Morgue facilities and their staff play an important role in the safety and preservation of the deceased. It is crucial that coroners, medical examiners and morgue attendants are able to maintain quality standards, preventing decomposition and the spread of infections while the deceased are left in their care.

What happens when an unforeseen event occurs in which the handling and care of those bodies may be compromised? Overcapacity, power outages and renovations can have detrimental effects on the bodies in a morgue, and staff need to be prepared for the unexpected.

OVERCAPACITY

Over the past few years, morgues across the country have experienced overcapacity due to the opioid crisis. In 2016, the Manatee County Morgue in Florida ran out of space when a spike in drug overdoses occurred.1 The county was forced to store bodies at other facilities for two months. In another opioid-related event in 2017, a coroner’s office in Montgomery County, Ohio received 13 bodies in one day, 12 of which were overdoses.2

POWER OUTAGES AND EQUIPMENT FAILURE

Power outages and equipment failure can also affect being able to maintain standards. In 2009, a morgue in Oklahoma suffered a power outage due to a suspected lightning strike to a power line.3 In 2013, the Kane County Coroner’s Office and Morgue in Illinois had a freezer failure, which caused partial thawing of bodies under investigation.4

RENOVATIONS

Planned renovations are easier to manage, but what about unexpected ones? In 2014, shortly after the Kane County, Illinois freezer failed, the morgue discovered a new obstacle – mold.4 This called for major renovations, causing the morgue to shut down and for bodies to be moved to a neighboring county morgue.

No community is immune to unforeseen circumstances that may have an impact on morgue standards. Decisions need to be made – and fast, so the bodies can be taken care of properly, with no adverse effects. Is your morgue prepared for the unexpected?

BE PREPARED WITH A MOBILE MORGUE TRAILER

Hazmat Medical Associates Mobile Morgue Trailers from MED Alliance are designed to help with morgue complications. Trailers can be used to house bodies while a morgue is at overcapacity, experiencing a power outage or under renovations. Trailers can also be used to transport bodies to a neighboring morgue. With stainless steel body trays, morgue trailers are equipped with an electric generator and refrigerator, so coroners and medical examiners can be confident their standards, best practices and most importantly the bodies left in their care are not compromised.

Trailers can be rented or purchased. Rented trailers are 8’x8’x24’ pods with convenient folding racks and 24 body trays. Those available for purchase have folding racks, 20 body trays and a dual-axle trailer attached to the 8’x8’x16’ pod for transporting the pod to and from scenes.

Ensure your community morgue is prepared to handle overcapacity, power outages, equipment failure or renovations with a morgue trailer from MED Alliance.

To learn more about the Mobile Morgue Trailer, please email us or call 888-891-1200.

MED Alliance Group is an ISO 13485 certified medical device distributor with more than 350 years of combined medical device sales and distribution experience. Dedicated to meeting the needs of its clinical customers and manufacturing partners, MED Alliance offers cost-effective, customized sales, logistics, and distribution solutions for products found in anesthesia/respiratory, blood/transfusion therapy, EMS/emergency room, interventional radiology/cath lab, iv/vascular and NICU/PICU.

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References

1 https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article101122107.html

2 https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/05/23/ohio-coroner-space-opioid-deaths/

3 https://newsok.com/article/3397221/morgue-relies-on-generators-until-oklahoma-crews-restore-power

4 https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140929/news/140928181/