"Hoaders" Helps South Hill Resident

The A&E television show “Hoarders” removed 55,000 thousands pounds of garbage from a South Hill resident’s house in Bellingham. The show aired on A&E network on Jan. 23, 2012.

“Hoarders” protects the identity of the South Hill resident by giving her a nickname on the show, Carrie. Her identity has been held in the interest of her privacy.

In the last three years, Carrie, has been living without heat or water, and trash was not regularly taken out. Without water, her plumbing did not work.

Her neighbors reported a strange smell to the City of Bellingham

On Oct. 18, the health department deemed the house uninhabitable until the necessary repairs were made. The electrical and plumbing still need fixing.

“Hoarders” footage revealed the mess inside Carrie’s house—piles of garbage in every room knee to waist high

“Hoarders” brought Dr. Melva Green, a board certified psychiatrist specializing in obsessive-compulsive disorders and hoarding behaviors from Maryland, to help with the situation

When Green entered the house for the first time, Carrie instructed her not to breathe.  Carrie pushed on the door and told Green, “This is as far as it opens.”

American Psychiatric Association defines hoarding as  “persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of the value others may attribute to these possessions.”

The garbage blocked the door from opening and only allowed enough space for Carrie and Green to squeeze in.

The first words out of Green’s mouth was, “I already smell urine. So is that what is in these bottles?”

Many of her neighbors were not aware of what was happening inside the house, and few of her neighbors knew her. “Hoarders” helped her neighbors better understand the troubles in Carrie’s house.

Jan Resick lives three doors down from Carrie. She moved in about the same time Carrie did.

“I’ve felt sorry for her for the first 15 years,” Resick said referring to Carrie’s untidiness. “The last 10 years, I’ve been mostly annoyed.”

Carrie had trouble keeping the house clean and her daughter, Trish, said that she felt embarrassed growing up in the messy house on the show. She said on “Hoarders” that her classmates made fun of her on the bus to school.

“I would fill part of [the house], then live in a different part of the house,” Carrie said on the show. “It kept getting full, and I kept moving down, further and further in the house.”

Trish revealed on the show that she went to Child Protective Services at age 15. They told her that as long as she has a roof over her head and eating meals regularly, she should be thankful.

Carrie couldn’t be reached for an interview or comment.

Green inquired to how Carrie’s house got to the way it is. Carrie connected her hoarding to her history of abuse.

“I think I buried myself in garbage because I left like I’ve been discarded my whole life,” Carrie said on the show.

“I’ve been fighting that with religion and a lot of therapy,” Carrie said.

Carrie said her philosophical ideology is Buddhism.

“Hoarders” built Carrie a meditation room upstairs after all the garbage was cleared out. Resick said that she occasionally returns to her house to meditate.

“Hoarders” is providing Carrie with aftercare funds in addition to the meditation room. 

The show reported that Carrie is using her aftercare funds for house repairs and is continuing to work with a therapist.

Carrie can move back in once all necessary repairs and made, and the city has verified them.