BUSINESS IS CLEANING UP AFTER FAMILY TRAGEDY, WOMAN FORMS FIRM TO SANITIZE SCENES

By Linda Trischitta

When Joan Dougherty's relative died at home, she did the only thing she could think of: rolled up her sleeves and cleaned his house. The experience was physically and emotionally exhausting for Dougherty, who was working as a hairstylist at the time.
"When I asked law enforcement who could help us, and this was in the early 1980s, there was nobody," said Dougherty, 64. Seeing a need, she formed her own company in a growing field: crime scene cleanup.

"I know what it's like to be in that situation," she said. "I've been there."
Name a South Florida disaster and Dougherty's 12-year-old Margate company, AA Trauma Cleaning Service, has been there, too. With five employees, she's on call around the clock, starting at $125 an hour. Her clients often are reimbursed by insurance.When the American Media Inc. building in Boca Raton was contaminated with anthrax in 2001, her company evaluated conditions inside and cranes lifted her employees to work on rooftop air- conditioning units.

When two planes crashed over the Boca Grove Plantation community in 2000, she got the call. AA Trauma also has handled norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships. More typical than the headline-grabbing cases are the hurricanes that bring mold growth or flooding to overwhelmed homeowners; suicides in motels, or elderly hoarders who lose control of their property. "I once took at least 1,000 bottles from a kitchen," she said. "It was a sad situation."

She has attended numerous courses in topics such as sewage back flow and is licensed to transport biomedical waste. "The dead body, pre-embalming, is a biohazard," said Dougherty, who tackles a scene after a corpse is removed. She takes care not to disturb the possessions of the deceased. "There's no such thing as closure," she said. "With the belongings, that was part of that loved one's life, and that's what the survivors are holding on to."

Dougherty is the go-to gal for a lot of folks in the business who encounter unique situations. Ron Gospodarski of Bio-Recovery Corp. in New York tapped her to help clean up anthrax at ABC-TV headquarters. "I consult with her on things that we don't have here," he said. "For instance, cops may use tear gas in Florida. We don't use it that often in New York. She will go out of her way to help you solve your issue." He said he admires her stamina. "It's hard work and I give her a lot of credit. The physical side of it, it's really unpleasant, some of the most gut-wrenching odors you've ever smelled in your life," Gospodarski said.

To keep odors at bay, Dougherty typically wears a respirator, removes the smelly source from the scene and, after cleaning up, sprays a suppression product that grabs odor molecules.
John O'Malley, the Palm Beach County Health Department director of environmental health and engineering, called Dougherty for the AMI job. "She had to provide a health and safety plan that was approved by a lot of agencies and it was a unique situation; we were flying by the seat of our pants," he said. "They were qualified to handle that."

One dark Friday night found her helping Michael Spindell, biomedical waste coordinator for the Broward County Health Department, retrieve test tubes filled with fluids that were illegally dumped in a canal. "We had to retrieve them all, 20 or so," she said. "That was tough because it was nighttime and there are alligators. We were at the edge on the slope, with our feet in the water." "She was extremely knowledgeable in manner and expertise and is well thought of in the industry," said Spindell, who has seen Dougherty lecture to biomedical waste coordinators upstate.

"What you are not seeing is what you should be concerned with," Dougherty said of what clients may have to cope with. "You have to capture blood and outflow that can migrate. It can get trapped under a seal plate [that supports wall studs] or wick up into base molding and drywall."
Kent Berg, founder of the 12-year-old American Bio-Recovery Association, estimates the industry is 25 percent female-owned, with 600 to 700 companies in the United States. The industry is expanding in Florida because of the growing population, crime and a large elderly segment.

Berg said there are no federal standards for the industry. "There is a disturbing number of untrained and uncertified companies that we hear about through attorneys and attorney general offices and insurance company complaints," said Berg. "We're appalled by the lack of quality of their work and the exorbitant prices they are charging." He said it's not unheard of to have a kitchen cleaned up, a family return home and have blood spurt up from between the floor tiles. "In this kind of work it's all about the details and protection from biohazards, and we're not seeing that in some places."

Linda Trischitta can be reached at ljtrischitta@sun- sentinel.com or 954-356-4233.