Good Neighbor Podcast: Orange County

Compassionate Cleanup: How Bio-One of South OC Serves the Community

• Rachel Fyffe & Armand Amoranto

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What happens when science meets compassion in the challenging world of biohazard cleanup? Meet Armand, a high school physics and chemistry teacher who, alongside his wife Michele, runs Bio-One of South OC - a specialized cleanup service handling everything from blood scenes to hoarding situations throughout Orange County.

During our conversation, Armand reveals the surprising intersection of education, faith, and biohazard remediation that defines his unique business. "We're just the kind of company that's just like your neighbor," he explains, describing their "help first, business second" philosophy that sometimes means educating clients on how to safely handle situations themselves - even when it costs them business. This refreshing honesty extends to every aspect of their operation, from free consultations to the emotional support they provide during traumatic circumstances.

The services Bio-One offers extend far beyond what most people realize, covering blood cleanup, rodent dropping removal, drug residue remediation, and compassionate assistance for hoarding situations. Particularly noteworthy is their approach to discretion when working with hotels and resorts, using specialized zipper walls to shield operations from public view while ensuring spaces return to pristine condition. Their technicians bring not just technical expertise but genuine care, sometimes spending hours simply listening to clients processing difficult events.

Armand's story demonstrates how unexpected career paths can emerge from core values and a desire to serve others. Whether you're facing an emergency situation or simply curious about this essential yet often overlooked industry, this episode offers valuable insights into the science, compassion, and practical realities of biohazard cleanup. Check out Bio-One of South OC at BioOneSouthOC.com and discover how they're bringing neighborly care to life's most challenging messes.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, rachel Fyfe. Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Now are you in need of having some biohazard materials removed or cleaned up? Well, you know, I have a resource for you that might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, armand, with BioOne of South OC. Again, that's BioOne of South OC, armand. How is it going?

Speaker 2:

I'm great. How are you doing, Rachel?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing good. I'm doing good'm doing good.

Speaker 2:

So you know we're really excited to learn about your business, so tell us about your company so, as you mentioned, yeah, we definitely take care of biohazard cleanups in the home or even in a business area, um, so some of the things that that might include would be cleaning up blood or any kind of scenes that have blood. That also includes scenes that may have feces and urine, sometimes even just vomit, in which you're a little concerned about. We also do deal with like rodent dropping. So you know, after strong rainy season, if you have like a storage unit or a garage that rodents get into and you're a little queasy about cleaning it up, we definitely can come in there and take care of it, no matter how much material you actually have in the garage as well, to clean as well.

Speaker 2:

So we take care of that. And then one of the other things that we specialize in is also hoarding cleanups. Sometimes hoardings cleanups are actually really clean and there's not a lot of biohazards in there. We will help you with that as well. But sometimes it's not so clean.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes there's mold in there, Sometimes there's, you know, rodent droppings for sure, or even animal feces and urine, and if you ever need that kind of help, that's something we definitely take care of as well. Wonderful, I'm curious. How did you get into?

Speaker 2:

this business. Well, my wife and I are, you know, we've always been just educators. So I actually teach high school physics, chemistry and mathematics, so I love the science aspect of what we do. But the other part of that's really important to us is, you know, that really drew us to Bio One, because it's a franchise, it's 130 of us actually nationwide and it's the help first business.

Speaker 2:

Second motto you know we're parishioners actually at a local Catholic church and we just, you know, we just love giving and just giving back to the community.

Speaker 2:

And so, whether that's sometimes, you know, teaching at church or, in our case, teaching at schools, you know we're, we just just a big part of us is just using that care and compassion that you know grew out of our faith to really help people in times of trouble. You know, when you think about blood scenes, there's something tragic that probably happened, and so we come in there with a lot of care and compassion to make sure that you know we take care of you, not only the cleaning part, but sometimes emotionally as well. You know, with the hoarders, for instance, you know they're definitely there's some issues with them wanting to hold on to things, and so when we come in. You know we don't try to force things, we don't try to just walk in there and just try to get rid of everything, but we just help you sit down, sort through things. You know decide what do you want to keep, what do you want to throw away, what do you want to donate? And you know work.

Speaker 1:

That's really wonderful. Now, what are some maybe myths or misconceptions, do you think in your industry?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think you know, I think some of the misconceptions are that you can't do the job yourself as a person and that you need to call a professional all the time. And I'll just tell you like the CDC gives very clear guidelines on how to take care of it yourself, how to dispose of things yourself as well. You know, obviously we're run in the industry by specific guidelines that, as a business, that we have to abide by, and so that's because of those rules and regulations things are a little bit more expensive.

Speaker 2:

We can't just throw things in the trash so we have to take it to a biohazard location you know, and you know, when it comes to even, like you know, drug cleanup cause we actually do drug cleanup as well Um, you know, can you do that? Maybe not that one, particularly especially if there's, like fentanyl, known to be in the in the actual space, you might wind up putting yourself in danger, Um, but there are ways that, uh, you know, at least in our industry, that you know we don't like to push people, Like, if people want to try and do it themselves, we'll teach them how to be safe. I know that means sometimes we lose money, but ultimately we're there to help. And so you know, we're just, we're just the kind of company that you know, we just like you say like, we're just like your neighbor.

Speaker 1:

And sometimes neighbors just help by just giving you some good advice on how to take care of things. Wonderful, you know, we know marketing is really the heart of every business. So how are you targeting your customers or attracting?

Speaker 2:

them. Well, you know, we definitely try to put ourselves in front of cities and because you know they have at least some areas have more homeless encampment issues than others, we try to work with cities with that. Unfortunately, there have been some, you know, tragic events that happen on the streets where blood is all over the streets. We just did a job recently actually down in Carlsbad, or just an unfortunate situation with a driver hitting a bicyclist and it was pretty bad and you know we took care of that. And so we work with cities, for sure. We also work with people who kind of sometimes show up on scenes to help out families in a time when those situations are actually occurring, and sometimes we get referrals from them. One of them is actually down in San Diego, tip, san Diego. We have a good relationship with them and then, last but not least, marketing wise.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes you just have to walk up to another business that might refer work to you. So like a pest control company, and sometimes we just knock on their doors, go to apartment communities and just talk to people about what we do, educate them and then, if they want to work with us, great. If they don't, we understand that as well. Last but not least, like, even like resorts and hotels you know, we're very good about being very discreet. We want to make sure that if we're working on the scene, we'll put up a zipper wall so nobody can see behind them and then that way, when we're cleaning, everything looks like it's just something that's happening in the bathroom and when we're done, the walls come down, everything's clean, everything's back to normal.

Speaker 1:

Wow Now. Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

Speaker 2:

You know I do have a YouTube channel and so I've done some videos in the past. I've not really done a podcast. You know, one of my challenges I'm not going to lie to you is that I teach full time as a teacher at a high school and I'm trying to run a business. So you know, if the time ever comes, where this business is actually doing what it?

Speaker 2:

should be doing. Maybe I can walk away from the teaching aspect, although I do love my teaching and working with the kids. It's really about where God's calling me If a podcast is the calling, then the podcast is the calling but right now. I think I'll leave that up to you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, well, okay, outside of work. Now, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 2:

You know a lot of time I spend is actually just serving in the community, so you know, whether it's most of the time it's a church.

Speaker 2:

I play the guitar and I sing. I used to play a lot of tennis, but my body's kind of worn down a little bit. You know, I'm past 50 now, so, and then I've carried a little bit more pounds, so that's a little bit more challenging. Then the other thing is just spending time with family, whether it's hanging out with my brothers watching football games or doing Thanksgiving and Christmas, or hanging out with my wife's family and making sure. And then, ultimately, I'd love to visit with my mom, but she's all the way in the Philippines and that's a little bit more challenging, for sure.

Speaker 1:

But family time is really important. I bet, I bet Wonderful. So, armand, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Bio, one of South OC.

Speaker 2:

I mean, the biggest thing for us is that you know you're going to contact someone who, number one, has a friendly voice. When you contact us on the phone and then know that we're going to be coming to help you with a lot of care and compassion. Sometimes the care and compassion is pretty simple, because it's just something easy to clean. Sometimes the care and compassion means like we're talking to you on the phone for 45 minutes to an hour just because you need somebody to listen to. And then other times, you know, we actually go on site, we give free estimates and again, sometimes those estimates only take five minutes, sometimes they take another hour or two. And you know, we just we spend the time with the people and that's what we do. We really just make just we spend the time with the people and that's what we do.

Speaker 1:

We really just make sure we spend the time we educate and our and our and our technicians are just top notch.

Speaker 2:

They just really they represent who we are as people. Meaning Michelle and myself, meaning caring with a lot of care and compassion.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful. How can our listeners learn more about Bio 1 of South OC?

Speaker 2:

So we definitely have a YouTube channel Right now, it's all. It's singular because we have two locations, one in Oceanside and one in South OC. So it'd be, you know, look us up at bio1oceansidecom, and then you could go on our Facebook channel as well. I mean Facebook page at Bio 1 SouthOC. And then, last but not least, you know, if they just want to just Google us and go on our webpages you know Bio1SouthOCcom you can learn a lot about the services that we provide as well as the kind of people that Michelle and I are Well, wonderful.

Speaker 1:

Well, Armand, I really appreciate you being on the show and we wish you and your business the very best moving forward. All right, Thank, Armand, I really appreciate you being on the show and we wish you and your business the very best moving forward.

Speaker 2:

All right. Thank you very much, Rachel. It was nice meeting you.

Speaker 1:

You as well. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnporangecountycom.