Soon to be morgue arrives on campus.
When completed, it will be the first morgue in the region.
Hôpital Sacré Coeur has always had a morgue of sorts, but never one sufficient to the need. Indeed, this is the case with most hospitals in Haiti, where interment is the only practical, culturally acceptable option. But this is expensive and families often do not have the means to acquire crypt space and pay for other funeral related costs. And while there is a legal requirement that the deceased be claimed within six hours of death, this is often substantially delayed as a family struggles to come up with the funds to pay for a funeral and interment. Consequently, Hôpital Sacré Coeur needs a sanitary, secure space to hold deceased patients sometimes for as long as a week.
In 2013, Hôpital Sacré Coeur began making plans to build a new morgue. After some discussion, the decision was made to acquire an insulated 40ft shipping container and retrofit it with cooling compressors, insulated doors and infrastructure to accommodate 15 to 20 decedents. The single biggest expense for the new morgue was expected to be the cooling compressors. Reliable, well-made compressors of the kind needed for the morgue were estimated to cost more than $10,000 (US).
Several manufacturers were contacted, but only Polar King International of Ft. Wayne, Indiana responded. Dave Schenkel of Polar King wrote back within a few hours to offer to donate two compressors sufficient to keep the whole container at between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. Several days later, Mr. Schenkel shipped, at no cost to CRUDEM, the two compressors along with an insulated door to our freight forwarder in Hollywood, FL where this important donation was loaded on to the next container bound for Cap Haïtien.
The cost of a 40 foot insulated container was estimated at approximately $5,000 excluding shipping fees. Because funds for this purchase were not available, CRUDEM staff explored the possibility of obtaining a donated container. A single email to Reefer Services S.A. of the Dominican Republic did the trick.
Although they had no previous experience with Hôpital Sacré Coeur, David Elias, General Manager of Reefer Services responded to CRUDEM’s request for assistance and offered to donate a 40ft insulated container located just across the border from Haiti and in excellent shape.
The container is now at Hôpital Sacré Coeur’s General Services Annex, situated between the Generator House and the temporary Post-Surgical Care Unit (see diagram). The foundation was poured in late August and the container was lifted into place shortly thereafter. But only half the container will be needed for morgue space, the remaining half will be separated from the morgue by a sealed wall and used for cold-storage of hospital material.
CRUDEM is indebted to Dave Schenkel of Polar King International and David Elias of Reefer Services S.A. for their respective gifts to Hôpital Sacré Coeur. Without their support, the new morgue and cold storage facility would never have been possible. Indeed, CRUDEM is grateful to everyone at Polar King International and Reefer Services S.A. — two companies that have made a meaningful impact on our hospital.
