The Overwhelming Success of Allergy Technologies’ ATAHC™ Program has led to its first extension… ATAHC Plus™
ATAHC is Allergy Technologies’ unique and transformative service offering designed to target bed bugs in affordable housing. The Program is a facility-wide, resident-centric, prevention-based strategy that relies on developing a rapport with residents and re-establishing their dignity. ATAHC promotes cooperation by all relevant parties, including housing authorities, building management, pest management professionals, staff and RESIDENTS. The goal…a sustainable approach that improves ‘Quality of Life’ for all. With over 4000 units under management throughout Philadelphia, the Program continues to be a glowing success.
ATAHC has eliminated and prevented the re-establishment > 95% of bed bugs in the communities we serve for the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). Spearheaded by this continued success, the Authority has awarded Allergy Technologies the opportunity to launch ATAHC Plus. This new Program expands our approach to eliminating and preventing bed bug infestations to reducing cockroaches, mice, rats and other nuisance pests in their communities. ATAHC Plus will further improve resident living conditions, a shared goal for all parties involved.
ATAHC Plus is available nationwide, just like our ATAHC Program
Rodents and cockroaches are certainly upsetting pests for residents to encounter in their homes. To help combat these pests, we have formulated an “attack plan” similar to the inspections and treatment regime at the foundation of ATAHC. ATAHC Plus rests on the same two pillars as all our work: (1) the extensive assessment of units and exterior environmental factors conducive for pests and technical elements of eliminating/preventing pests and, (2) just as importantly, developing and nurturing the trust, equity, and relationships we build with residents.
How ATAHC Plus Works
The first step for ATAHC Plus is an initial facility-wide assessment of every unit. We notify the residents of our inspection date and take the necessary steps to gauge the presence and degree of pests. We visit every apartment in a community and extensively extract (vacuum) roaches, mice and their remnants; the first major action toward eliminating these pests. We install electronic detection devices or other monitors to evaluate and continue the treatment process of any rodents or cockroaches present.
Approximately three weeks later, we return to each unit to assess our findings and continue service, as necessary, to further eliminate any residual pests found and provide preventive measures. Following these initial two visits, we will return every three months (quarterly) to evaluate the effects of our strategy and treat, as required. This inspection frequency is quite like our routine follow-up visits to check on bed bug populations as prescribed in our ATAHC Bed Bug Program. We are available for any service calls between these interim quarterly inspections if a resident, staff or management notices and reports their findings/suspicions as to the return of any pest.
Our philosophy for all ATAHC programs is that early pest notification allowing for early intervention is a gift. However, we believe we will accomplish our goals of creating a relatively rodent- and roach-free environment for most residences during the early stages of Program adoption.
Relationship Equity: The Key to Our Success
Our success relies heavily upon the “relationship equity” built between our personnel and community residents. We treat all residents with dignity, respect, and empathy and remain flexible and responsive to their needs. In our ATAHC Bed Bug Program, we had to both prove ourselves by overcoming any past resistance to previous attempts to address this pest and form strong bonds with residents. Our desire…to be integrated into the fabric of the communities we serve!
The immediate effect? We minimize the number of forced entries into apartments and provide unprecedented access to people’s homes, allowing us to do our work and residents to reap the benefits. That same spirit will continue with ATAHC Plus, and the resulting ease of access will drive the execution of our work.
We believe this Program will be as effective as our bed bug efforts, for which we have received positive acclaim from both PHA and its residents. It is a worthy extension of our planning and efforts, as our central tenet is improving the ‘Quality of Life’ for community residents.