Crime Scene Clean-up

03/23/09 Bend

Cleaning up a crime scene can take an emotional toll. "For me it's more, I would rather do this than have the family deal with it and that's how I look at it," said Lynn Caufield, with Service Master.

Six of the over 20 employees at Service Master volunteer for the duty. Most recently they were called to the shooting at Buckhorn Drive in Redmond earlier this month that left one man dead. "Depending on if it's a natural death or a violent death, the amount of blood sometimes is difficult and then you have to kind of detached your emotions from the situation and move on," said Caufield.

Each cleaner must suit up in full gear with a respirator, double booties and gloves to protect themselves from pathogens from the blood. They also must discard anything that comes in contact with the blood as bio-hazardous waste. "You really just have to do a thorough inspection, make sure that you clean, sanitize, clean, clean, double clean, and sometimes you end up removing paint off of the walls but you have to make sure you really clean," said Melissa Atkinson, Project Manager with Service Master.

It's not just crime, but fires, natural deaths and a rise in suicides. They're hired by the family or homeowner and the service isn't cheap. At one home a suicide took place, there the couch and chairs, blinds, drapery, and carpet were all removed costing the homeowners $3,500. At another home, a natural death. Part of the contaminated mattress was cut out, a baseboard and carpet were placed in the bio-hazardous waste bin. At another home, another natural death which wasn't discovered for days, so Service Master had to rip up the carpet and scrub the cement at a cost of $1,000. A price some home owners insurance policies will cover.

For the employees who do the clean-up, they're de-briefed after every job to make sure they're okay.