bins outside holding water. When they checked the bins, they found larval mosquitoes.  They helped the resident dump the water and educated them about the importance of avoiding accidentally creating mosquito breeding sources on their property.
• When Communications Director and/or Vector Ecologists visit schools for presentations and/or tick checks, they often noticed yellowjacket traps set inappropriately close to lunch areas and doorways. When stopping by the office, they let school staff know the proper placement for yellowjacket traps (far from areas where children congregate) to reduce the chance of yellowjackets stinging or biting students.
• Technician Stephanie was doing routine surveillance of greenbelt areas and noticed that the water in an HOA complex was lower than usual. When she checked, she found mosquito larvae and was able to treat the source to control the mosquito breeding.
• Technician Evan visited a property because a resident reported mosquito bites. He found a nearby water source breeding mosquitoes. When speaking to the resident to hear more about the bites, he suspected it was possible that they may have been being bitten by rodent mites.  The resident reported not having seen/heard any rodent activity. However, Evan was able to do a rodent inspection of the home to point out multiple rodent entry points and evidence of rodent rub marks.