Lack of Refrigeration/Health Issue/Funeral Homes (PB, Florida)

[doxieone]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/local_news/epaper/2005/10/31/s1b_dead_1031.html

Monday, October 31, 2005

ROYAL PALM BEACH — If you think it's hard keeping milk, medicines or meats refrigerated without power, try keeping 20 dead bodies on ice.

The Palm Beach County Health Department reported Sunday that it had received numerous complaints from funeral homes and crematories that were not able to keep cadavers cool without electricity, nearly a week after Hurricane Wilma pounded the state and downed power lines.


Without power, funeral homes and crematories cannot run embalming machines, cremate bodies or run their huge refrigerators to prevent bodies from rotting and, eventually, spreading disease. And although some homes have generators to power lights and other equipment, they're not able to run massive refrigeration systems in them.


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[Pepper32]

1. Disgraceful... Can you imagine the stench?

Way to go Jeb! :eyes:

[uppityperson]

4. yes.

and I can still smell it. Thanks bushes.

[cyberpj]

2. What about all that ice for NOLA that wasn't delivered but sent to Maine?

And other places for storage?

[sui generis]

3. dead bodies do not spread disease unless they died of disease

nonetheless, ripe corpses are not something anyone wants to be around.

In countries where access to refrigeration is non-existant, bodies are generally in the ground within 24 hours for the same reasons.

Mortuary is yet another aspect of emergency management that both FEMA and locals just don't plan adequately for, and this is where it gets you.

[anotherdrew]

5. they can't afford to put in emergency generators? of course they can

I suppose now we'll hear that no one in Florida could have anticipated that this could happen. After all, power-lines never fail do they.

This is why you regulate things. Every one of these places should have been required to have an emergency generator and storage for 3 or more days of fuel, on-site.

The funeral business in this country has been consolidating for a decade, surely there's money to have done this, even without regulation? Of course NOT, the profit has to be maximized and if they don;t HAVE to do something, they won't do it.