By Ann Marie Bush
Topekan DP Reed doesn't think of cleaning up blood, bodily fluids and disposing of bio-hazardous waste as repugnant. He views it as a way to help a deceased person's family members heal.
Reed, along with his wife, Jennifer, own and operate Jen's House and Commercial Cleaning, 1520 S.W. 41st, which along with house cleaning services offers crime scene cleanup.
"It's not for everybody," DP Reed said. "I like to see it as a transition. It's a start to the healing process."
Jen's House Cleaning was established by Jennifer Reed, a Topeka native, in 1999. In 2002, she partnered with DP, who had experience in the environmental field, and they formed Jen's House and Commercial Cleaning. DP had worked in oil fields and for a company in Florida that dealt with asbestos and lead abatement.
"We were looking at ways to diversify our business," he said about the decision to begin a crime scene cleanup business.
DP received crime and trauma scene bio-recovery training at the National Institute of Decontamination Specialists in South Carolina.
Hollywood has used crime scene cleanup as the basis for several movies, including Samuel L. Jackson's 2007 "Cleaner," and the 2008 "Sunshine Cleaning."
But life as a crime scene cleanup technician is different than the movies.
"We don't deal with dead bodies," DP Reed said. "A lot of it is about interaction with the family. I don't think people understand. A lot of it is about responsibility. We're talking about what is left of somebody's life. Our main focus is the end result."
He has seen his share of horrific scenes, such as an unattended death in Topeka where the body wasn't discovered for two weeks.
"The smell hits you," he said of dealing with death scenes. "Once you smell it, you never forget it. You set up a staging area and begin working your way in. We use a medical enzyme cleaner. It's amazing how hard blood can get."
DP also has dealt with suicides and murder scenes. Depending on the scope of the scene, cleanup can take between three and four hours, Reed said.
Jen's often will place a sticker on the home of someone who have been affected by a violent crime or the death of a loved one. The small card states: "We understand all too well the healing process. Please allow us to help relieve some of the emotional pain by discreetly providing the cleanup process for you and properly disposing of any potentially bio-hazardous waste." The card lists Jen's address, Web site and phone number.
Besides DP, one other employee of Jen's House and Commercial Cleaning is trained to do bio-hazard, crime scene, trauma and death scene cleanup.
After employees at Jen's House and Commercial Cleaning finish a scene, they have to arrange for transport and disposal of the bio-hazardous waste. That is where ENSERV Midwest comes into play. The Kansas City, Kan.,-based company picks up the bio-hazardous waste for Jen's.
Jen's House and Commercial Cleaning is American Bio-Recovery Association certified. ABRA is a nationwide nonprofit association of crime and trauma scene recovery professionals. It was formed in 1996, and members are made up of law enforcement officers, medical professionals, fire departments, coroners, funeral directors and restoration contractors.
According to the ABRA Web site, regular janitorial services can be used for bio-hazard, crime scene, trauma and death scene cleanup only if it is fully compliant with OSHA requirements. Federal regulation states that no employee can be placed in a position to be exposed to blood spills without first:
— Receiving blood-borne pathogen training.
— Having a written BBP exposure control plan.
— Having been provided personal protective equipment.
— Having been offered Hepatitis B vaccine and exposure evaluation and follow-up.
— Being provided with a method to remove and properly store the bio-hazardous waste in properly marked containers for disposal at an approved site.
Only after these five steps have been met can an employee be required by his or her employer to clean a bio-hazardous/crime scene, according to americanbiorecovery.com.
Crime scene cleanup isn't inexpensive, and the property owner is responsible for the cost of the service. In more than 90 percent of Jen's House and Commercial Cleaning's cases, property insurance has paid for the services. If a crime victim has no insurance, sometimes the Crime Victims Board can help pay for bio-recovery services.
In April 2007, Kansas became the 34th state to provide compensation for crime scene cleanup when then Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed House Bill 2318 into law. The bill allows up to $1,000 for crime scene cleanup and provides a definition of crime scene cleanup as the removal of blood, stains, odors or other debris caused by the crime or the processing of a crime scene. The assistance is provided through the Attorney General's Crime Victims' Compensation Board.
