Coroner's office gets morgue
Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Bradford County Coroner Thomas M. Carman stands in the new coroner's office morgue in Troy.
TROY - The Bradford County Coroner's Office now has a morgue.
Located in Troy in the Western Alliance Emergency Services Inc. building on Canton Street, it's been in use since last year.
Bradford County Coroner Thomas M. Carman said it's the first-ever county morgue.
"In my mind, it was identified as a need for Bradford County," Carman said. "A need was identified based on the lack of refrigeration space in the county as well as a lack of a place to perform adequate external body processing."
Generally, external body processing was done at funeral homes before the morgue, he said.
Carman, who is also the chief executive officer of Western Alliance, said Western Alliance hosts the facility for no rent as a community service, so there's no tax dollars being spent.
According to Carman, the morgue includes an examination table, body transfer tables, a refrigeration unit capable of holding six bodies, the county's only evidence drying cabinet, storage for death records, evidence, and supplies, and a work space.
He explained that the evidence drying cabinet can be used to dry any evidence that is wet and needs to be dried in a secure, non-contaminated fashion.
Carman said the morgue is approximately 16 feet in width and 45 feet in length, not counting the refrigeration unit.
The coroner said the morgue is working out well, and makes body storage, office operation, examinations, and evidence storage easier. Agencies working with the coroner's office find it satisfactory, he said.
"The facility was constructed and the refrigeration unit was purchased using no tax dollars," Carman said. "Construction came by way of death certificate money from the state." He said these proceeds are non-tax dollars.
Carman said the death certificate money is generated from fees from people buying copies of death certificates from the state Department of Vital Records. The money comes back to the county where the person died.
He said construction and the refrigeration unit cost approximately $30,000.
The refrigeration unit was purchased through a networking relationship that the coroner's office has with Guthrie Healthcare System and Troy Community Hospital, he said.
In the event that someone dies at Troy Community Hospital and the individual consents and qualifies for tissue, eye, or bone donations, the body can be refrigerated at the morgue until the retrieval team comes from Rochester, N.Y. or Pittsburgh, he said.
Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; or email: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.
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