OPEN HOUSE for the newly renovated morgue will be held from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009. All the public is invited to attend to see the new updates to the morgue.

The dedication of White County’s first full-service morgue was held in 2002. The morgue building/office is located one block north of the county courthouse on Cherry Street. The office contains the full-service morgue and a conference room. Recent government grants have allowed the morgue to roughly double its size from a 15x25 building to a 30x50 building.

Inside are the office of the Coroner and staff. Inquests are conducted as needed, usually at the White County courthouse. The morgue and its five-body cooler was designed with three specific goals in mind. First, is to serve the needs of the residents of White County. Second, is to meet the needs of the future. And the third and most important is to accomplish all of this in the most cost-effective means possible.

Contained in the morgue is an isolation autopsy suite that is self-contained with access to the refrigeration unit. The new conference room will be utilized for families and meetings with police agencies and other pathologists. White County morgue does autopsies and storage for White and other counties as far away as Effingham and Alexander. A portable x-ray machine and body lifter have been newly added to the morgue.