Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.cantonrep.com/story/new...rk-coroners-office-record-numbers/9028561002/
Stark coroner enlists second cold-storage trailer as morgue contends with record caseload
Sam Zern
The Repository
Dec. 30, 2021
CANTON – A second cold-storage trailer is now parked outside the Stark County Coroner’s office, joining another already in place to help the morgue contend with more bodies than their current facility can handle.
The second trailer, borrowed from Columbiana County, will add an additional 20 spaces, on top of the first trailer’s 12 and the facility’s eight refrigerators and four freezers.
The first trailer arrives:Stark County morgue gets trailer after running out of space
“We've been able to work with the funeral homes to get a couple bodies moving, but they’re coming in as fast as we're able to release them,” Stark County Coroner Dr. Ron Rusnak said.
The caseload has spiked in the last month, and 2021 saw a record 670 cases in the morgue, outpacing the previous record-setting 649 in 2020 and the 535 in 2019.
“We've had a number of suicides here recently, between Thanksgiving and Christmastime and then the other thing is the number of people that are dying of COVID,” Rusnak said.
“And we still have had the overdoses because those haven’t stopped. I think it's a combination of the increased suicides around the holiday times, and then COVID probably has had the most impact on our volume lately.” ...
Stark coroner enlists second cold-storage trailer as morgue contends with record caseload
Sam Zern
The Repository
Dec. 30, 2021
CANTON – A second cold-storage trailer is now parked outside the Stark County Coroner’s office, joining another already in place to help the morgue contend with more bodies than their current facility can handle.
The second trailer, borrowed from Columbiana County, will add an additional 20 spaces, on top of the first trailer’s 12 and the facility’s eight refrigerators and four freezers.
The first trailer arrives:Stark County morgue gets trailer after running out of space
“We've been able to work with the funeral homes to get a couple bodies moving, but they’re coming in as fast as we're able to release them,” Stark County Coroner Dr. Ron Rusnak said.
The caseload has spiked in the last month, and 2021 saw a record 670 cases in the morgue, outpacing the previous record-setting 649 in 2020 and the 535 in 2019.
“We've had a number of suicides here recently, between Thanksgiving and Christmastime and then the other thing is the number of people that are dying of COVID,” Rusnak said.
“And we still have had the overdoses because those haven’t stopped. I think it's a combination of the increased suicides around the holiday times, and then COVID probably has had the most impact on our volume lately.” ...
