PEORIA Already on a long and difficult road, David and Julia Hoffman recently found their situation more dire with the addition of COVID-19.
Julia, 59, was diagnosed with kidney failure in September 2019. Living in the Toulon Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, she was getting better and was poised to come home. Then she tested positive for COVID-19 on Thanksgiving.
Today she is on a ventilator at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center fighting COVID-linked pneumonia, and her husband of 14 years cannot speak with her. He gets updates from the staff there every day, but in the meantime he sits in his Peoria home and waits. Sometimes he writes, posting updates on his Facebook page to his 876 followers. On Dec. 3, he wrote this:
PEORIA It s possible Peoria County could activate an emergency refrigerated cooler to cope with its morgues coming close to capacity.
If such a move happened, Coroner Jamie Harwood, it s not done out of desperation but rather, out of his desire to be prepared and proactive. It s currently stored in Bartonville, he said.
The trailer, which looks like one hauled by a semi tractor, would be parked an undisclosed location. The purpose of the unit would be to preserve the dignity of people who have passed away. It could make that decision in a day or in an hour. It really depends upon what the volume is at the time, the coroner said. I want to make sure that everyone s loved one are cared for with the ultimate dignity. And as such, I might make the decision sooner rather than later so that people are treated well.