Posts Tagged ‘emotional recovery’

The Importance of Proper Suicide Scene Remediation

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Any landlord, business owner or operator of a public facility should exercise wise discretion in responding to an incident where a tenant, employee or any individual takes the tragic step of ending their own life on his or her property. It is highly recommended that one retain a suicide clean up company for the purposes of environmental reclamation.  Chosing one with proper experience will allow them to guide you through the myriad of difficulties you are about to encounter with mourners, co-workers, roommates, friends and acquaintances of the deceased.

A recent case in Marietta underscores the multiple roles of a professional suicide clean up company. A father of a soon-to-graduate from high school had been barred from visitation with his younger child (and daughter) that was only twelve years old. The grief and melancholy that engulfed the man pushed him to consider options he previously would have spurned out of hand. Just one week before his son’s scheduled graduation, he went to his place of employment, locked himself in a supply room and shot himself with a shotgun.

The suicide clean up company met several roles in their response. They advised the company on how to handle their communications and OSHA responsibilities with their employees.  They could advise when the affected site could be safely reopened.  They assisted the company with moving operations to a new area.  They worked with the local coroner’s office concerning removal of the corpse from the premises.  They identified what parts of his remains and what other substances affected by the shotgun blast needed removal.  They advised the grieving widow of their intention to handle the disposition of his remains fully and the lack of necessity, on her part, to worry about that matter. Utilizing the expertise they have gained from conducting homicide scene cleanings, death scene cleanings, trauma scene cleanings and accident scene cleanings, they completely remediated the affected area removing blood droplets and organic tissue as well as other chemicals disbursed by the gunfire.  They applied the most advanced cleaning solutions and checked the ventilation system to ensure that no hazardous particulates might have ventured in to other parts of the facility.  More importantly, they removed the need for the grieving family to have to worry about this aspect of the tragedy, granting them an opportunity to try to appreciate the son’s graduation.

This information was originally published as part of the Crime Scene Cleanup blog at http://www.advancedbio-treatment.com/blog.

For more information about our suicide scene remediation services, contact Advanced Bio-Treatment toll free at 800-860-4268.

Artist Using Stained Fabrics from Trauma Scenes

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

“At the Hour of Our Death” follows photographer Sarah Sudhoff as she creates large-scale color photographs of stained fabrics from trauma scenes and discusses the invisibility of death in our culture. Learn more about the filmmakers at walleyfilms.com. Learn more about the artist at sarahsudhoff.com.

See the video here at http://www.vimeo.com/15977077

Suicide Scene Cleanup Company Spares Family Distress

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Nobody had really seen it coming. The bright-eyed boy, who was successful in sports, liked by his peers, and near the top of his class in school seemed to have everything going for him. It was only after they found the note he left that they figured it out. He had recently caught his girlfriend of four years, a woman he intended to marry, with another man. When he discovered them together he swiftly told her he never wanted to see her again and that he would leave her belongings in boxes outside his apartment. For a week he ignored her repeated calls. He then sent her a letter reiterating that it was over and asking her not to ever call him again. As he had not evidenced any emotion, she never thought he might take any drastic action.

They found him the day after he sent her the letter. He had used his hunting rifle to do the sad deed.  He had committed suicide. The landlord was spooked about it. The police gave him the name and number of a suicide clean up company. This company also specialized in accident scene cleanups, crime scene cleanups, homicide scene cleanups, blood scene cleanups, meth lab cleanups, odor removal cleanups and death scene cleanups were well equipped to handle the remains. They removed all of his remaining cartilage and tissue and soaked up the blood with a specialized product. Then they cleaned the entire apartment and disinfected it again to verify there was no biohazardous organic material left.

Thanks to the good work of the suicide scene cleaners when his parents visited the apartment on the next day, there were spared the horror of seeing the way the apartment had looked just sixteen hours earlier. They refused to visit his ex-girlfriend as that was just too painful for them. They did embrace at the funeral but that was the end of it.

This information was originally published as part of the Crime Scene Cleanup blog at http://www.advancedbio-treatment.com/blog.

The more the information about our scene cleanup services, contact ABT toll free at 800-860-4268.

The Aftermath of Suicide: A Family’s Story

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Looking back over the events of a family member’s suicide is sobering. After going out to the shed, I discovered my 52- year old daughter, recently convicted but yet to be jailed, had left a note and committed suicide, leaving behind two college-age kids and the rest of her family. In the aftermath of her death, we are in deep grief.

The police were very kind. They acted very professionally and were very careful not to say anything that was insensitive or inappropriate. They also made things much easier for us by calling in a suicide scene cleaner company. These suicide cleaner companies, which also frequently perform accident scene, crime scene, homicide scene, trauma scene, meth lab, odor removal and death scene cleanups, are in charge of removing those remains that do not go to the coroner’s or medical examiner’s office.

The staff of the suicide scene cleanup company was very professional and courteous. It makes it much easier when people are sensitive to how difficult it is in such a time of grieving. It also makes it easier to know that the physical evidence of this tragic suicide is removed from our premises. The last thing we would want is one of her daughters stumbling upon a patch of her mom’s blood or tissue when they visit. While I am in deep in sorrow and imagine I always will be, the professionalism of the police and the suicide cleaning company was certainly a salve to our personal wound.

Suicide Scene Cleanup: Speeding The Healing

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Suicide cleaner companies frequently address some of the most difficult and emotionally strenuous situations when performing their assigned jobs. Often when an individual commits suicide someone plays the role of liaison from the family to those officials who have to respond to the tragedy. Once someone from the family contacts a suicide cleaner company the person managing the cleanup can act as an agent dealing with the police, the landlord (if applicable), other people who had relationships with the deceased. What often happens is that, in the course of planning to clean and then decontaminate a space in which a suicide has occurred, the supervisor of the cleanup must act with the kind of extreme care and deference that other types of professionals, like clergymen and doctors, exercise regularly. Accordingly, the expertise of these companies transcends the physical duties involved in a suicide cleanup.

Since many suicide scene cleaner companies also engage in homicide scene cleanings, blood scene cleanings, trauma scene cleanings and accident scene cleanings, its staff is usually trained, not unlike a staff of a funeral home or mortuary, to go about their business with the utmost sensitivity to the feelings and needs of the deceased’s family, loved ones and friends. This kind of sensitivity to the emotions of those grieving complements the sensitivity the employees of these suicide cleaner companies have with regard to their cleaning tasks. The success of an exemplary suicide scene cleaner company is to not only dispose of that which is easily seen but also to determine where other tissue or liquid is located so as to dispose of all potentially hazard materials. This attention to detail in these tasks reinforces a sense of being careful in every aspect of the job.

No one ever anticipates having to deal with the sadness of suicide. The more that family members, roommates, landlords or lovers can be helped during this difficult period of extreme sorrow, the better. The onus must fall on those people who do not share the personal relationship and experience with the decedent. The staff of a professional suicide scene cleaner company amply and consistently meets this challenge.

Contact Advance Bio Treatment for additional questions or services at 800-860-4268.