But to those working on the front lines, itâs so much more than just a statistic.
Jackie Korhut, of East Conemaugh, is a nurse at Indiana Regional Medical Center.
âItâs different when itâs someone you love, or someone you work so hard to take care of â only to watch them go to the other side,â she said.
âWeâre in here every single day doing whatever we can to save these people.â
She described a situation in December, when she held the hand of an elderly patient as he was dying, while his grandson had to wait outside. In another case, a COVID patient arrived just hours before passing, with his family never getting the chance to say goodbye.
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Pa. hospital brings in refrigerated trailer to serve as temporary morgue as needed
Updated Dec 30, 2020;
A temporary morgue set up recently at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown is not yet being used, but the officials in charge of Cambria County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic will begin using it if they run out of room to store bodies elsewhere, Cambria County Coroner Jeffrey Lees said Tuesday.
Lees shared some information about the refrigerated trailer unit during a press conference at his office in downtown Johnstown with Art Martynuska, Cambria County Emergency Management Agency coordinator, and Storm Nagle, Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center pre-hospital operations manager and emergency preparedness coordinator.
Johnstown Hospital Gets Temporary Morgue 10:25 pm
County officials say they hope they don’t need to use a portable morgue that was placed outside Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center last week.
They say they want to make it very clear the morgue has not been put to use yet, but it is out of an abundance of precaution because of the alarming rise in COVID -19 related deaths that the county has seen.
Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees held a press conference Tuesday morning where he confirmed there have been 243 COVID-19 related deaths in Cambria County.
Lees says 171 of those deaths occurred just within the month of December, making it the deadliest month the county has seen since the start of the pandemic.
Dec 30, 2020
Art Martynuska (center), Cambria County Department of Emergency Services deputy EMA director, addresses the county s response to the pandemic as a temporary morgue was placed outside Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center for overflow of COVID-19 related deaths. Jeffrey Lees (left), Cambria County coroner, and Storm Nagle (right), Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center pre-hospital operations manager and emergency preparedness coordinator, also participated in a press conference held Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, at the Central Park Complex in downtown Johnstown.By Thomas Slusser
A temporary morgue set up recently at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown is not yet being used, but the officials in charge of Cambria Countyâs response to the COVID-19 pandemic will begin using it if they run out of room to store bodies elsewhere, Cambria County Coroner Jeffrey Lees said Tuesday.