Name: Coronavirus: Wisconsin National Guard assisting morgues with body removal
Brand: wisn.com
SKU: wisn-com-11
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Coronavirus: Wisconsin National Guard assisting morgues with body removal

preview

AdvertisementThe National Guard says their primary task is to "assist with the dignified removal and handling of decedents from their residence or on-scene, transportation, cleaning and decontamination."AdvertisementWisconsin National Guard assisting morgues with body removalThe National Guard says their primary task is to "assist with the dignified removal and handling of decedents from their residence or on-scene, transportation, cleaning and decontamination."The Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing Fatality Search and Recovery Team (FSRT) is now assisting medical examiners and morgues with body removal amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.Continuing Coverage: Coronavirus in WisconsinThe announcement was made Thursday morning in a release sent to WISN 12 News.They said their primary task is to "assist the medical examiner and coroner with the dignified removal and handling of decedents from their residence or on-scene, transportation, cleaning and decontamination."As part of the planning process, Master Sgt. Steven Ulrich, an FSRT member, took time off from his civilian position as a human resources specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate with state departments and outline the capabilities of the National Guard and its FSRT to best assist the mortuary needs of the state.“Every time you watch the death toll tragically rise from this disease that only tells a portion of our story," Master Sgt. Steven Ulrich Ulrich, an FSRT member said in a release. “A local coroner’s normal workload doesn’t stop just because there is a pandemic ravaging their community. There are still deaths of natural causes, and, sadly, many deaths of despair, which tax our country’s decedent management capacity.”Tech. Sgt. Samuel Keizer, explained in the release, that many counties, especially in the northern part of the state, have little to no morgue space and could be overwhelmed.“The biggest piece of the FSRT mission is to provide closure to families and loved ones after each event and to provide additional storage to counties where we are able to preserve the decedents,” Keizer said. “Once the pandemic is over, we can get them back to their families. This mission provides a huge amount of humanity at an otherwise dangerous time.”The team said it has provided more than 576 hours of assistance to the Dane County Medical Examiner’s office by providing the dignified removal of 47 decedents.“The difficult part is the unknown,” said Tech Sgt. Angela Krepline, in the release. “When my team arrives to a scene, they do not know what they are going into until they get there. Depending upon the scene and the needs of the decedent, it will dictate the proper procedures for the handling and removal of the remains and the correct PPE precautions.”To be part of this specialized team, the National Guard says these members spend approximately 300 hours of training each year to include multi-day exercises in the field to ensure preparedness in the wake of a stateside disaster. “Our job is to recover deceased individuals from disaster sites to be returned to their loved ones,” added Senior Airman Brandy Koehler in the release. “While we are trained in mortuary affairs in response to disasters, we had never been activated prior to this pandemic. This mission has been unique in that it is longer than most scenarios that we had trained for, and there’s an increased risk of biological hazard exposure to our team.”Sign up for coronavirus email alerts from WISNGet breaking news alerts with the WISN 12 app.Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTubeThe Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing Fatality Search and Recovery Team (FSRT) is now assisting medical examiners and morgues with body removal amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.AdvertisementThe announcement was made Thursday morning in a release sent to WISN 12 News.They said their primary task is to "assist the medical examiner and coroner with the dignified removal and handling of decedents from their residence or on-scene, transportation, cleaning and decontamination."As part of the planning process, Master Sgt. Steven Ulrich, an FSRT member, took time off from his civilian position as a human resources specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate with state departments and outline the capabilities of the National Guard and its FSRT to best assist the mortuary needs of the state.“Every time you watch the death toll tragically rise from this disease that only tells a portion of our story," Master Sgt. Steven Ulrich Ulrich, an FSRT member said in a release. “A local coroner’s normal workload doesn’t stop just because there is a pandemic ravaging their community. There are still deaths of natural causes, and, sadly, many deaths of despair, which tax our country’s decedent management capacity.”Tech. Sgt. Samuel Keizer, explained in the release, that many counties, especially in the northern part of the state, have little to no morgue space and could be overwhelmed.“The biggest piece of the FSRT mission is to provide closure to families and loved ones after each event and to provide additional storage to counties where we are able to preserve the decedents,” Keizer said. “Once the pandemic is over, we can get them back to their families. This mission provides a huge amount of humanity at an otherwise dangerous time.”The team said it has provided more than 576 hours of assistance to the Dane County Medical Examiner’s office by providing the dignified removal of 47 decedents.“The difficult part is the unknown,” said Tech Sgt. Angela Krepline, in the release. “When my team arrives to a scene, they do not know what they are going into until they get there. Depending upon the scene and the needs of the decedent, it will dictate the proper procedures for the handling and removal of the remains and the correct PPE precautions.”To be part of this specialized team, the National Guard says these members spend approximately 300 hours of training each year to include multi-day exercises in the field to ensure preparedness in the wake of a stateside disaster. “Our job is to recover deceased individuals from disaster sites to be returned to their loved ones,” added Senior Airman Brandy Koehler in the release. “While we are trained in mortuary affairs in response to disasters, we had never been activated prior to this pandemic. This mission has been unique in that it is longer than most scenarios that we had trained for, and there’s an increased risk of biological hazard exposure to our team.”Get breaking news alerts with the .Follow us: | | |Loading more articles...

AdvertisementThe National Guard says their primary task is to "assist with the dignified removal and handling of decedents from their residence or on-scene, transportation, cleaning and decontamination."AdvertisementWisconsin National Guard assisting morgues with body removalThe National Guard says their primary task is to "assist with the dignified removal and handling of decedents from their residence or on-scene, transportation, cleaning and decontamination."The Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing Fatality Search and Recovery Team (FSRT) is now assisting medical examiners...

Coronavirus: Wisconsin National Guard assisting morgues with body removal

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS