JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new cooler to hold more bodies at the Northeast Florida regional morgue in Jacksonville arrived Tuesday morning.
The manufacturer, MOPEC, delivered the parts of the cooler, which is so big it has to be assembled piece by piece.
“We are ecstatic for having the cooler here,” said Tim Crutchfield, the director of operations at the regional Medical Examiner’s Office. “What it will do is almost double our capacity so we can better serve our population.”
The Medical Examiner’s Office said the cooler, which was purchased with part of $206,000 approved by the Jacksonville City Council to ease an overcrowding crisis at the morgue, will help, but it will not solve the problem long term.
The overcrowding issues have been caused in large part by the opioid crisis, officials said.
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