Bio-One teams across the U.S. answer calls to help their communities and remediate a variety of scenes. In our new blog series, we'd like to bring you into the Bio-One world by sharing stories of the unique and important work we do for local communities.
Here is Week 2 of our Bio-One Weekly Wrap-Up.
14,000 lbs of Clothing Removed from Hoarded Home
In Indiana, the Marion County team remediated over 30+ years of hoarded clothes in a home. The team calculated that approximately 14,000 lbs of clothing were removed.
Bio-One’s teams know that every job represents a unique experience for our customers, who may have difficulty parting with deeply personal items that can range from clothing, video tapes, trash, and even animals.
Read our recent blog post answering common questions about animal hoarding.
We work with all of our clients in a step-by-step process that instills trust while properly ridding the space of items that can prove harmful. Learn more about Bio-One's hoarding services.
Bio-One Welcomes Two New Offices in Wisconsin
Two Bio-One offices launched in Wisconsin this week, and we are very excited to welcome Angela, David, Andrew, and Viktoriya to the Bio-One family. Learn about these amazing teams below!
Madison, WI
Angela Welbes and David Levin are the owners of Bio-One of Madison. Both were born and raised in the midwest, and they met in 2015 while they were both living in Wisconsin. Their blended family consists of 3 daughters and a son. The COVID pandemic provided a personal reset that enabled an opportunity to join the growing Bio-One family and the ability to help the surrounding communities of Madison. They are excited to start this new venture together.
Milwaukee, WI
Andrew and Viktoriya Gonzales are the owners of Bio-One of Milwaukee. Andrew spent the last 24 years in the banking industry, in addition to serving on boards and committees for several Non-Profits, such as NAMI, Madison Development Corp and United Way. Viktoriya originally came to Wisconsin 16 years ago to further her education and loved it so much, she decided to stay. She has spent the last 12 years in telecommunications and management. Both have a passion for giving back to their community and have a drive to help those in the Milwaukee and surrounding area who are in need.
COVID-19 Disinfections Help Seniors in Charlotte, NC
This week, the Bio-One team in Charlotte, NC announced the renewal of a COVID-19 disinfection partnership with the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services. This unique #HelpfFrst service offers free disinfections to seniors, 60 years of age or older. See their Facebook post below to learn more.
Rebecca Wallace, Bio-One owner, recently visited with Arizona Midday to share how the Bio-One team makes a difference on and off the job in Arizona and throughout the United States.
Arizona Midday - "Well we've got some help for your home right now. If you're feeling overwhelmed by a clean-up project, we've got help for you today. Rebecca Wallace is with Bio-One. Hi Rebecca. What is Bio-One?"
Rebecca - "So Bio-One is known for crime and trauma scene clean-up. However, we do a lot more than just that. We help people when there is a hoarding situation, so that they can regain their home and their lives again. We help with infectious disease decontamination, rodent droppings, odor abatement, basically if you think you might need a respirator to do the job we're the people you want to call."
Arizona Midday - "Wow, that's incredible. It's stuff we don't want to do. What made you decide to get into this line of work?"
Rebecca - "So, me and my husband live in Flagstaff most of the time and we were talking with some first responders and heard how when people pass away or they're hoarders there is no one that can help them. There's just no one who does this kind of work. So we decided we want to be able to help our community, help those around us during a time of need so they can actually move forward in their lives and not have to deal with the mess of maybe things that have happened that they don't want to have to think about."
Arizona Midday - "I love that idea. So in order to help your clients as much as possible, do you work with other companies? Tell me about that if you do."
Rebecca - "Yes, we do. We work with quite a few other companies, because what we do is just a piece of a whole puzzle. So we work with a lot of restoration companies, Best Option Restoration, they are state-wide like us so they can help us anywhere as well. We work with animal rescues, so if there is a hoarding situation that animals are involved in we can get the animals out safely and get them rehabilitated. We work with quite a few non-profits that help first responders if they're in a time of need or crisis. It's across the board. We work with all kinds of different people. Contractors. Mental health professionals. Anyone that can be a piece of that puzzle with us, we want to work with them.
Arizona Midday - "Oh, I love that. So what areas of Arizona does Bio-One cover?"
Rebecca - "We have offices all the way down from Tucson up to Flagstaff, and everything in-between. Our goal is to be able to help our clients within 90 minutes or less if there is an emergency. So we have offices everywhere. Any we're national. We have 120 offices throughout the US as well.
Arizona Midday - "Wow. That's incredible. So you work with businesses. You work with non-profits, but you're also really involved in the community too, right? Tell me about that."
Rebecca - "Yeah we are. It's important for us to give back. Our community is important. We live here. We're part of it. So in 2020 alone, we gave out over 25,000 bottles of chemicals that are approved by the EPA for COVID-19 decontamination. We have blood drives all throughout Arizona to help with the blood shortage. We donate PPE to first responders and victim advocates. And we have BBQ's throughout the state as well for all of our first responders just to tell them thank you for what they've been doing. They work hard and we want to make sure that they know we care.
Arizona Midday - "Rebecca Wallace, incredible work that you're doing with Bio-One. And thank you so much for spending time with us today.
Rebecca - "Thank you for having me."
Bio-One On A&E Hoarders
Bio-One had the honor of being a part of A&E’s Hoarders, season 11, episode 1. This episode featured a woman who had hoarded her husband’s home and left it in a desperate condition. The Bio-One team, alongside a therapist, professional organizer, family helpers, and the fire department, helped remove and clean the family’s home. Three tons of belongings and trash were put into dumpsters and removed from the premises.
What Is Hoarding?
Hoarding is a condition where an individual can’t let go of belongings, whether it’s family air looms, personal items, or even trash. They develop an emotional attachment that allows them to keep everything that makes its way into their home. This leads to accumulation of both personal items and filth that can span from floor to ceiling in every room of a house. Not only does this make it hard to move, function and live, it also creates an extremely hazardous environment with the dangers of rodent infestation, disease, mold, feces contamination, and more.
Call In The Professionals
It’s crucial that professionals are called for any type of hoarding situation. While it may seem like a matter of junk removal and cleaning, dangerous pathogens can be lurking about the home, especially as items are moved around during the cleaning process. Not only is this dangerous to inhale, it’s not suitable to touch without the proper gear. Bio-One always recommends professional removal because the knowledge, experience, personal protective equipment (PPE), and training needed for these types of situations. We follow OSHA regulations for cleanup, chemicals, and PPE to protect both our Bio-One team members and clients.
We thank you A&E for letting us come in and help. We always operate under the motto help first, business second.
If you know of anyone in need of Bio-One’s help, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are a 24/7 operation with offices all around the nation waiting for your call.
Bio-One franchises have been offering goodies and disinfecting baskets to local victim advocates, PD’s, property managers. Great job Jen and John Symons in Charlotte. This is a great way to offer support to local organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
Bio-One is here to Help First, Business Second
When you request a service, our team focuses on accomplishing one goal: helping you. That’s why our professional technicians are on standby 24/7, every day of the year. We have the experience, training and licensing to get the job done efficiently, and can generally reach the scene within an hour. After we’ve made sure that you’re safe and the site does not pose a hazard to others, we’ll talk business. Because at Bio-One, we understand that compassion and expediency are requisites for helping you overcome a challenging situation. Our motto, “Help First, Business Second,” is a promise to you and an obligation for us. It’s indispensable to our aim of providing you with the best service the industry has to offer.
Using biohazard experts for cleanups
Biohazardous materials pose multiple safety risks to people in the immediate vicinity of a crime scene. Infectious pathogens from blood and other fluids spread disease and cause deleterious bodily reactions in people who have been exposed to them via open wounds and orifices. Moreover, surfaces that have been wiped down—and therefore appear clean—may in fact still harbor these dangerous bacteria. A deeper, more thorough decontamination is required in these circumstances.
That’s where we come in. Not only will Bio-One restore your property in a prompt and scrupulous manner, we’ll do it correctly. Because our team of certified and highly experienced technicians set the industry standard for biohazard cleanup. We have a flawless safety record—and we’ve been around for over 20 years to validate it. Whatever your situation is, we’ll ensure that the job is done right. We’re here to help.
