Health Hazards: Reasons to intervene

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Breathing the dust

This is a message that was posted on the Dr. Phil message board coinciding with a show he did about hoarding (2006).
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November 15, 2006, 2:23 pm PST

Hoarding to death

In June, my mother died. She was a hoarder and lived with me for 21 years. Her hoarding caused a great deal of difficulty in my marriage, as my husband grew very weary of the constant mess.

My husband and I finally asked my mother to leave as we tried for years to clean up her living environment. When we couldn't get a handle on it, we had to take the next step.

My mother was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis at the beginning of this year. And although that condition is not caused from an unclean environment, the allergy caused by the dust created an environment that became hazardous to my mother's health. My mother's "things" were so precious to her that she didn't want to leave them behind. As she shuffled her way through her stuff, preparing to move, her allergy to the dust increased.

My mother became very sick the beginning of June, and died from lung complications at the end of June. My family has mourned greatly for her loss.

As my daughters and I were left cleaning her environment, we all experienced breathing issues. Mine being the worst, sending me to the same pulmonologist that my mother went to. As I suffered and struggled to breathe, I wondered if my mother would have changed in order to save me from this heartache. I knew she didn't love her life more than her "stuff", but I wonder if she would have loved my life enough to change.

My mother died because her lungs were compromised by her disease, and she did not have a fair chance to fight the acute situation that was caused from her cleaning efforts. After her death, I had to struggle to heal, although my healthy lungs allowed me to overcome the dusty conditions

My mother had just turned 71 two weeks before she died. She died too young. It is difficult for my family to come to terms with the fact that my mother's stuff was important enough to her that she would die for it.

People do not realize that hoarding presents breathing problems for those who are exposed to such excess. Whether it is cats...or stuff. The dust, dirt and hair is excessive and lungs can only handle so much of all this.

My mother's pulmonologist says that breathing such dust is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. She also says that family members who are left cleaning up such mess will suffer breathing issues until the mess is gone.

My family cries over this. It is just plain sad.

Life is meant to have a degree of balance. And with hoarding...balance is absent.
-gymfriend

http://drphil.com/messageboard/topic/2001/11/

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Woman Suffocates Under Piles Of Clutter In Home

January 7, 2006
Local6.com News

A woman in Shelton, Wash., who was reported missing by her husband, was found dead under piles of clutter in their home, where she suffocated to death, according to police.

Authorities found the body of 62-year-old Marie Rose buried under clothes after 10 hours of searching. She reportedly suffered from a condition known as hoarding. Rose's husband believes she fell while looking for the phone in the house this week and suffocated. There were so many piles of items that the man did not realize she was dead in the home.

Shelton Police Chief Terry Davenport said the home was so cluttered that police officers' heads touched the ceiling as they climbed over the clutter.
And the home was so cluttered that police didn't see the woman until their second search of the home.

"This is without a doubt the most cluttered residence I've ever been to," Davenport told KIRO-TV.

It was estimated that several tons of debris remained piled up inside the house.

Authorities said Rose collected items for 15 years -- and because it went undetected -- it ultimately cost her life.

Hoarding is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder, according to the report.
http://www.local6.com/news/5917330/detail.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Boston Globe
9/17/07:
Man, 90, pulled from mountain of clutter
Junk accumulated for decades in home

http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-675-thread-0-0.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

See Fire Hazard News Articles Posted here:

http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/modules.php?name=News&file=categories&op=newindex&catid=4

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

A grisly find amid the trash
Police remove dead elderly man from LI home filled with debris where woman, 85, was rescued the day before...

BY BILL MASON AND ZACHARY R. DOWDY
bill.mason@newsday. com; zachary.dowdy@ newsday.com

April 14, 2007

The body of an elderly man was found Friday night in a refuse-filled
Woodmere home, less than 24 hours after his sister-in-law was rescued
there from under a pile of debris that she had apparently stacked to
the ceiling.

When the homeowner, Helen Bushwick, 85, was pulled out Thursday
evening, there was concern that her visiting brother-in-law, whose
name was not released by police, might also be somewhere in the
debris. But he was not initially discovered during that search, and
officials speculated that he had left and was possibly in New York City.

But Friday, after relatives told police he was still missing, Nassau
officers, aided by Suffolk police dogs, returned and discovered the
dead man.

"There was garbage, plastic bags, metal and wood - everything," said
Woodmere Fire Chief David DeSetta, who said his units responded to
the scene shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday after Nassau police -
contacted by Bushwick's relatives - called them for help in removing
the woman.

Firefighters smashed windows and ripped a hole through the front of
the building to reach Bushwick, whose legs were seen under the rubble
as she moaned. She was taken to Franklin Hospital Medical Center in
Valley Stream where she was being evaluated and treated for
dehydration, police said.

After Bushwick was removed from the house Thursday, KeySpan turned
off the gas, and the structure was boarded up and condemned by
Hempstead Town and the fire marshal.

DeSetta said it appeared the debris had collapsed on top of the
woman. He added that relatives told police that the brother-in-law
had visited the home in the past several days.

The same relatives told police on Thursday that they had not been
able to contact the woman. Police called firefighters, who broke in
when they realized she might be under debris.

The two-story, white shingled home on Carman Avenue had long been an
eyesore to neighbors on the block, where manicured lawns greet
visitors in an array of meticulously landscaped Colonials along the
tree-lined street.

The yard and driveway of the house were full of garbage that Bushwick
had apparently collected from her neighbors' trash. "Obviously, she's
a pack rat," said Sean O'Rourke, who lives a few doors down from the
home and who has lived on the block for a year. "I've seen her. She
usually walks around with a cart. Seems like a nice lady."

Mike Aronson, a 20-year resident who lives across the street from the
home, said he and his wife noticed their own garbage among the items
firefighters retrieved from the woman's home.

"She's eccentric," he said. "She pretty much kept to herself."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

http://tinyurl.com/3xw476

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

It's dangerous for animals, too. Especially all those plastic bags that are fun to play with and are in abundance:

http://www.mainecoons.org/h/baghazard.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Hoarders Are Often A Danger To Themselves
Housing Directors Address Problem
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
12/13/07

Ms. Steketee told the story of an elderly gentleman who lived near her home. His entire house was filled with all manner of things. One night, the house caught fire, and he died as firefighters tried in vain to reach him. During the fire, the rear walls of his house gave way and his myriad possessions spilled out into his backyard as if poured out of a box.

http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-744-thread-0-0.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Hoarding in the Vehicle

"All that junk adds weight, and that affects fuel economy, especially in town, with its stop-and-go driving," said Bruce Jones, professor of automotive engineering technology at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The heavier a car is, the more force or torque is needed to get it going again once it's stopped, he explained.
And, in turn, it takes more effort to stop a moving junk car. The brakes won't last as long.

Inefficient as it is, it's not illegal to drive a clutter-filled vehicle, according to Sgt. Don Marose of the Minnesota State Patrol - at least, until the mess is high enough to interfere with seeing out the windows.

More important, however, is safety. The stuff inside cars can become "weapons" in a crash , and not just in a roll-over or a serious collision. Hitting something at 30 miles per hour might stop your car, but it doesn't stop all the stuff inside from flying around. If anything strikes an occupant, it can severely injure and possibly kill them, Marose said.

In addition, when the airbag deploys, it comes out at about 200 miles per hour. Any object in its way is ejected at nearly the same speed, with the same consequences, he added.
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Read the whole story here:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-732-thread-0-0.html

Here are some visuals of it:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/garbagecar/pool/

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Man, 90, pulled from mountain of clutter, Junk accumulated for decades in home

It took paramedics more than 10 minutes to locate him amid the piles of furniture, boxes, magazines, appliances, and trash that he'd accumulated over several decades.

Read the story here:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-675-thread-0-0.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

BBC News

Man killed by rubbish was bin man

Gwyn Jones knew John Jones for more than 50 years
A man who died when rubbish he hoarded in his home is thought to have fallen on him, once worked as a council refuse collector, it has emerged.

Read Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/7107299.stm

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

From 2003-
New York Times:
Bronx Man Is Rescued From His Own Paper Prison ...

A Bronx man trapped for two days under an avalanche of newspapers, magazines and books was rescued by firefighters and neighbors yesterday in a small urban drama that recalled the macabre 1947 tale of the Collyer brothers.

Read the rest:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-636-thread-0-0.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Hoarding can endanger lives

A new study claims that hoarding can endanger lives.
Washington, July 02, 2007

"They have a hard time seeing the big picture. They don't see how a little decision, like keeping an old magazine because they haven't yet read it, can turn into a whole big mess. They have a hard time moving from the particular to the general,â€ Hart added.

Well-meaning family and friends may try to help by clearing all the clutter away from the hoarder's homeâ€”a temporary solution at best. Without mental health counselling, hoarders usually will go back to hoarding again.

Read the rest:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-616-thread-0-0.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

"Mountains of Trash' cause Auto Accident..."
Eyewitness News Fox/Providence

'Mountains of Trash' cause Cape crash WEST YARMOUTH, Mass.
It's not a cause usually found on accident reports. But police say a mountain of trash that piled up from top to bottom in a woman's car caused a small crash in West Yarmouth yesterday.

The woman lost control of her red Ford Focus while backing out of a parking spot at the West Yarmouth Post Office. The car jumped a sidewalk and struck another car. Officers responding to the scene say thousands of coffee cups, food bags and other articles of trash fell onto the car's accelerator. They say the car was filled in all seats, from top to bottom, with garbage. Officer John Dimitres says the woman suffers from a quote -- 'unusual and extreme hoarding' disorder.

http://tinyurl.com/2zsfds

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Man found trapped under debris in Centerport home
BY ANDREW STRICKLER
Newsday Staff Writer

December 10, 2006

A 64-year-old man who was trapped for days inside his decrepit Centerport house after hoarded junk collapsed on him was rescued by police yesterday.

Read the rest:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/article-339-thread-0-0.html

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Mother tried to save her kids
By Russ Krebs/Tribune Staff
Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008

Quotes from article:

Quote:

...Sloup said the conditions inside the home is making the
investigation difficult.

He said all of the rooms and hallways were filled with clothing and
other items, allowing a small path to walk. A ceiling also had
collapsed.

"They were faced with a challenge from the get go and they worked
through it," Sloup said of the firefighters.

As of the end of the day Monday, he hadn't come up with a preliminary
cause for the fire and had made it through just one room of the house.

Meyer said firefighters initially tried to get into the house, but
had to retreat and fight a defensive battle.

"The guys couldn't get in more than 10 feet," he said. "We had a
report of people trapped, but we couldn't make access. There was just
too much stuff in the house, too much fire."

Read the whole article here:
http://tinyurl.com/38x4tr

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Hoarding Could Take Fatal Turn, Firefighters Say http://www.firefightingnews.com/article.cfm?articleID=46111
March 4, 2008

COH & ACOA Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 2032 Location: Cabo

Collection of 'Collyer Mansion" conditions stories: firefighters blog
http://chargetheline.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-is-for-mansion-part-iii.html