Logan County Coroner Mary Givens is looking for a place to put a three drawer cooler, which she will be applying for funds to purchase.

“I need a place to work out of,” said Givens, who has been using the cooler at Logan Memorial Hospital. Although the hospital has been very generous in allowing the coroner to use its cooler, there are only two drawers and the hospital has to use it as well. This poses a problem, says Givens, when there is more than two deaths that require her to store the bodies for a few days.

Givens was scheduled to meet with Scott County Coroner John Goble this past week at the Logan County Health Department to sign the grant application. Magistrate Thomas Bouldin spoke with Goble at a recent conference. Goble told Bouldin he knew of where there were grants that could pay for all of the equipment needed for a morgue.

If Givens is awarded the grant to pay for a cooler, she still has an issue of where to put it.

“I need a place that will be accessible to me 24-7. I also need a place that has running water and a concrete floor,” said Givens.

Judge/Executive Logan Chick is working with Givens on locating a place for her to work out of. He has contacted Russellville Mayor Mark Stratton and asked if he had anywhere to put a morgue. Chick said Stratton told him he would check, but has yet to here back from him.

When more than one person dies at a time in Logan County and extenuating circumstances require the bodies to be held for a few days, a morgue would come in handy to store them in, says Givens.

The coroner recently had a situation arise where she had more than one body she had to keep for a few days and nowhere to put them.

Most of the time when someone dies, their remains are sent to a funeral home for preparation. In some incidences, Givens says, she has to keep possession of them for a few days. One example is locating family that may live out of state and are hard to find. Another issue is the growing popularity of cremation and those who will not be taken to a funeral home.

“More and more people are being cremated these days due to the costs associated with burial,” said Givens, who has to wait on the family of the deceased before a decision can be made.