Call the Professionals at ABT
It’s always important to hire experts like those at Advanced Bio-Treatment when dealing with the cleanup and remediation of any scene involving bodily fluids, insects, filth, pet damage, contagious diseases, or even drug paraphernalia and medical waste. We are bio cleaning specialists who will work with your insurance company to rehabilitate your property to like new condition. We restore not only your home or office but also your peace of mind.
Sometimes people become ill, physically, mentally or both, and as a result they seem to pull away from their families and the rest of the world. In a sense, they are already giving up the fight to live and they can fall into a state of mind where nothing around them matters anymore.
One case we were recently contacted to handle involved one such individual. The call came in on a Monday I recall very well because it had been a brutally hot weekend in Pittsburgh the weekend prior. We had been dealing with a large influx of calls concerning unattended deaths, as we call them in the business, and as gross as it may sound, the heat was responsible for their discoveries… primarily the intensity of the odor exacerbated by the high temperatures. It was for this reason that we had gotten the call to an apartment in a working class neighborhood just outside Pittsburg, PA.
Once we pulled up to the building listed as the address we were met by the building’s super. As we got geared up for the decontamination job ahead, it was explained to us that the victim had not only been suffering from cancer of the stomach, but had also descended into a deep depression which caused him to isolate himself in his home. The result was that his apartment had become a filthy breeding ground for God knows what.
What Happened Next
Standing in the doorway, even with a full face mask on, the first thing that hit me was the overpowering stench of death. It literally makes my eyes water. John Doe had succumbed to the cancer that was consuming his body two weeks before he was found, so you can imagine what the heat wave had done to the smell.
He had passed sitting up on a cracked, fake leather couch, and because the blood no longer circulates after the heart stops, it tends to pool in the lowest part of the body. In this case, it was his legs and feet. As the body decomposed, body fluids began to leak out and formed disgusting foot prints of decay on the dirty rug. Cigarette butts and ash, apparently from an ashtray John Doe had knocked over in his final throws of death, mixed with what appeared to be years of caked on filth.
In a corner of the room a pair of men’s underwear, filed with bloody stool, gave evidence to a slow, miserable end to this man’s life. Worse still, in his bathroom toilet we found more blood. John Doe had really suffered from the stomach cancer before it claimed his life. Although from the deplorable living conditions inside the home, it seemed like John Doe had lost any resemblance of the life he knew before he got sick.
Cases like these really illustrate why it is so vital to procure highly trained bio-hazard professionals like ABT. Scenes like this are hard to stomach for everyone, and no family member or regular person should feel like there is no option but to clean it themselves. The pathogens contained in bodily fluids combined with the health risk associated with chemical cleaners or drug paraphernalia make for a very serious situation suitable only for those with the knowledge, and equipment to properly handle them. ABT is OSHA and EPA certified and we will work with your insurance to make the process as uncomplicated as possible. We will restore your home and your sanity.
This job took three days from start to finish and involved the actual replacement of the flour beneath the carpet. In the end, there was no indication that John Doe had died in the apartment or that he had wasted away ,secluded inside, for the last three years. It was sad to see his belongings all end up in the garbage, but I took comfort knowing that we were helping erase the signs of his pain and degradation too. In the end, the property owner was very pleased, and we always aim to please, but I was still left wondering, as I so often do, who John had been during happier times. But somethings we just never know.
If you need scene clean-up and decontamination guidance, have questions about your payment options, which clean up and decon procedures your current insurance policy covers or require our scene cleanup services immediately, don’t hesitate to give Advanced Bio Treatment a call at:800-860–4268.
