The term “hoarding” is frequently misused. People often use the word to condemn themselves—or their family members—for accumulating items like clothes and collectibles gratuitously. Though true hoarders share this tendency, it’s a far cry from a medical definition. Hoarding compels people to compile and preserve excessive amounts of clutter that have no practical value. Hoarders will grow so attached to these items— which often include dirty dishes, trash and rotten food—that discarding them causes severe emotional trauma. It is one of the most poorly understood and stigmatized disorders in America, and one of the most difficult to treat. Hoarding is more widespread then you may know. According to the Washington Post, hoarding affects 19 million Americans. That equates to about 6 percent of the population. The scope of the problem may seem surprising, but only because hoarders tend to keep their illness private. Unless clutter accumulates outside the home, the disorder can remain a secret for years. The issue has become severe enough to inspire dozens of community task forces across the nation. These task forces exist for a simple reason: To curb the many dangers associated with hoarding. Though the disorder has profound psychological, financial and health consequences for the hoarder, it also jeopardizes the safety of neighbors. We’ve broken down the dangers associated with hoarding below:
1) Fire
The aggregation of clutter in hoarding situations creates unlivable spaces. Unfortunately, it also makes them highly combustible. Wall-to-wall piles of trash pervade homes, blocking exits and entrances that residents and first responders need to access during an emergency. Without any open space to mitigate a fire, these homes can burn really quickly. Because stoves, fireplaces and heating lamps are often filled and covered with trash, the risk of an outbreak rises significantly. Moreover, vermin that breed in these unsanitary environments can chew on electrical wiring in the wall, which may cause a fire.
2) Noxious Air Quality
Accumulated clutter often sits unattended, gathering blankets of dust that can affect air quality. Moreover, rotten food and waste produce heavy odors and release ammonia, which can lead to respiratory problems. Air circulation will diminish as oxygen vents are blocked, leading to a dangerous rise in carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, this situation gives mold and mildew the opportunity to grow and multiply quickly, releasing spores into the living space at an alarming rate. Because the air quality in these homes is so noxious, hoarding cleanup crews like Bio-One must wear respirators when they enter.
3) Weakened Structures
The sheer enormity of hoarding clutter can place stress on the home’s foundations. As the volume of items increase, so does the overall weight of the lode. Flooring has been known to collapse in these situations. Moreover, residents and maintenance workers have trouble accessing critical piping lines and electrical circuits inside and outside the home. Plumbing, gas and power issues can ensue, creating unsanitary living conditions and fire hazards.
4) Pests
Pests, such as rats, cockroaches, mice and fleas, thrive in hoarding situations. They are drawn to heaping mounds of clutter where they can feed and breed without being disturbed. Unsanitary living spaces, rotting food and trash attract them to the home, where they’ll likely stay as an infestation develops. In animal hoarding situations, waste and decomposing carcasses exacerbates the problem. Bacteria and airborne pathogens will pervade the home, spreading dangerous diseases like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
5) Falling, Tripping and Sharps Hazards
Hoarders will often stack their items on top of one another until their homes are filled with small mountains of clutter and trash. Heavy boxes, furniture and hardware can fall on top of residents and cause serious physical damage. The lack of navigable living space results in narrow, clutter-free passageways. But they are often rife with tripping hazards that can lead to broken ankles, noses and more. Sharp items, like knives, needles and broken glass may also be littered in this space. One false step and the resident can find themselves nursing a gushing wound that becomes infected.
6) Curtailment of Living Appliances
For hoarders, living appliances like ovens, beds and bathtubs quickly become storage vessels. This curtailment of basic living appliances creates a series of problems for residents: Combustibles near stoves can catch fire; health and hygiene deteriorate for lack of running water; and clutter on beds force homeowners to sleep on the ground, removing their access to quality sleep. Water, gas and electricity to the home will shut off as bills—lost in a sea of trash—go unpaid. All the while, the compilation of clutter will continue to grow unabated.
7) Mental Health
Poor living conditions in hoarding situations are deleterious to the homeowner’s mental health. Studies show that the brain responds negatively to claustrophobic and disorganized living spaces, overwhelming the mind, creating stress and increasing anxiety. Given the magnitude of disarray in homes affected by hoarding, the effects on the mind are exacerbated. Most hoarders already suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and are at risk for loneliness, depression and psychosis.
Bio-One can help you if hoarding affects your life. Our technicians are experts at removing hazards, disinfecting property and restoring homes, so don’t hesitate to give us a call if you need assistance. We’re available by phone 24/7/365.
Suicide effects people of all ages and doesn't always mean someone is mentally ill.
Look for warning signs. People who consider suicide as an option often talk about feeling hopeless or lost. Sometimes they try to organize their life as if they are creating a will by giving others their belongings or saying goodbye. They can experience strong self-hatred and be withdrawn from social interactions.
If you know someone displaying more than one of these signs, take the time to help. Sit down and talk to them about what's going on. Advocate for professional help if needed.
National Suicide Prevention: 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
If you know of someone in need of our services, please take a look at our locations to find the nearest Bio-One office near you. Stay safe!
An unattended death occurs in solitude. It often takes several days before somebody suspects that something is wrong. Sometimes it takes weeks, months and even years. When phone calls, text messages and emails go unanswered, friends, family members and landlords check in on the person at home, only to find that they’ve passed. If you’ve been in this position, you’re not alone. It happens more often than you might think.
Discovering an unattended death can be an emotionally wrenching experience. It’s even more traumatic when the victim is a loved one. Although you may feel obligated to clean up the remains yourself, there are several reasons why you shouldn’t do that.
For one, it’s dangerous. Body fluids from corpses release dangerous pathogens into the immediate area, creating a hazard for anyone without personal protective gear. To understand why this happens, you need to know how the decomposition process of the human body works. When someone dies, bacteria in the body lose the nutrients that keep them sustained. They look for other food sources to nourish themselves, and end up settling on the organs. These organs, which include the liver, the pancreas and the intestinal tract, are broken down with remarkable speed. To put this feeding process into perspective, there are trillions of bacteria in our bodies. That averages to about four pounds of bacteria for a 200-pound adult. Operating all at once, bacteria remove all the organs from the body within a 48-hour window.
Depending on the temperature and humidity of the room, the skin will begin to tear within this timeframe, allowing biohazardous materials to seep from the body. Rising pressure from the body’s gasses will quicken the process, releasing a terrible odor that’s often referred to as the stench of death. Sometimes, these gases will even cause the body to explode. As harmful pathogens pool on the floor, they release noxious gasses into the air, which can be inhaled through the nose and mouth. People who haven’t been trained to deal with biohazard remediation should remove themselves from the scene to escape these fumes and other threats from the decomposing body. Although it may not be obvious, people who approach a body without safety equipment risk exposing themselves to disease. Proper precautions must be taken, which brings us to another reason you shouldn’t embark on this endeavor yourself.
You likely don’t have the training or equipment to safely dispose of human remains. Gloves, goggles, respirators and body suits are necessary to protect yourself against airborne and bloodborne pathogens. But they’re not enough to keep you safe. Biohazard remediation follows a regimented process to disinfect the area safely and effectively. The chemicals allotted to clean decomposing bodies are regulated by the state. Thus, over-the-counter solutions simply aren’t powerful enough to remove and decontaminate body fluids soaked into the floor. While a surface may look clean, harmful pathogens will linger behind and pose a threat to others if the proper chemicals haven’t been used. Bio-One hires certified technicians that have the training and materials to thoroughly disinfect and disinfect an area contaminated by biohazardous waste. Moreover, they carry chemicals that can effectively deodorize the scene, which often proves difficult to do for death odors.
You also don’t want to clean up human remains if you’re connected to the deceased. If you do so, you will only exacerbate your trauma and prolong your grief. Asking professionals to take care of the task will not only spare you additional anguish, it will leave you assured that the job is done right.
Bio-One is available 24 / 7 / 365 at 303-625-6543 to speak with you regarding services. We complete this work across the nation with compassion and confidentiality. Give us a call if you have any questions and we will help you.
Contact Bio-One at 303-625-6543 for more information or for an estimate today.
Bio-One Inc. is the first crime and trauma scene cleaning franchise, operating in 35 States with over 90 locations. Bio-One is committed to providing excellent service in recovery and suicide cleanup, homicide cleanup, hoarding situations, junk removal, deceased animal recovery, feces removal, pest and rodent droppings and much more. Each office is independently owned and operated by a member of the local community. For more information about becoming a Bio-One franchisee, visit us at BioOneInc.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Here are our newest Bio-One franchises training at our Denver office this July! We are glad you are a part of the team!
If you know of someone in need of our services, please take a look at our locations to find the nearest Bio-One office near you. Stay safe!
Not many people know that biohazard cleanup companies like Bio-One exist. Clients turn to us during moments of crisis in their lives, and hence, don’t usually discover who we are until they require a service. This lack of awareness is understandable. People don’t expect awful tragedies like homicide and suicide to affect their families. But the resulting unfamiliarity can generate mystique around our role here at Bio-One. It’s true that we specialize in crime scene cleanup and decontamination services. We also remove clutter in hoarding situations, eradicate stubborn odors and disinfect property tarnished by animal waste. But in our view, the role of Bio-One is more involved than that. We are here to help you during your time of greatest need. So we treat our jobs like first responders do, prioritizing the people in our communities when they need us most.
That’s why we’re always on stand-by. If you need to reach out to us, our phone lines are always open, no matter what time of the day it is. When you give us a call, we’ll immediately connect your request to the nearest team of cleanup technicians so that they can proceed in assisting you. Why does our perpetual availability matter to us? Because we never want someone to feel like they must confront a painful and daunting situation by themselves. We’re always ready to step in so you can focus on healing.
But consistency is not enough. For our clients, the road to recovery requires a rapid response on our part. We share your sense of urgency and understand that you need your property restored promptly. Our teams strive to arrive on site within an hour. In most situations, we don't collect payment until after a job has been completed. It’s the least we can do to ensure your needs are met first and foremost. That’s why our company motto is “help first, business second.” We prioritize your well-being over our bottom-line. When prices are discussed, you’ll notice that 95 percent of the work we do is covered by insurers. This coverage makes us one of the most affordable cleanup crews in town.
We also pride ourselves on being the most compassionate company in the industry. When you contact Bio-One, we are duty-bound to protect your privacy and provide you with superior customer service. We’ll arrive on site in unmarked vans to keep the job discrete. Moreover, our decontamination teams are trained to help you through a difficult situation. Not only will the service we provide be efficient and effective, it will be conducted in a manner that’s respectful of you, your family and your home. Your satisfaction is our guarantee.
Bio-One is also here to keep you safe. Biohazardous materials that are not properly disinfected create significant health risks. They are also dangerous to clean up, requiring specialized equipment designed to protect the user from unwanted viruses, noxious fumes and physical hazards. Proper sanitation requires an exhaustive process that only the professionals are qualified to handle. We dispose of biohazardous materials in accordance with state law to protect people and the environment from harmful toxins. You also don’t want to clean up the aftermath of a suicide or homicide yourself. Doing so will surely intensify your emotional trauma, making it more difficult to recover. Our disinfection process eliminates tenacious viruses safely and comprehensively, restoring both your property and your peace of mind.
We consider ourselves part of the communities we serve, so please reach out with any questions about biohazard safety, suicide prevention and more. We are here to help in every way that we can.
July 11th was National Cheer Up The Lonely Day.
Did you do you anything to make someone happy yesterday? If not, find a friend and tell them you appreciate them or give a stranger a compliment. We believe in taking care of others even if this means a simple act of kindness.
If you know of someone in need of our services, please take a look at our locations to find the nearest Bio-One office near you. Stay safe!
Blood spills are more dangerous than you may realize. Depending on the size of the spill, they can carry hundreds of trillions of viruses, some of which may be infectious. Spread through open wounds, sores and other orifices (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth), these disease-carrying microorganisms—or pathogens—can cause severe illness or death if left untreated. Though the risk of infection depends on the volume of blood involved and the pervasiveness of the virus, it is prudent to consider how to protect yourself against different types of bloodborne viruses. Although they are easily preventable, contracting one demands urgency. As their name suggests, these pathogens travel through the bloodstream infecting host cells and disrupting the body’s biological machinery. As the virus multiplies, cells will die or function improperly, leading to distressing side effects. Here are some of the most common bloodborne infection you should be aware of:
Hepatitis A—Hepatitis A infects the liver. Though the virus commonly comes from food and water contaminated by feces, it can be transmitted through blood and other bodily fluids, such as semen, breast milk and saliva. It is extremely contagious, but given the availability of effective vaccines, most people are able to make a full recovery.
Hepatitis B—Hepatitis B is another highly contagious and severe liver infection that can be spread through blood and bodily fluids. Young people—particularly infants—are more at risk of developing a chronic infection than adults, which can lead to long-term side effects, liver failure and cancer. People infected with acute—or short-termed—hepatitis B are most likely to make a full recovery.
Hepatitis C— This viral liver infection is transmitted blood-to-blood and usually results in a chronic illness. Though hepatitis C is curable today, more than half of those infected are unaware that they have the disease. Unlike hepatitis A and B, there is no vaccine. Treatment involves 12 weeks of oral medication.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)—HIV destroys cells that combat infections. If untreated, it will progress until the infected person contracts AIDS—the final stage of the disease. Spread through unprotected sex, exposure to blood and shared hygiene instruments, HIV affects 1.1 million people today. An effective cure has yet to be developed.
How to protect yourself—The safest way to protect yourself from bloodborne pathogens is by avoiding blood spills and practicing safe, protected sex. Refrain from sharing razors, needles and toothbrushes as well, which may carry traces of blood from someone else. Smaller blood spills—such as those caused by nose bleeds or minor head injuries—can generally be disinfectd safely at home through tight gloves and protective eyewear.
But you’re going to want to contact the professionals for anything larger. Allowing trained specialists to do the work protects you from accidental blood exposure and ensures that your property is thoroughly disinfected. Bio-One hires certified technicians to comprehensively and efficiently clean biohazardous blood spills. Don’t hesitate to give us a call if you have any questions or concerns. We’re always available to assist you.
When a loved one commits suicide it’s fair to assume that first responders will decontaminate the scene. But they don’t, creating yet another dilemma for families who are freshly traumatized by a sudden and devastating loss. Driven to remove the memory from your home as quickly as possible, your first impulse may be to clean the space yourself. But there are several reasons why you shouldn’t take on this burden.
For one, suicide cleanup is a traumatic and overwhelming experience of its own. Although you may think you can push through this task by suppressing your emotions, you’re at risk of developing PTSD and prolonging your grief. It's best to avoid the scene and leave this process to the professionals.
Additionally, you may be subject to harmful diseases if you don’t clean up the scene properly. Pathogens linger long after a surface has been scrubbed, leaving you and your family at risk of developing bloodborne infections like Hepatitis C and HIV if your cleaning process has not been thorough enough. Certified specialists in biohazard remediation are the only people qualified to perform this intensive work. Let them restore your home with the assurance that it will be sanitary.
Bio-One is here to help in this regard. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you need assistance. We’re on standby 24/7, every day of the year, and are always available to answer any questions you might have.
We’re here to meet your needs, wherever you are. From the parched land of Southern Nevada to the aquamarine beaches of West Florida, Bio-One has over 80 offices located across the nation—and we continue to grow. You can find us in areas as metropolitan as Philadelphia and as pastoral as Colorado Springs. But even if you don’t live in one of these cities, our offices service multiple counties nearby. Please visit our “locations” tab on our website to find your neighborhood, and we’ll be available to assist you.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, compulsive hoarding disorder affects an estimated 2 to 6 percent of the population. That’s between 6.5 and 20 million people respectively—if you consider the latest figures from the United States Census Bureau. While inadvertently mythologized through reality television, hoarding is a serious problem that can diminish one’s quality of life and create significant safety hazards. As opposed to collectors, who invariably organize their material in a clean and organized manner, hoarders obsessively and haphazardly accumulate a myriad of items that often have no practical value. They face severe distress when confronted with the prospect of discarding these items, leading to a dangerous and unsanitary aggregation of clothes, trash, broken appliances and more.
In addition to generating mold, harboring disease and creating fire hazards, hoarding—according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America—often causes distress within the family and threatens the social development of children. While the nation’s leading psychiatrists didn’t classify hoarding as a distinct mental disorder until 2013, it’s a significant problem that many Americans face within our local communities. That’s why you shouldn’t feel ashamed if you’re thinking about contacting Bio-One to assist you or a loved one with hoarding cleanup. We will work with you to address your individual situation, especially if that includes removing extreme piles of clutter, searching for sentimental valuables, and restoring your home’s sense of safety and comfort. Don’t hesitate to contact us with questions or concerns. It can be the first step towards recovery.
