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Crime and Trauma Incidents Can Cause Structure Damage

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  • Insurance May Cover Our Services – Many property insurance policies cover crime and trauma scene cleanup, and we can help navigate the claims process.
  • Financial Assistance Options – If insurance isn’t available, other resources may help cover costs, including funeral-related funds depending on the situation and state.
  • 24/7 Compassionate Support – Our experienced team is available anytime to guide you through cleanup and financial options—call 1-800-909-2939 for assistance.

No one knows when tragedy may strike our families. When it does, it leaves us confused, trying to understand everything. Dealing with confusion and grief is overwhelming and impossible. Suicide, homicide, or unattended death can frequently leave psychological trauma. Crime Scene Cleaners emphasizes, “No one should be victimized twice.”
That is why we exist to provide care, compassion, and peace of mind during this extreme stress.

As a leader in the industry, we have developed professional methods to remediate any structure type properly. Whether residential, commercial, industrial, vehicle, or train, we have the knowledge and experience to do the job right. In addition, we are adept at remediating a single residence to mass casualty incidents.

Crime Scene Cleaners, LLC is the premier company in the Midwest, established in 1999. We are the oldest and largest company of its kind in the Kansas City Region. We thoroughly train and certify our technicians as Bio-Technicians and Master Technicians.
Safety is essential for our technicians and clients, so our staff regularly attends OSHA-based safety meetings.

Are You Aware That Your Property Insurance May Cover Our Work?

We routinely work with every insurance provider within our Missouri and Kansas coverage area. We can help walk you through that process if necessary. Start by calling our office so we can help with this process.

If insurance is unavailable, other avenues may be in place to help with part or all the cost, including funeral expenses. Amounts available may depend on the situation and the State of the incident. Again, we can help walk you through this process if necessary.
If you have a need, call us. You will find compassionate people who are well-qualified to handle any incident. We are available 24/7/365.

Call 1-800-909-2939.

By Don M. McNulty

Crime Scene Cleanup

The Importance of Professional Trauma Scene Cleanup Services and Exploring the Risks of DYI

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  • Beyond Cleaning: Full Remediation Services – Crime Scene Cleaners does more than just surface cleaning; we specialize in controlled demolition, biohazard removal, and full remediation to ensure no trace of contamination remains.
  • Expertise & Safety in Every Step – Our technicians are highly trained in OSHA standards, biohazard containment, and structural remediation to safely restore affected areas while minimizing risks.
  • Call Professionals, Not Friends & Family – In the aftermath of a traumatic event, relying on experts ensures thorough decontamination and prevents further emotional distress—Call 1-800-909-2939 for professional support.

We’ve been cleaning up after our dead since Cane and Abel. But it wasn’t until 1993 that the first company began as a dedicated service to the community. At first it was a dedicated service born from a janitorial company that received many calls for help from people mainly for cleanup services mainly for suicides. Research for these types of companies within the city the janitorial company was operating, they found no one that would be able to help.

Further research could not find any companies in the United States dedicated to this work.

What he did find the victims of traumatic death were left to beg, borrow, or steal anyone they could press into service. Usually, those were friends, friends of friends, or more distant relatives. If those contacts couldn’t be found willing, then the family members had to perform the cleanup themselves. Even if they found someone not connected to the immediate family to help — most only did what we call the gross removal. There was still plenty of work left for the family to do to finish the job. 

One can only imagine the toll on the family involved in this cleanup and restoration of the structure.

Over the years I’ve been able to interview family members who had to do their own cleaning and restoration and I would always walk away with a sense of sadness about what they went through.

At first the original company was born from a profit motive. But it wasn’t long before the owner realized — as most company owners now have found — this is a community service to help hurting families and not just a job to be done.

Unlike the helpful folks who tried to help families if they could, this industry had to develop procedures and protocols to make sure the work was complete, leaving no trace of the incident to further traumatize the loved ones. 

We found early on most of the work is covered by property insurance that covered not only the remediation and cleaning of the incident but the restoration of the damaged area(s). 

Nothing in the world dealing with human trauma is inexpensive and it can be a hardship for some to cover the whole cost of cleanup and restoration. 

Most people believe that these crime and trauma death scene cleaning (CTS) companies just clean. It was unfortunate that the beginning companies had the term cleaning attached to the name. Hence the misunderstanding of what work is really performed. 

Blood and bodily fluids move mush like water damage. But much of the work isn’t connected to cleaning. Most of the time I describe it as controlled demolition. Usually, carpet and pad need removal, as it cannot be cleaned. Carpet is a wick. When liquid hits the top the carpet fiber begins to wick the liquid down into the carpet. 

Once it hits the primary backing it wicks laterally and spreads out. Many times, this spreading can’t be seen from the top. But I’ve seen a spot on the top of the carpet that appears to be no larger than a dinner plate, whereas underneath there’s a pool of blood and bodily fluids four or more feet in diameter. In most of those cases the blood has traveled on to the subfloor or many times a hardwood floor then down to the subfloor.

Now the technicians will have to remove the affected carpet and pad and place it in a biohazard container. Then they set up containments to create and negative air chamber of the room and using saws cutting and removing the hardwood flooring. One some occasions they even remove subflooring so they can remediate floor joist. 

If this area has an apartment or another level under this primary floor, they will investigate to make sure the contamination hasn’t proceeded down to the lower levels.

At times there are surfaces that make it difficult to see the blood and bodily fluids on the surface. We’ve discovered we could use an inexpensive blood indicator that will show exactly where the blood or any bodily fluid containing blood serum is so we can find every small spec of contamination.

CTS companies may use different methods to clean and remediate walls and ceilings, but the result is usually the same. All traces of contamination are wholly removed. 

If the area of concern incorporates concrete substrates in the early days this was a problem but over time the industry developed products and utilized them so we can remove the blood staining in concrete and many other substrates that were problematic in the beginning.

Movies can be very entertaining, but they are not reality. In one movie called the Cleaner with Samuel L. Jackson as the leading star in the opening scene he called to clean a white sofa covered in blood. Lo and behold he returns it to its former beauty, a pristine white sofa.

Like I said, it’s not reality. Those pieces of upholstered furniture will be slashed and trashed, with the contaminated areas placed in a biohazard container. 

There are occasions where the contamination is very slight and on the surface of an upholstered piece, on occasion the technicians may be able to recover such a piece for the family. Antiques, art, and jewelry are handled differently. As is anything else that holds real or perceived value to the family. Even though the family may be reeling with grief — the industry standard dictates all things that may be recognized to hold some intrinsic value will be set aside until a determination can be made by the responsible person. 

Our technicians are trained in many things to do this work properly and keep themselves and everyone else who comes into the work site safe.

Because our technicians come into contact daily with Bloodborne Pathogens and other Infectious materials they are trained in various OSHA Standards such as.

The Bloodborne Pathogen Rule 1910.1030

      Subsets
        Biohazard containment
        Proper biohazard Disposal
        Epidemiology (how disease Transfers
        Sharps
        Proper cleaning and disinfection techniques
Personal Protective Equipment 1910.132
The Respiratory Rule 1910.134
The Hazardous Material Right-to-Know Rule 1910.1200
Fall Protection 1926.500

Plus, several others such as, General Safety and Health, Work surfaces, Care and handling of Tools, Ladders and Scaffolds, Hearing Protection, etc. 

How to properly dismantle and remove flooring of every type.


American Architecture Standards for building and construction materials and substrates for residential and commercial construction.
Placing proper containment and creating Negative air chambers to minimize cross contamination.
Proper removal techniques of biohazards from the structure.

Dealing with the bereaved and handling stressful situations.

Of course, there are a hundred other things to know that come from experience in the field. 

This article has given you the basis of a professional Crime and Trauma Scene Cleanup Company. Don’t try to handle these incidents on your own. Turning to a professional in these situations is really the best thing to do.

If you find yourself or someone close to you dealing with a traumatic loss, please give us a call at 1-800-909-2939 or contact us through this website.

By Don M. McNulty

PTSD word cloud

I’ve heard about PTSD — But What is Moral Injury?

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  • We Handle Insurance for You – Crime Scene Cleaners works directly with insurance providers to ease the financial burden, allowing families to focus on healing rather than paperwork.
  • The Weight of Unseen Pain – Like physical pain, trauma can consume a person’s focus, making it difficult to see beyond their suffering and recognize available support.
  • 26 Years of Trusted Service – With over two decades of experience, we have provided professional, compassionate, and thorough cleanup services to help families in their most difficult moments.

As a Bio-technician in the Crime and Trauma Scene Industry, I suffered from PTSD like many first responders and those in the medical field. I thought if I studied everything I could to understand my condition, I would affect a better recovery and help me manage it. Unfortunately, I believe one never heals from PTSD, but we learn to manage it into remission.

While attending a Chaplaincy Conference here in Missouri, we had a quick session on Moral Injury. I had never encountered that term in my research, so it got my attention. However, as I spoke with others who have continued to suffer for years from PTSD, they had never heard of the term. Knowing those who continue to suffer from PTSD made me wonder how I learned to place mine into remission, and they hadn’t been able to get to any higher level of healing. Until now, I concluded that most of those I spoke to were active in combat, where I’d never been.

So today, with this writing, I’m presenting perhaps another avenue for victims of this disorder to seek more information to reach a healing place.

PTSD word cloud

What is Moral Injury?

“Moral injury can occur when someone engages in, fails to prevent, or witnesses acts that conflict with their values or beliefs. Examples of events that may lead to moral injury include:

  • Having to make decisions that affect the survival of others or where all options will lead to a negative outcome
  • Doing something that goes against your beliefs (referred to as an act of commission)
  • Failing to do something in line with your beliefs (referred to as an act of omission)
  • Witnessing or learning about such an act
  • Experiencing betrayal by trusted others.”

The National Center for PTSD provides the above definition of Moral Injury.

Moral injury and PTSD are very different but have similarities, often causing confusion between the two disorders. PTSD is a mental health condition caused by exposure to a traumatic event. This event can be anything from combat to sexual assault. On the other hand, moral injury results from one violating their moral code, which could be as simple as lying to someone you love or as serious as committing a war crime or violating a religious-based moral code.

Moral injury can be incredibly damaging, leading to guilt, shame, and self-loathing. These feelings can be perplexing and hard to cope with, often leading to substance abuse and suicide. PTSD, while also incredibly damaging, is more focused on the symptoms caused by the traumatic event itself. These symptoms can include flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts.

People with these disorders may avoid discussing or taking part in activities that remind them of the traumatic event, such as Group Therapy. People with Moral Injury may also feel like they can’t talk about it because they feel intense shame. Both victims feel no one will understand what they’re going through.

The symptoms of moral injury and post-traumatic stress disorder can be relieved with different treatments. For those suffering from PTSD, treatment should focus on relieving the physical effects caused by traumatic events, like therapy or medication. For people who have experienced a more profound hurt, such as an act of morality offense, this may take longer because they need to come to terms first before moving forward into talking about what happened, which is an often-difficult process.

Understanding the differences between moral injury and PTSD is vital to get the right help for yourself or someone you love.
If you think you may suffer from moral injury rather than PTSD, please seek help immediately and have that discussion with a qualified professional.

Why have I not heard of Moral Injury?

Moral Injury is a term that has been gaining traction in recent years to describe the unique damage caused by war and other traumatic experiences, as stated above. Jonathan Shay, a doctor who has worked extensively with veterans, coined the term in his book “Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.”

PTSD is a well-known and well-studied condition caused by exposure to traumatic events. Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance characterize PTSD. However, there are many symptoms, and no two people experience PTSD in precisely the same way.
We treat PTSD and moral injuries in different ways. Treatment for moral injury should focus on helping the person come to terms with what they have done. Therapy can be a long and challenging process, but it is necessary to move on.

The significant difference between PTSD and Moral Injury

PTSD is a registered mental health condition we treat with therapy and medication. It results from seeing a traumatic event outside of ourselves.

Currently, the Medical Psychiatric Community does not consider Moral Injury a mental health condition. Moral injury results from someone committing an act that violates their inner morality. However, there is growing evidence we should treat Moral Injury as its own category of trauma.

If you or someone you know is struggling with Moral Injury, you can take steps to get help. You can find resources at the websites for Veterans Affairs in the U.S. and Canada if they were part of the military, and others can find help with The National Center of PTSD.

Both PTSD and Moral Injury involve therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy or exposure therapy. However, treating Moral Injury also often involves soul-searching, reflection on the event, and its impact on your life.

Have you known people suffering who won’t get help?

I’ve heard about PTSD — But What is Moral Injury?

Both disorders frequently will cause their victims not to seek the help they need. They mistakenly believe if they try harder, they can learn to manage its effects, which rarely works.

Knowing this is an emotional and psychological problem they are experiencing, they also erroneously believe there is a stigma from society attached, and it would follow them throughout the rest of their lives. They are so focused on the pain that everything else is black.

I liken it to a person who slams a hammer down on their finger; all that matters now is the pain. I could place a dancing bear before them, and they would not realize it. Why? Because their entire focus is on the pain they are feeling, and nothing else matters.

I’ll close with a YouTube video showing a person’s awareness when focused on a task. You can find it at the following link.

https://youtu.be/KB_lTKZm1Ts

Crime Scene Cleaners, LLC endeavors to bring you relevant information to help you deal with the stresses of life and work. We serve the States of Missouri and Kansas, if there is anything we can help anyone in your community please contact us at 1-800-808-7642 or www.crimescenecleanerskc.com

I’ve heard about PTSD — But What is Moral Injury?
-By Don M. McNulty

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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE HIRED AS A CRIME OR DEATH SCENE CLEANER

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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE HIRED AS A CRIME OR DEATH SCENE CLEANER

Owning or Managing a Crime and Trauma Scene Cleanup (CTS) Company is an exciting line of work; it takes a unique person to work in this industry. However, I’m not sure exciting is the correct word to explain your feelings as you are called to a scene. Perhaps in the beginning — like any other job — the first few could cause excitement, as most would define the word. Still, the word stimulation might fit better as the weeks, months, and years pass.

Almost every traumatic death scene has a mystique because the public doesn’t see these scenes often, nor do they want to. As we approach the job site, the technician’s adrenalin runs high as you speculate about what you’ll see, hear, and touch.

When a position for a new technician becomes available, we will receive inquiries from three different varieties of candidates.

Hazmat Cleaning Crime Scene CleanersThe following might Surprise You.

The first will be the thrill seeker who has a macabre curiosity about the work and the scenes. Once they have fulfilled their curiosity, they’re on to other adventures. But unfortunately, we find their sense of privacy isn’t what it should be as they want to brag about what they’ve seen and done.

Another type of person is a medical worker of sorts. It might be anyone from a nurse, CNA, EMT, or hospital environmental worker. The medical worker may or may not be the correct candidate for the job because we would look for added skill-sets like the following.

The last classification is someone who has construction experience. Again, the skills we’re after do not mean a professional contractor per se, but someone who has a basic knowledge of built structures and the skill-sets of working with the tools a contractor would use.

Since we are working in a biohazard environment with human blood and tissue deposits strewn around a room (s), or some microbial contamination, most people think that medical experience is an essential skill to have. Although your assumption wouldn’t be wrong, medical education and how to keep yourself safe in a biohazard area are the easiest parts to teach. It’s easier because we’re not taking personal care of human beings as they would within the medical setting.

Bio Cleaning Services of America was the first company dedicated to this work in the early days. The owner couldn’t think of an appropriate name, but when the victim’s families regularly called for help, they would say, we need help to clean this up. Thus, the word cleaning stuck in the name of what we do.
There is one last point I want you to consider. I usually ask, why do you want to be a Bio Technician? Quite a few candidates will tell me they want to help people and believe they can do the work because they watch True Crime and various horror movies. But, of course, none of that makes them sick. But they are speaking only to the visual. On a job site, all the senses are active — the emotional, visual, auditory, touch, and smell. So, if potent odors make you feel sick to your stomach, you’re probably the wrong candidate.

Looking at Examples of Our Work

We do indeed clean many items if possible. Still, cleaning is often impossible, so we deconstruct and rebuild those affected areas.

We describe our work as like an onion. We peel back the first layer to see if the damage went further. If it has, we remove the next layer until we find the damage’s end. For example, the damage may cause us to remove flooring and sub-flooring. Likewise, we will remove the ceiling if there is a room with a ceiling below. Next, we examine and determine damage on the floor joists and whether we will have to remove contaminated material from those structures.

Blood moves similarly to water. If there is a large pool of blood, it will often move sideways until it can seep through below, and it only needs a crack the width of a piece of copy paper. For example, the blood may travel under walls to an adjacent room or closet space. In these cases, we are removing sheetrock or plaster wall material. Removing the sill plate may become necessary if it bears contamination. If the contaminate runs under the sill plate area under the standing wall studs, we need to know if that wall is a load-bearing wall. If so, other work must be completed to shore up the load-bearing wall before we remove any load-bearing structure.

Having building construction knowledge lets the technician know how deep they will set the skill saw or how to know if there are electrical wires or plumbing inside a wall cavity near their work area. Those utilities travel differently in a commercial-built building than in a residential structure. So, the hardest part of us to teach would be the construction skills and basic knowledge. Everything else we can teach easily.

Other aspects of the work we teach our technicians.

Most of the regulations guiding our work are from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The three principal regulations are,

  • Bloodborne Pathogen Rule 1910.1030,
  • Respiratory Rule 1910.134,
  • Right to Know Rule for Hazardous Materials 1910.1200.
  • However, several other OSHA regulations guide our work. If you want to look at those, go to the OSHA.gov website.
  • Those regulations are,
  • Scaffolds and ladders.
  • Care and Use of Tools,
  • Electrical Safety,
  • Work Surfaces,
  • Fall Protection,
  • Confined Space, and the

Wet Bulb Global Temperature Guideline — for working safely under extreme weather.
Heat exhaustion is a big problem for crime scene bio technicians since they often work in level 3 PPE, which means no exposed skin. I once had a young lady keep asking me to hire her. She had these qualifications. During my interview with her in her office, she mentioned being heat sensitive. I expressed my concern and asked for a favor. She also mentioned she worked out four nights a week. I gave her a bio coverall we wore and asked her to work out in the coverall for 30 minutes. If she could do that, I would hire her. I never heard from her until the day we were called back to the apartment building she managed. She gestured for me to come into her office when she saw me.

I guess you’re wondering why I never called you back.

I replied, no, ma’am, I figured you didn’t pass the endurance test.

She said excitedly; she could only work out for 10 minutes, stopped for the entire evening, and went home.

We also train our technicians in epidemiology — the study of how diseases transfer to humans, how to prevent contamination of the bio technician, and how to prevent cross-contamination to other areas of the structure. Suppose you read other articles on this subject — you may read the other writers calling the technician — a Forensic Technician. A Bio Technician and a Forensic Technician are semantics that carry the same meaning.
The growing knowledge base obtained by the Bio Technician includes Lead Abatement Certification and Asbestos Regulations. Every Bio Technician should have their Lead Abatement Certification, but few Crime Scene Clean Up Companies perform Asbestos Abatement. However, knowing when asbestos may be part of the scene is necessary. A testing company is called to test the structure for asbestos contamination. Indeed, some states require asbestos testing before any work is done.

Now you know why a CTS Bio Technician needs the skill-sets of a construction worker.

Trauma-based work is not all we perform. The other work we do is sewage removal, pigeon contamination, hoarder houses, bat guano, disinfection services, vehicles of every sort, and deodorization — just about any remediation that others will not perform.

Bio-Technicians need the temperament of a social worker or minister when dealing with the family, a high sense of morality, and honesty. Those are the qualities of the person we seek. This work is never “just a job.” Even if the job would start that way in someone’s mind, it soon changes after they understand how their work positively impacts the families and communities we serve.

If you have questions regarding our blog posts, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Also, let us know if you have any
suggestions on what you would like to see discussed in our blog format. Contact me by email at dmm@kcfcr.com. I’ll be
happy to entertain any suggestion.

-By Don M. McNulty

Toilet Plumes — Do Bioaerosols Represent a Danger to Your Health?

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  • We Handle Insurance for You – Crime Scene Cleaners works directly with insurance providers to ease the financial burden, allowing families to focus on healing rather than paperwork.
  • Professional Cleaning You Can Trust – Our expert team follows strict industry protocols to ensure thorough biohazard removal, decontamination, and restoration, leaving no trace behind.
  • 26 Years of Trusted Service – With over two decades of experience, we have provided professional, compassionate, and thorough cleanup services to help families in their most difficult moments.

Toilet Plumes — Do Bioaerosols Represent a Danger to Your Health?

Toilet plumes or the spray coming up out of the toilet have been a concern to many people. Although, I don’t think I heard of the concern per se until I was well into adulthood.

I found by testing there is a plume. I have used my particulate counter to measure the number of particles during a flush cycle. The numbers at my home range in the thousands of particles. Measuring the plume in a public restroom with a commercial style toilet the counts run into the tens of thousands of particles.

According to research the number of particles depends on the style of the toilet and the amount of water pressure used to flush, and if the toilet lid is closed before the flush.

According to one such study I found on WebMD to support my own findings with details is curated here below.

Aerosolized Droplets’ Hang in the Air After Toilet Flush

FROM THE WEBMD ARCHIVES

By Cara Murez

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) — If you’re in a public restroom, you may not want to hang around too long, because lots of airborne pathogens are hanging around, too.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science conducted flush tests in a public restroom with both a toilet and a urinal.

“After about three hours of tests involving more than 100 flushes, we found a substantial increase in the measured aerosol levels … with the total number of droplets generated in each flushing test ranging up to the tens of thousands,” said study co-author Siddhartha Verma. He is an assistant professor of ocean and mechanical engineering at the university.

Pathogens that can cause Ebola, norovirus and even COVID-19 can be found in stagnant water, as well as in urine, feces, and vomit. According to the research team, flushing can generate large amounts of airborne germs, depending on flushing power, toilet design and water pressure.

For the study, the researchers placed a particle counter at various heights of the toilet and urinal to capture the size and number of droplets generated by flushing. They did the same with a covered toilet. (Few public restrooms in the United States have lids, and urinals are not covered.)

Droplets were detected at heights of up to 5 feet for 20 seconds or longer after initiating a flush, the findings showed.
The investigators detected fewer droplets when the lid was closed before flushing, but the number wasn’t much less. This suggests that aerosol droplets escaped through small gaps between the cover and the seat.

Verma noted that both the toilet and urinal generated large quantities of droplets under 3 micrometers in size, posing a significant transmission risk if they contain infectious microorganisms.

“Due to their small size, these droplets can remain suspended for a long time,” Verma explained in a university news release.
The researchers reported a 69.5% increase in measured levels of particles between 0.3 and 0.5 micrometers in size; a 209% increase for particles sized 0.5 to 1 micrometer; and a 50% increase for particles between 1 and 3 micrometers.

According to study co-author Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, “The significant accumulation of flush-generated aerosolized droplets over time suggests that the ventilation system was not effective in removing them from the enclosed space even though there was no perceptible lack of airflow within the restroom.” Lashaki is an assistant professor of civil, environmental and geomatics engineering.

“Over the long-term, these aerosols could rise up with updrafts created by the ventilation system or by people moving around in the restroom,” he explained.

Even larger aerosols can add risk, the study authors noted.

Co-author Manhar Dhanak, chairman of ocean and mechanical engineering, pointed out that the study suggests that “incorporation of adequate ventilation in the design and operation of public spaces would help prevent aerosol accumulation in high-occupancy areas such as public restrooms.”

The restroom was deep cleaned and closed 24 hours before conducting the experiments, and the ventilation system was operating normally.

The report was published recently in the journal Physics of Fluids.

Stella Batalama is dean of engineering and computer science at the college. She concluded that “aerosolized droplets play a central role in the transmission of various infectious diseases including COVID-19, and this latest research by our team of scientists provides additional evidence to support the risk of infection transmission in confined and poorly ventilated spaces.”
More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19.

SOURCE: Florida Atlantic University, news release, April 20, 2021

-By Don M. McNulty

Suicide and Its Warning Signs of Risk

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Suicide is such a dirty word to most people; they won’t even utter the word. But, the other day, an acquaintance of mine here in Kansas City, let me know that his son decided to check out of this world earlier this year. Like most people I know, when they receive news such as this, they say how sorry they are for the loss and quickly change the subject because it is very uncomfortable to have a conversation.

It’s just one of the reasons we have survivor support groups. No one wants to talk about it because they don’t understand it. Frankly, I doubt I could find experts who study in this field of psychology who would say they fully understand it.

When I first met my friend well over a year ago and learned of my work, we had a long conversation about my work in trauma and death scene remediation — what most people call Crime and Trauma Scene Cleanup — including suicide.

During this meeting a year later, he acknowledged that as he was going through this with his family, he turned his thoughts to our previous conversation and drew strength on some of what we discussed that day.

One of the biggest lessons I learned over the years is not struggling to comprehend

why someone would commit suicide?

Imagine if you had a chance to speak with those who commit suicide, they might tell you why they did this to themselves. Then, being a loving relative, friend, or concerned individual, every excuse they may present to you as the driving force behind that act, you would be able to counter it with a way out or an answer to the problem. The trouble is that most of these victims won’t hear you, and they won’t or can’t hear you because they are too focused on their perceived pain.

In my class, I show a video on YouTube called “An Awareness Test,” using basketball players passing a basketball between each player wear white —the audience is instructed to count how many passes occurred. So, the audience focuses on the task and comes up with the correct answer. Then the voice-over answers the initial question and adds, “but did you see the moon-walking bear?” Next, they fast rewind the video and play it forward in slow-motion. Indeed, there is a Moon-walking bear who strolls through the players on the video, and my audience is always astounded.

Then I tell my students why many times, no one pays attention to the logic you might present. They are too focused on the pain to hear what is being said to them.

Think back to a time when you slammed your fingers in a door or hit your thumb with a hammer. You probably danced around the room, otherwise known as writhing in pain, cussing, or yelling; you have not focused on anything else but the point of physical pain. But, honestly, I could put a Moon-walking bear strolling through the room, and you wouldn’t even know it.

I’ll give one more example. A middle-aged wife and mother came home to find her husband had committed suicide in their bedroom while she was away grocery shopping. According to her friend at the home when I arrived, she had no inkling those thoughts ever came to his mind. To say she was devastated would be an understatement. When I arrived with my crew, all this poor woman could do was cry. There were only a few moments of silence between her sobbing as she tried to catch her breath. It was one of the most challenging meetings I have been through in my career. She was so hurt she really wasn’t present to what was going on around her. Fast-forward about nine months later, and while I was out shopping, she and her friend came up to me. Her friend introduced me to this wife, explaining that I was the one who came to the residence that day to clean up the bedroom.

Now, why am I telling you this story? Although this woman thanked me for being there in her time of need, she has zero recollection of that day or the following two weeks after — her friend added and several more weeks, her memory is sketchy at best. My point being — mental pain and anguish can override any sanity or logic you would expect an individual to have.

It would be best if you recognized in this whole situation — Suicide is an irrational act, and you and I are trying to understand it with a rational mind. However, a rational mind cannot understand an irrational act.

Those of us who can grasp this concept find mental relief while processing our grief and moving forward.

As stated above, there is an entire industry built around trying to understand suicide fully, its causation, warning signs, and hopefully, one day, finding the elusive magic that would prevent and solve the issue. I doubt it exists, but one can dream of it.

The following is curated from the American Association of Suicidology. You can locate them at suicidology.org
If you need help or know someone who does, you can call 1-800-356-5395 to get in touch with counselors 24/7.

Here are the Warning Signs of Acute Suicide Risk

The following are not always communicated directly or outwardly:

-Threatening to hurt or kill themselves, or talking of wanting to hurt or kill themselves; or
– Looking for ways to kill themselves by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means; or
– Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide, when their actions are out of the ordinary.

Additional Warning Signs:

  • Increased substance (alcohol or drug) use
  • No reason for living; no sense of purpose in life
  • Anxiety, agitation, unable to sleep or sleeping all the time
  • Feeling trapped — like there’s no way out
  • Hopelessness
  • Withdrawal from friends, family, and society
  • Rage, uncontrol anger, seeking revenge
  • Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking
  • Dramatic mood changes
  • Giving away prized possessions or seeking long-term care for pets

Crime Scene Cleaners Kansas City coverage area includes the States of Missouri and Kansas. Although others may see this article outside our coverage area, I will only provide the rate of Suicides. The information below is based on the latest information compiled by the US Federal Government and Prepared by Christopher W. Drapeau, Ph.D., and John L. McIntosh, Ph.D. for AAS, and covers the years up to 2019 and 2020. All rates are stated as Suicides Deaths per 100,000 in population. Please note that these figures include the entire State. Therefore, when investigating a small, more rural area, the number may be skewed and inappropriate for those areas.

The Overall National Suicide Rate is 14.5/100,000. This number represents 47,511 per year.

Missouri Suicide Rate is 18.6/100,000 — representing 1,141 deaths per year — and ranks 15th in the nation.

Kansas Suicide Rate is 18.0/100,000 — representing 523 deaths per year — and ranks 18th in the nation.

For the complete list, Facts and Statistics – American Association of Suicidology

Crime Scene Cleaners of Kansas City www.crimescenecleanerskc.com is a company that helps families and businesses by remediating traumatic death scenes and also offers services for Hoarding Houses, Unsaniatary Dwellings, and Infection control services.

If anyone you know needs our services in Missouri or Kansas, we stand ready to help restore the structure. We service residential, apartments, commercial, industrial, and construction industries 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

“No One Should Be Victimized Twice” – The Motto We Live By

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Many years ago now, people didn’t have companies who specialized in Trauma Remediation of structures. Families were left to beg, borrow, or steal anyone they could get to help clean up from suicide, homicide, or an unattended death scene. It didn’t matter to the families then who came out to help, they just couldn’t find it within themselves to enter those scenes and do what seemed an impossible task, as it would be for any of us.

That’s why companies like Crime Scene Cleaners KC exist. To provide a trained but detached resource who is properly trained, and yet has the compassion to give of themselves, in helping families and businesses recover from these losses. We called it bio-cleaning, bioremediation, bio-recovery, crime and trauma scene clean up, even forensic restoration but, what it really means to those who are in need of the service, is compassionate help.

I can’t image what it would take to walk into a room where my loved one died in traumatic ways and have the strength and fortitude to start and finish the task at hand and I’ve been doing this work for over 25 years. In the early days, as I look back through my mind’s eye and memories the work we did was so elementary to how we perform today. The processes have evolved, the chemicals have changed and this has now grown into a fulltime career for many people.

But the mission has ALWAYS been a constant.
“No One Should Be Victimized Twice.”

When our company grew large enough to start hiring and training technicians we found we have to hire certain kinds of people. This work is not for everyone. First of all they have to be mentally stable. Another is they have to show they have a servants heart, as we put it, someone who wants to serve people and help families who are hurting. Not all people who apply for this work can meet that criterion. Some who apply are folks who want to be involved in sensationalized work; they want to see a real crime scene up close and personal. Some people apply who want to satisfy some macabre itch; they want to see real blood and gore. Most of those we are able to weed out of our hiring process but what aren’t as easy is the “empathetic” person. You see there is a fine line between Sympathetic and Empathetic or Sympathy to Empathy.

A sympathetic person can show compassion for others going through stressful horrid times in their lives. They do this by sharing feelings of pity and compassion, but they are able to carry on their work in behalf of the hurting individual or family members. Whereby, an empathetic person is one who transfers someone’s feeling and emotion onto themselves; this state of mind cripples  that person’s ability to do the work as needed.

Here’s an example we’ve all seen. Picture a women is in heavy labor having a baby. She cries out in pain and her body writhes with pain. In the movies the husband is not by her side coaching her through this hard time but rather shown crumpled in a corner of the room holding his own stomach and perhaps even crying out in pain. In the movies this is funny and they call it incorrectly “sympathy pains,” when in fact, by real definition it should be called empathy pains.

What kind of husband then provides help to his wife having that baby? The Sympathetic husband who can mentally understand his wife is hurting but that he can help through his coaching and hand-holding or the Empathetic husband who is completely useless crumpled in the corner focusing totally on himself and his own supposed pain. Does this make sense to you?

It’s important we hire people who have a servant’s heart with the great capacity of being sympathetic as it is for us to reject the empathetic applicant. It is just as important to the empathetic applicant we reject them, as it is for them to find the right type of job. The reason being…an empathetic technician can end up with PTSD after months of struggling to get
through their work and this serves no one. If hired the empathetic technician would end up being hurt through the work. We’ve seen what PTSD can do to people over the years, many of the homeless veterans suffering from PTSD because it prevents them from properly engaging their loved ones and society in general.

So, through our hiring practices, we are also living up to our motto, “No one should be victimized
twice.”

BY DON M. MCNULTY © COPYRIGHT 2019

Not Too Late To Get Vaccinated This Flu Season

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Stay Healthy This Flu Season: Get Vaccinated!

Flu season is here, and by now, you’ve likely heard public safety announcements encouraging everyone to get their flu vaccinations. Hopefully, you’ve already received yours. If not, don’t delay—your health depends on it.

A few years ago, I learned this the hard way. My busy schedule kept me from prioritizing my flu shot. I tried to get vaccinated once, but the pharmacy had run out of doses, and I never found the time to return. I thought I had dodged the flu bullet when January rolled around, but soon after, I felt a cold coming on—and it turned into something much worse.

The flu is no ordinary cold. Many people mistake one for the other, but if you truly catch the flu, you’ll know the difference. I was so ill that I was bedridden for a week, unable to work or manage my responsibilities. It was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life and a mistake I’ll never repeat.

Why You Should Get Vaccinated:

  1. Reduced Symptoms and Duration: While no vaccine is 100% effective, if you do contract the flu after vaccination, your symptoms are likely to be less severe and resolve more quickly.
  2. Decreased Risk of Severe Illness: Vaccination can significantly lower the chances of developing complications from the flu, such as pneumonia or hospitalization.
  3. Community Protection: Vaccines help protect vulnerable populations, including the elderly, children, and those with weakened immune systems.
  4. Cost Savings for Businesses: Research shows that vaccinated employees take fewer sick days, which benefits both businesses and families.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu vaccinations prevented an estimated 7.5 million illnesses and 6,300 deaths in the U.S. during the 2019-2020 flu season. This data underscores the vaccine’s critical role in reducing the flu’s impact. (Source: CDC, 2023)

At Crime Scene Cleaners of Kansas City, LLC, we know the importance of maintaining a safe and sanitary environment. If your home or workplace has been affected by a flu outbreak, call us at 1-800-909-2939 for professional cleaning and disinfection services.

Don’t let the flu catch you off guard. Get vaccinated today—it could save your life.

 

By Don M. McNulty, MBT AT- OSHA, MTC ©COPYRIGHT 2018