Welcome to our last month's B.O.T.s training crew! Bio-One is proud to announce a new Atlantic City location as well as technicians from Dayton, Huntsville, and Tampa getting certified! Great job to our new franchise and technicians!
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!
Matt and Krista Gregg from Bio-One of Asheville have taken the time to make some goodie boxes for their local police department and crisis advocates! These look delicious and are a great way to create relationships and show your support.
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!
Homelessness has been rising steadily for the past three years. According to the latest federal data, 552,830 people experienced homelessness at least once in 2018, an increase of 0.3 percent since 2017. These numbers come after homelessness dropped 15 percent between 2007 and 2016. The Department of Housing and Urban Development attributed last year’s growth to two factors: the 4,000 people forced to stay in emergency shelters due to natural disasters, and a 2.3 percent increase in unsheltered homeless, which rose from 190,129 in 2017 to 194,467 in 2018. The rate of unsheltered people has been rising significantly since 2014, increasing 11 percent after several years of decline. That means more homeless people are living on city streets without the resources they need to help themselves recover. As a result, local businesses, city officials and institutions cite public health concerns over the prevalence of homeless people in their communities. Absent a comprehensive government plan to productively address the problem, homelessness continues to rise in large cities nationwide. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, homeless service providers offer shelter to 70 percent of homeless people year-round. But that leaves 30 percent of homeless people unsheltered, resulting in the rise of encampments that often harbor disease.
These encampments shelter large groups of people, and are comprised of makeshift tents, cardboard and other materials. They appear along buildings in metropolitan areas, underneath freeways and bridges, inside storm channels and drainage tunnels, within wooded areas, and inside alleys and empty lots. Because of the health issues associated with them, cities, counties and businesses are hiring experts in biohazard remediation to remove them. These requests are rising in areas with growing homeless populations. According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times, requests to remove encampments in Los Angeles rose 167 percent between 2016 and 2018. Government agencies and local businesses avoid hiring their own employees to clean up homeless encampments because of liability concerns. Without the proper training or equipment, workers who attempt to remove these structures are exposed to hypodermic needles, animal waste and body fluids. These biohazards contain bloodborne pathogens and other bacterium that spread diseases like Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, MRSA, E. Coli and Tuberculosis. Moreover, the abundance of trash in encampments can be overwhelming and likened to hoarding situations.
To complete this work in a safe and efficient manner, it’s best to contact the professionals at Bio-One. With twenty years’ worth of experience in hoarding cleanup, medical waste disposal and biohazard decontamination, we understand how to remove health threats and prevent the outbreak of disease. Our team works with cities, counties and businesses to clean encampments that pose a sanitation risk to local residents and the homeless community. We’ll properly dispose of illicit narcotics and remove sharps, trash, and feces that could spread disease. Before we disinfect a site, however, we always make sure to give ample notice to the homeless who live in the area and ensure that their valuables are returned to them. Contact your local Bio-One office today to discuss how we can help you. We are available day and night.
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.
Huge thank you to Cheryl Chiasson for sharing your knowledge and giving a couple of owners an opportunity to experience a hoarding job while in Denver! We love when trainees go out on job scenes and have the opportunity to chat with local offices!
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!
Losing a loved one in an accident is incomprehensibly painful. The seeming unfairness and randomness of the moment is almost impossible to accept at first as grieving friends and family members try to rationalize what happened. They often feel guilty for not doing enough to prevent the death despite the fact that the incident was entirely out of their control. But nobody can prepare for the sudden and unexpected. Accidental deaths are by definition unnatural and unintentional. They include slips and falls, traffic accidents, poisonings, accidental weapon wounds, drownings, fire injuries, head traumas, industrial accidents, choking deaths, explosions, and natural disasters. Fatal accidents have always been a leading cause of death in America. But unfortunately, they are becoming more common.
According to the non-profit National Safety Council, accidental deaths increased 96 percent over the last 25 years. Though they decreased significantly between 1950 and 1980, fatal accidents have been growing rapidly since the mid-1990s.Despite our innovation in creating safer technologies, today’s rate of 52.2 deaths per 100,000 people hasn’t been seen since the mid-1970s. Now, accidents are the number one leading cause of death for people aged 1 to 44, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For all demographics, they are the third leading cause of death nationwide, with 169,936 deaths reported by the CDC in 2017.
While researchers have not reached a consensus on why accidental deaths are increasing, the NSC points to three trends to explain the rise, including increases in poisonings, motor vehicle deaths and falls among older adults. All of these injuries are preventable, they say, arguing on their website that institutions “have not consistently prioritized safety at work, at home and on the road”. Poisonings, the leading unintentional injury among CDC data, increased 11 percent between 2016 and 2017 . The NSC attributes the growth to the opioid crisis, which claimed the lives of 47,000 Americans in 2017 .
To put the CDC data into perspective, 466 people die from accidental injuries every day The number of friends and family members affected by the death of a loved one is even higher, resulting in an ever-growing community of people who must find ways to manage their grief. Bio-One works with these families every day to facilitate their steps towards recovery.
When fatal accidents happen, we dedicate our resources to helping families restore their home or business in a safe, private and efficient manner. Because first responders do not decontaminate crime scenes after they respond to a call, we step in to ensure that families are not exposed to disease and other dangers. Crime scenes harbor harmful bloodborne pathogens that contaminate the immediate area, leaving everyone on the property vulnerable to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Our licensed technicians use powerful, environmentally safe chemicals to thoroughly disinfect the area so you can rest assured that your family will be safe. We work with an appreciation for your valuables and will replace furnishings if need be. In hoarding situations, we remove clutter that may present a danger to other inhabitants, including feces and other biological waste.
When you give us a call at your local Bio-One office, we’ll immediately connect you with a representative that will address your unique situation. Because we value your time during this difficult moment, a team will be dispatched to your home or business within an hour to complete the service. When they arrive, they’ll come in unmarked vehicles to safeguard your privacy. Our team approaches their work with the sensitivity it demands and endeavors to address your needs with the compassion it deserves. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We are on standby 24/7/365.
Bio-One welcomes three new franchises this November! Coming aboard we have Bio-One Goodyear, Bio-One Eugene, and Bio-One Gwinnett County! Congratulations everyone on becoming a new franchise! We hope you enjoyed training, go out there and help first!
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!
We often forget about the people left behind in the wake of a homicide. News stories reveal who died but often fail to identify how their death impacts their loved ones. When someone is murdered, their family, friends and significant others endure one of the most traumatic experiences that anyone can face. These survivors are some of the least researched crime victims in America, and they are everywhere. According to the most recent FBI data, 16,214 Americans were murdered in 2018. For every one of those individuals an average of 7 to 10 relatives were severely impacted, according to an estimate by Lu Redmond, a homicide grief expert.
If the murder rate remains consistent, Redmond’s estimate means between 113,000 and 162,000 Americans will become homicide survivors each year. That’s in addition to the pool of survivors who already lost loved ones in previous years. Though the lack of research makes it impossible to quantify how many total homicide survivors there are in America, the number is high enough to warrant concern for how they are treated by health professionals.
For survivors, the grieving process is almost impossible to endure. Though loved ones will grieve in different ways depending on their relationship with the victim, the loss is shocking, unimaginable and absolute. They never had a chance to say goodbye to their loved one, and the plans they both shared will never come to fruition. This realization may be sudden. In some cases, it may take years. Some survivors find it difficult to accept a loved one’s death at first, resulting in a delayed reaction that is triggered by a situation that reminds them of the victim. According to the National Center of Victims of Crime, grief symptoms include shock, disbelief, numbness, changes in appetite and sleeping patterns, difficulty concentrating, anger, confusion, increased anxiety and fear. Financial loss, depression and family conflict are also common symptoms.
Discovering a murdered loved one in the home can trigger post traumatic stress disorder. After the first responders leave the scene, some survivors may feel compelled to clean up the aftermath themselves. Confused that the paramedics don’t complete this work, they may think the cleanup process is their responsibility and act immediately. After all, they want to restore the scene as quickly as possible. Operating in a state of shock, they’ll remove the blood stains, body tissue and contaminated materials from the home without recognizing the threat to their physical and mental health. In addition to exposing their body to dangerous bloodborne pathogens, survivors may experience traumatic flashbacks of the experience in the future and suffer from heightened anxiety and emotional numbness. These PTSD symptoms prolong the recovery process, making it even more difficult for survivors to cope with their new lives.
Bio-One works with communities across the nation to avoid this outcome. We employ certified technicians that respond to scenes of violent crime and clean up dangerous biohazards that pose a threat to you and your family. When we receive a request for our services, we’ll send a team to the job site within an hour to assess your situation and perform a comprehensive cleaning solution that restores the property. Our powerful, environmentally friendly chemicals eradicate harmful pathogens that spread Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV, giving you assurance that you will be safe long after the area is decontaminated. We’ll dispose of the infected materials that cannot be salvaged and replace flooring and other furnishings if we need to. Once the area is thoroughly cleaned, we’ll return it to its pre-incident state so you can focus on recovering.
We conduct this work because we want to help people who have been left to deal with a difficult, painful task. That’s why our company motto is “Help first, business second.” We don’t ask for payment until after the job is complete because we want to remove the safety threat from your home as quickly as you do. Every person on our team will arrive on-site with an understanding of the trauma you are going through and a respect for your privacy and personal needs. Contact your local Bio-One office today and we’ll immediately connect you with a representative that can assist you. We are available 24/7/365.
Although eight years have passed since the world’s top mental health experts classified hoarding as a unique compulsive disorder, the problem persists throughout the country. Researchers say that up to 20 million Americans suffer from this illness, which is described as an obsessive tendency to accumulate troves of objects with no practical value.Because hoarding is historically stigmatized and underdiagnosed, this number is likely a conservative estimate. Even more troubling, hoarding is expected to increase as the population ages and mortality rates rise. But the studies that dole out these numbers understandably focus on hoarders over other stakeholders in the community. Hoarders’ actions impact far more people than reflected in the data. Fires and collapsing structures caused by unstable hoarding situations jeopardize the safety of neighbors and government workers. Even animals suffer. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a quarter of a million animals are hoarded each year. But the people afflicted by the disorder’s worst consequences often live in the same household as the hoarder.
Families deteriorate as high levels of dysfunction, increased conflict and financial uncertainty hinder intimacy and devastate the emotional wellbeing of everyone in the home. Objects overwhelm the space and are guarded zealously by hoarders who are pathologically unable to discard anything they deem valuable. Hoarded items commonly include old newspapers, rotting food, cardboard boxes, pets, excessive piles of clothes and furniture that dominates the home. Space becomes constricted and practically unlivable, prompting hoarders to carve narrow passageways out of the clutter to navigate between rooms.
But despite the extreme measures’ hoarders take to endure these living conditions, the situation cannot be controlled. There is no space for shared activities among the family and no room to use necessary facilities like ovens, showers and beds. In fact, the concept of “space” alters entirely. Children may have to sleep on couches in the living room or in bed with parents to circumvent the clutter. Activities like eating, reading and sleeping are subject to the limitations of space and the normalcy of disorder.
The effect of living like this leads to feelings of isolation, depression and vulnerability. Confounded by the fact that the hoarding family member is usually controlling, stubborn and sensitive to criticism, other people in the home often feel undervalued and powerless. Any attempts to remove the clutter are met with fierce opposition and outrage by the hoarder, who suffers from severe distress when confronted with the notion of losing their valuables. Aware of these consequences, the family usually lives in isolation, refusing to invite friends and relatives over to the home out of embarrassment. These claustrophobic conditions extend to the mind, which is overwhelmed by feelings of frustration, helplessness and anxiety. Financial strains ensue as the hoarder spends money on items that have no discernable value to other family members. As the acquisition of objects greatly outweighs the removal of other objects, credit limits are reached and space disappears, leading to home maintenance fees, financial debt and increasingly frequent family altercations.
Onlooking children often find themselves torn between parents in these situations. Child protective services may be invoked at some point, breaking up the family and degrading the bond between child and parent even further. This possibility weighs heavily on the minds of older children, who often feel compelled to silence for fear that they will be relocated by the authorities. Child protective services are often justified in removing them from the home. Households governed by an extreme hoarder are vulnerable to disease, air pollutants, pests and fires. Children in these homes also face stunted social and cognitive growth as they endure harsh living conditions and parental strife. Moreover, research indicates that hoarding behaviors are learned and adopted by the children of hoarders, who may subsequently pass these tendencies down to their own kids.
The strains that hoarding places on families illustrates why reaching out for help is so important. If you or a loved one are affected by this destructive disorder, please contact Bio-One for assistance. We remediate homes affected by hoarding on a daily basis and can connect you with tools that can help. We are on standby 24/7/365.
Bio-One Flagstaff recently partnered with an amazing non profit called Changed By Nature Outdoors.
It is national, and they do adventures all over the US. They take vets, wounded warriors, first responders, etc on outdoor adventures to try and help them find an outlet to be able to refocus and help with PTSD. They have saved lives this year that would have been lost to suicide but were not because of the program.
Way to go Bio-One Flagstaff! We are always proud of what our Bio-One franchises accomplish.
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!
Bio-One Des Moines is ready for Urbandale Police Trunk or Treat! This is a great way to be a part of the community and support law enforcement. We love to see our franchises making a difference and getting involved. What a great setup, Bio-One Des Moines!
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!
