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There is a woman I know and she is a hoarder. No two ways about it; she is an absolute hoarder. I've known her for quite a while. We're not good friends but friendly enough.
Anyway, her apartment is a disaster. There is stuff everywhere! There are papers piled all the way to the ceiling. Her walk in closet is bursting with junk. There are papers and garbage all over the floors. She has dogs and doesn't walk them when she should and, as expected, there is dog poop and pee all over. She rarely cleans it up so the apartment reeks of animal waste. You can't even walk through her apartment except for a somewhat cleared section from the door to the livingroom. Once you're there, you definitely don't want to sit on anything (gross!).
Her kitchen is another disaster. The cabinets were so full of junk that they literally came off the wall. The sink is broken. The oven is also broken. I've never been in her bathroom but I can only imagine.
Her neighbors called the health department on her one time because of the smell coming from the apartment. The inspectors came and she got a court summons and had to pay a large fine. She STILL didn't get rid of anything! They also called animal cops on her but she acted like she was on her way out to walk them and the cops inspected the dogs in the hallway and since they looked fine, the cops didn't do anything.
I've offered to help her clean things up but she doesn't want to. She "needs" everything that's there (even the dog poop?) and refuses to throw away anything at all. I suggested she get a small storage unit to at least get the papers out but she panicked and said no because she might need one of the papers and needs to know where they all are.
She is in her late 60s and has no relatives in the area so there is no one to contact who may be able to talk to her. I've tried and it doesn't work.
What would you do? Would you leave her to wallow in her filth? Or would you call someone?
Call your local Health and Welfare and report that this senior citizen lives in a unhealthy situation. They will inspect and she will be ordered to do something by a certain date, or they will condemn the house and make her live elsewhere. You could call that show Hoarders or Hoarders:Buried Alive and they will bring people in to try to help her clean as well as give her counseling.
I'd call someone again. She can't live like this for very long or she very well may not make it to her 70's. Clearly this is a mental thing as well.
Can you talk to her landlord? It's also ridiculous how they won't do anything, especially in an apartment building. She's affecting other tenants as well at this point. There's got to be someone who will take action. I don't mean evict her but at least make her clean up and get help.
I'd like to see someone take a hard line approach with one of these people for once. Have a bunch of people come over with some rented dumpsters and clear out the place while they're away at work or something and just get it taken care of.
Hoarding is a mental illness. She needs help. I would call Adult Protective Services and report the condition she is living in. They'll take it from there.
I'd like to see someone take a hard line approach with one of these people for once. Have a bunch of people come over with some rented dumpsters and clear out the place while they're away at work or something and just get it taken care of.
That approach is counterproductive in many cases. However in this instance where her health and possibly life are at risk and the home inhabitable, a call to APS is warranted. Plus, someone who has professional experience with hoarding should always be there and counseling and aftercare provided.
I'd like to see someone take a hard line approach with one of these people for once. Have a bunch of people come over with some rented dumpsters and clear out the place while they're away at work or something and just get it taken care of.
From what I have gathered watching the "Hoarders" show...this sneaky clean up would send these people into deep depression (perhaps even suicidal) and leave them more isolated than before (they would stop talking to the family members who did this to them). Without councelling and cooperation with the hoarder, you would accomplish nothing. The hoarder would simply begin to refill the space with new "treasures".
This is a mental illness and needs to be treated as such.
There is a woman I know and she is a hoarder. No two ways about it; she is an absolute hoarder. I've known her for quite a while. We're not good friends but friendly enough.
Anyway, her apartment is a disaster. There is stuff everywhere! There are papers piled all the way to the ceiling. Her walk in closet is bursting with junk. There are papers and garbage all over the floors. She has dogs and doesn't walk them when she should and, as expected, there is dog poop and pee all over. She rarely cleans it up so the apartment reeks of animal waste. You can't even walk through her apartment except for a somewhat cleared section from the door to the livingroom. Once you're there, you definitely don't want to sit on anything (gross!).
Her kitchen is another disaster. The cabinets were so full of junk that they literally came off the wall. The sink is broken. The oven is also broken. I've never been in her bathroom but I can only imagine.
Her neighbors called the health department on her one time because of the smell coming from the apartment. The inspectors came and she got a court summons and had to pay a large fine. She STILL didn't get rid of anything! They also called animal cops on her but she acted like she was on her way out to walk them and the cops inspected the dogs in the hallway and since they looked fine, the cops didn't do anything.
I've offered to help her clean things up but she doesn't want to. She "needs" everything that's there (even the dog poop?) and refuses to throw away anything at all. I suggested she get a small storage unit to at least get the papers out but she panicked and said no because she might need one of the papers and needs to know where they all are.
She is in her late 60s and has no relatives in the area so there is no one to contact who may be able to talk to her. I've tried and it doesn't work.
What would you do? Would you leave her to wallow in her filth? Or would you call someone?
PLEASE call adult protective services ASAP! She may be mad at you for doing this, but you may just have a hand in saving her life. This house looks like a deathtrap waiting to happen. She could get sick from not only the toxic accumulation of animal waste, but what if there were a fire or other emergency? How would they get to her?
No one deserves to live like that and her animals also deserve a clean, safe place.
I'd like to see someone take a hard line approach with one of these people for once. Have a bunch of people come over with some rented dumpsters and clear out the place while they're away at work or something and just get it taken care of.
I'm with you. I know that's not the accepted delicate feel-good approach, but when I've watched them treating these people with kid gloves on the Hoarders TV show, "Now Selma, do you want to keep THIS dish or can we let it go?" while surrounded by piles and piles of CRAP that they're going to have to do this painful process with, I want to scream, "For God's sake, straightjacket the woman and let her scream it out while you bring in the heavy construction equipment!"
Maybe they would start accumulating stuff again, maybe not. But such "shock treatment" might be a good start toward healing. I think they should try it.
And I'd definitely watch that episode.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 04-30-2013 at 12:43 PM..
PLEASE call adult protective services ASAP! She may be mad at you for doing this, but you may just have a hand in saving her life. This house looks like a deathtrap waiting to happen. She could get sick from not only the toxic accumulation of animal waste, but what if there were a fire or other emergency? How would they get to her?
No one deserves to live like that and her animals also deserve a clean, safe place.
That's a very real possibility. There was a nutcase in the Village section of NYC a few years ago. He was trying to prevent work from being done in one of the area subway stations--they wanted to build an emergency exit because the old station only had one exit and he believed for some reason that the government was trying to conduct an anti-gay campaign because the station was in the vicinity of the bar that was one of the early sites of the gay-rights movement. He ended up dying in a fire in his apartment, which turned out to be full of newspapers and magazines and other junk, which fed the fire and prevented the firefighters from getting to him. In addition to his paranoid tendencies, he was a hoarder, too. Sad.
There are probably many such people living in their little worlds here and there who have alienated relatives and friends because of their illnesses.
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