Cleaning up is Purdy's business

By Darlene Schnittker
St Augustine Record

Combine the elements of two current television shows -- "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe and "CSI" -- and you have a pretty good description of Mark Purdy's job as a bio-recovery technician.

The focus of Purdy's job is to decontaminate and disinfect crime and trauma scenes. It is a dirty job, but, as anticipated, Purdy said, "Somebody has to do it."

"I feel as if I was called to do this," he said. "I thoroughly enjoy my job."

Purdy is available 24 hours a day. Most of his trauma calls are for suicide cleanup. After a crime or trauma occurs, detectives, EMTs, and evidence technicians perform their duties. A homeowner or business owner then contacts Purdy so he can provide the necessary clean up.

"I try to make it as convenient and discreet as possible for people," said Purdy.

For example, when he is called to a hotel for clean up after a trauma, he will wear regular clothing in the public areas of the hotel. He then enters the room, puts up the Do Not Disturb sign, then dons his hazardous material gear. This includes a disposable suit, a face mask and two pairs of gloves, which get taped to his sleeve to avoid contamination.

Purdy also wears a mask to avoid the smell. Sometimes he deals with bodies that are decomposing. A decomposing body swells and bacteria seep through the skin, leaking on to surfaces such as floors, mattresses, couches and walls.

Care must be taken to avoid bacteria and clean areas as much as possible.

Aside from the bodily fluids, the chemical used by the evidence technicians in fingerprinting the crime scene is extremely difficult to remove.

Purdy first takes pictures of the trauma scene and assesses the situation. He cleans from the worst area outward, decontaminating as he works. He uses enzymes to loosen up stain, a surfactant, a disinfectant and finally, a tuberculocide.

If liquid has pooled and has saturated the material, it will need to be removed, as it cannot be decontaminated. Purdy cuts material to fit in to a red hazardous material bag for disposal.

If a mattress has to be disposed, he cuts off the material, bags it, then decontaminates the metal springs and disposes of it.

Purdy will often use an ozone machine, which creates an 0 3 molecule, which, in turn, joins with an oxygen molecule to create a reaction that helps dissipate any odors.

"It makes the room smell like rain," said Purdy.

After the site has been cleaned and decontaminated, Purdy takes another set of pictures. Many times, according to Purdy, the homeowners are covered for this service under their insurance.

Purdy's work vehicle is set up to stage decontaminated materials for disposal. A portion of his truck is lined with Linix to transport the bio-hazardous material. He labels his truck while transporting this material to a state-approved facility where it will be incinerated.

Purdy decontaminates all of his equipment and truck and begins anew.

To become certified as a bio-recovery technician, Purdy attended a National Institute of Decontamination Specialists (NIDS) school in South Carolina. It is a hands-on training program that teaches students the proper techniques for bio-recovery clean-up, including what tools to use, which chemicals to use for specific situations and other safety issues.

On the last day of class, the owner of a slaughterhouse brings in pieces of cattle carcasses and the instructor sets up various scenarios in a makeshift house to enact trauma scenes. Students then role play and critique each other on the skills they have learned.

Mark Purdy of St. Johns BioRecovery may be reached 24 hours a day at 501-6412. His Web site is www.stjohnsbiorecovery.com.

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.