weekend, september 16-18, 2011 can't afford to bury...

WEEK 2 ,4:In Atlanta, .the dramabeginsSunday, Michael Vickreturns to the househe left in upheaval, lC

NewslineWEEKEND, SEPTEMBER 16-18, 2011

By H. Darr Belser, USA TODAY

Accepting medal inthe name of fallenMarine Dakota Meyer saved 36 livesduring a firefight with the Taliban, 3A

Many struggling families:can't afford to bury deadRise in indigent burials,

-cremations sign of hardship

.By Cooper Allen

.USATODAY

· . The struggling economy has leftmany.families across the nation unable to af-

. fordburials,· As funeral costs rise and the economy· continues to founder, many communi-ties are seeing a rise in unclaimed bodies.andfunerals for indigent people.. . The trend has been seen "every-

'. where," says Jacqueline Byers, director ofresearch and outreach for the NationalAssociation of Counties._ "The reality is, it's gotten worse," she

says. ..'.' Many coroner's offices' report in-creases in the number of unclaimed bod-ies, according to a survey of members ofthe National Association of Medical Ex-

.aminers. A little more than half of nearly50 respondents cited an increase, ac-cording to the association'S data.

. johnnetta Moore, administrator for'the indigent burial program. in jackson-yille/says the economy is to blame for an

· upswing in cremations of indigent peo-ple this spring. .

· .' "We've all seen an increase," she says

of hers and other indigent burial pro-grams in Florida.

The city cremated 306 indigent peoplethis fiscal year through July, with twomonths yet to go. That number is upfrom totals of297 and 241 in the previ-ous two years.

Nevada's Oark County has recorded anearly 11% increase in indigent burialsand cremations over the previous fiscalyear, according to public information of- Ificer Dan Kulin. !

Increasingly, counties are turning tocremations as a more affordable ootionthan burials, Byers says, as fiscal hard-'ships continue for state and local govern-ments.

"It's hitting everybody at the wrong Itime," Byers says.

Even families who don't qualify forindigent assistance programs are looking ,to spend less for burials.

"We've certainly seen that familiesdon't have the funds available" and moreoften are opting for less expensive funer-al options, says James Olson, a spokes-man for the National Funeral DirectorsAssociation and a funeral director in She-boygan, Wis.

'This is the worst that I've seen, andI've been doing this kind of work sincethe late '60s," says Walter Hofman, coro-ner for Montgomery County, Pa.