Mobile freezers used to store corpses speak volumes about senior supports, advocates say

The complex issue of an overcrowded morgue at a St. John's hospital can be fixed if government policy aligns itself with the rising cost of living, according to some seniors' advocates.

In March, CBC News re‐ ported 28 bodies were being stored in freezer units in an alleyway outside the Health Sciences Centre due to a lack of space left inside in the morgue - which doubles as the Office of the Chief Med‐ ical Examiner.

The overflow problem which has since been dis‐ closed in other jurisdictions, including Ontario - has been exacerbated because some bodies remain unclaimed, of‐ ten because the next of kin are unable to afford funeral services or because some se‐ niors don't have the savings available at the end of life to cover cremation or burial.

"At the end of your life when your income is about $1,600, there's not much you can do to save $4,000 or $6,000 to die in dignity and be buried," Mohamed Abdal‐ lah, executive director of the St. John's-based community help group Connections for Seniors, told CBC News in a recent interview.

The province's health au‐ thority - Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services and Health Minister Tom Os‐ borne told CBC News in March that a new storage fa‐ cility would be built. How‐ ever, the costs, timeline and location have not been dis‐ closed.

But simply building a bigger facility will not fix a problem that's leading to the overflow to begin with, said

Abdallah.

"That's not going to change without the change of policy and support for in‐ dividuals who need that kind of support," he said.

That means more money for seniors who are on a fix‐ ed income and are staring down the same rising cost of living as the current work‐ force. It also means a possi‐ ble policy change that will al‐ low community groups to in‐ tervene when a client dies.

Connections for Seniors is the next of kin for many of the seniors it works with, Ab‐ dallah said.

But the group's involve‐ ment with a client who dies ends with being notified by a phone call. The group cannot legally claim the body or han‐ dle funeral services. There‐ fore, the body ends up in long-term storage - the freezer units in the alleyway near bright green dumpsters and a loading dock.

"We have situations that seniors were in the hospital for a few months and we were getting phone calls back and forth, they were looking for someone to take over the burial process and expenses and there was nobody," said Abdallah.

"It is a big concern and I didn't think it was that big. That we have actual freezers outside of the hospital, I was appalled when I heard that."

Current assistance not enough

Families on income sup‐ port in Newfoundland and Labrador can apply for provincial government assis‐ tance to help pay for the fu‐ neral services of a family member. Those not on in‐ come support can apply for the same funding through a nine-page form assessed by

a burial unit team in Gander.

Eligible families can get up to $2,338 to help with crema‐ tion or burial costs, but that figure hasn't changed in nearly two decades.

Similarly, on the federal level, eligible family members can receive a one-time pay‐ ment through the Canada Pension Plan death benefit. That's payable to the estate or other eligible individuals, on behalf of a deceased CPP contributor.

It works out to be about $2,500, but those figures also haven't changed since 1998.

Adjusted for inflation, that would be nearly $4,400 to‐ day.

Jeff Weafer, president of the national advocacy group Funeral Service Association of Canada, wants that ad‐ dressed in the next federal budget - expected to be tabled Tuesday.

"We've tried to have a dia‐ logue with the federal gov‐ ernment for a number of years, simply advocating for those with less means in our country," Weafer said from his office in Regina.

"That number, the Canada pension death benefit, has been frozen in time for 25 years. It hasn't been index‐ ed."

Before 1998, the CPP death benefit was $3,500, said Weafer, noting that end of life fees today generally range between the lower end of $2,000 up to $12,000 de‐ pending on the range of ser‐ vices, which can rival the cost of wedding services.

Adding the CPP benefit and Newfoundland and Labrador's income support fund also might not work.

Weafer said the CPP bene‐ fit gets clawed back in some provinces if also using in‐ come support funding.

"The conversations the

Funeral Service Association of Canada has tried to have over the years with the feder‐ al government has fallen on deaf ears, really," he said.

"At the end of the day, and the reason why we're try‐ ing to shed light on it, is that seniors need support in our country. It's becoming more and more difficult to make ends meet."

In an emailed statement to CBC News federal Finance Department spokesperson Katherine Cuplinskas said the feds can't unilaterally imple‐ ment any changes to the CPP since it's a shared responsi‐ bility with provincial govern‐ ments.

A 2019 amendment made to the death benefit made everyone eligible for a flat rate of $2,500. Prior to that, the value of the death bene‐ fit was equal to six months of the calculated retirement pension of the person who died and was capped at $2,500.

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