Behind the Scenes
Renovated Morgue Offers a Place to Say Goodbye
By Elissa Bass
It is a fact of life that people die. This year, Windham Hospital renovated its morgue to both modernize the facility and ensure that patient passings are treated with dignity and compassion.
Plans to renovate the morgue germinated three years ago but became urgent in late 2020 when the cooling system failed. Rather than installing a new one, a broader plan was put in place.
About 100 patients die each year at Windham, said Michael J. Davis, hospital senior director for operations. Sometimes, a body stays in the morgue a short time until funeral home transport arrives, but it can sometimes take a day or more. Occasionally, a body remains unclaimed and the hospital uses designated funds for a funeral home. A nursing supervisor oversees management of the deceased, and other departments are involved in maintaining the morgue itself.
The one-room facility included an autopsy station, unused since 2011, and a two-body drawer cooler. Removing the autopsy equipment and drawer cooler opened up the room, as did removing a wall to an adjacent, unused storage room. The morgue’s new cooler is a walk-in and can accommodate three rolling stretchers, making it safer for transport personnel.
Before renovations, loved ones of the deceased had to mourn in the hospital room or the morgue, neither of which was ideal, said Shawn Maynard, executive director of the Windham Hospital Foundation.
“Now we have a room adjacent to the morgue that provides families a private space to be with their loved one and pay their last respects until the funeral home arrives.”
Before renovations, loved ones of the deceased had to mourn in the hospital room or the morgue, neither of which was ideal, said Shawn Maynard, executive director of the Windham Hospital Foundation.
Chris Bibeau, Plant Operations and Maintenance Site Manager at Windham Hospital, in the “visitation room” where families can visit with their loved one in privacy.
Photo by Jeff Evans
“People of different faiths have different rituals they must perform at the time of death, and there was no place for privacy,” he explained. “Now we have a room adjacent to the morgue that provides families a private space to be with their loved one and pay their last respects until the funeral home arrives.”
Chaplain Mary Horan was charged with creating the family space. She based decisions on an experience she had six years ago when sitting with a young man whose parents were killed in a car crash.
His mother had been taken to Hartford Hospital and his father to Windham. On the recent anniversary of that day, the man left Horan a voicemail.
“He called to tell me he was grateful for the time he was allowed to have with his father on the most awful day of his life,” she said. “People remember. Having that time gives them what they need at that time.”
Horan designed the morgue gathering space, making and hanging curtains, adding pictures on the walls, lamps and comfortable seating.
“It can be so valuable for a family to be able to spend time with the deceased, especially if they are traveling from out of town,” she said. ”It’s our responsibility to take care of the bereaved as well as the body, to make sure they don’t feel rushed, that they feel respected.”