The HRMMST can be incorporated into existing mass fatality plans to assist medical examiners and local law enforcement agencies in processing human remains in reponse to a mass fatality incident. The HRMMST is capable of providing a public trust work force of physicians, physician extenders, law enforcement officers, paramedics and EMT’s, durable medical equipment, consumable medical supplies, and logistics support equipment that can assist the Chief Medical Examiner to create the infrastructure needed to process a large number of human remains, both contaminated and non-contaminated.
The HRMMST, with guidance from the Chief Medical Examiner, is can provide human remains and personal effects tracking at an incident morgue. The HRMMST is can also assist morgue personnel with document management and assist with human remains accountability and tracking. HRMMST personnel HRMMST can assist with the progress and movement of remains through morgue stations.
HRMMST personnel are trained to operate in Class 2 Ensemble PPE to provide for support work in rotating shifts. Additionally, the HRMMST can provide decontamination equipment, water resistant triage tags to assist in remains tracking, remains pouches in various sizes and tents that will keep the remains from public view.
When incorporating the HRMMST into remains processing, some additional capabilities are:
• Recovery
– Able to perform remains recovery under Medical Examiner supervision
– Able to triage remains
– Able to establish and manage an Entry Control Point
• Holding Morgue
– Able to establish private area to perform evidence collection, identification check, etc.
– Able to collect samples for monitoring and detection of hazardous materials
– Able to establish an area and perform decontamination, and mitigate run-off from the decontamination operations
– Able to double bag remains
• Transportation and Storage
– Able to move remains to and from storage
– Assist in obtaining transportation resources
• Morgue Operations
– Able to perform detailed decontamination and monitoring of remains for hazardous materials
• Family Assistance Center
– Hotline/Helpline support
– Assist with information dissemination
– Assist establishing security for all aspects of morgue operations
