Bedbugs Found at Kids Museum

LORE CROGHAN – NY Daily News

The Brooklyn Children’s Museum wasn’t closed after a bedbug outbreak, or while officials dealt with the dreaded creepy crawlers, the Daily News reported.

An exterminator reportedly treated “infected” locations at the Crown Heights museum on Aug. 16 after a bedbug was found in a mezzanine office, museum executive Donald Cramer told employees in an email obtained by the Daily News.

The Brooklyn Ave. museum opened the next day — and has continued to keep regular hours though some employees fear the cleanup hasn’t been thorough enough.

“This is a children’s museum, where moms are supposed to feel safe to bring their kids,” said one who didn’t want his name used for fear of reprisals. “It’s a play space — it should be sanitized like a hospital.”

Employee Colleen Lynch, 47, found out the hard way about the bedbugs, finding them in a cabinet she opened. She later quit her job, she said.

The hard-to-eradicate critters continued to be an issue last week in the Tiny Tots area, plus a section of the museum called Collections and some offices, staffers were told in an email.

The museum has followed City Health Department recommendations in dealing with the bedbugs — and its extermination firm treated infested areas with Environmental Protection Agency-approved materials that are not harmful to children, said museum spokeswoman Anne-Rhea Smith in a statement.

Additional fumigation will be done while the museum is closed from Sept. 10 to 21 for its usual annual cleanup, Smith said.

“The Brooklyn Children’s Museum is committed to the safety of our visitors and our staff,” said Smith.