A&E Show to Shine Light on Hoarding in Oklahoma

Behind closed doors, many Oklahomans struggle with a form of obsessive – compulsive disorder known as “hoarding”, which is marked by a need to acquire and keep things, even if the items are worthless, hazardous or unsanitary. Those with this condition often live in homes in which countertops, tables, stairways and essentially every free space is stacked with things, with only narrow pathways leading from room to room. This inability to discard useless items has had a crippling effect on the lives of more than 3 million people in the United States who suffer from this disorder, and come Monday, one family from Edmond will be featured on the series premier of the Hoarders television program on the A&E cable network.

Democratic Leader Danny Morgan studied hoarding last year when he was approached by a constituent to look into the death of Kitty Lewis, an Oklahoma City woman who lived for years and died alone in a home that had been deemed uninhabitable by county officials. Terry Humphrey, the director of the city of Edmond ’s code enforcement division, contributed to the interim study and sought legislative action to add municipal employees to the list of mandated reporters to the Department of Human Services, as code enforcement officers are often the first to see deteriorating living conditions. Representative Morgan was able to include this language in House Bill 2999, which was signed by the Governor and will take effect in November.

Terry Humphrey also participated in the Hoarders documentary which will be featured on Labor Day, and he says he spent quite a bit of time discussing this issue from the code enforcement perspective.

“What we need to realize is that this is not just a problem occurring somewhere else, in another state, but it’s happening right here, in our small towns, in urban areas, in communities all across Oklahoma ,” said Humphrey. “Last year this same program featured a home in Muskogee , and soon will focus on a home in Edmond .  These are often last ditch efforts to save a person’s home from being condemned, to save them from losing their children, their spouses, their loved ones and animals. We need to become more educated and aware of this largely hidden phenomenon before it becomes deadly or causes a health risk to neighbors.”

This session Rep. Morgan of Prague successfully created a Vulnerable Adult Intervention Task Force via Senate Bill 1601. The task force will study how to best provide interdisciplinary community assistance, intervention, and referral services for persons with mental or physical illnesses or disabilities, dementia or other related disease or condition. Speaker Chris Benge has appointed Terry Humphrey to serve on this task force.

“I am proud of and appreciate Terry and all the other countless individuals who daily work with our most vulnerable citizens in order to help them reclaim their life,” said Rep. Morgan.

The Hoarders television program on the A&E cable network will debut with back-to-back premieres on Monday, September 6^th at 8:00 p.m. central standard time.