LANSING, Mich. — The state of Michigan announced this week that they've activated the Mortuary Response Team, a program designed to give families and funeral homes peace-of-mind when dealing with the loss of a loved one to the coronavirus.
"We've seen a surge in unexpected deaths, families who are in self-quarantine and can't react for 14 days, and crematories overwhelmed," said MI-MORT Commander Tim Schramm.
This is the first time in the program's ten year history that it's been activated.
Schramm says they've been meeting every month.
"We created a number of potential operational plans as the situation continued to develop from 'it looks like something's happening to 'something's happening,'" Schramm said.
The group of volunteers is made of medical examiners, chaplains and funeral directors; it helps struggling funeral homes and medical facilities that have more human remains than they're used to.
It's important for the response team to be available to ensure everyone involved is safe.
"With any infectious disease, there's an inherent public risk with human remains," said Schramm. "Funeral directors are educated and trained in how to handle those decedents appropriately."
The team takes human remains until funeral homes can help families make plans.
Schramm says their number one priority is to provide comfort and reassurance for grieving families.
"We can ensure families that we have a private, safe, and secure facility where their loved one will be cared for in a passionate, careful, and dignified manner."
Health care facilities and funeral homes can request assistance from the mortuary response team by going through the local medical examiner or emergency management.
From there, the team will figure out how to take care of those human remains based on the family's needs.
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