Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office to Offer Grief Counseling

Deborah Bayliss | As of Thursday, June 26, 2014

The Cook Count Medical Examiner's Office and the University of Illinois at Chicago are teaming up to provide grief counseling for families who show up to identify deceased loved ones who were victims of homicide and other deaths.
The Cook Count Medical Examiner's Office and the University of Illinois at Chicago are teaming up to provide grief counseling for families who show up to identify deceased loved ones who were victims of homicide and other deaths.

When families of homicide victims and other death cases show up to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office to identify the remains of loved ones, they will soon have access to on-the-spot grief counseling thanks to a collaboration between the County and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) who will provide second-year graduate students from UIC’s Jane Addams College of Social Work to provide the service.

The Medical Examiner’s office has not previously offered grief counseling services, even on a limited basis as will be the case now.

“By offering some degree of in-house grief counseling through this partnership with UIC, families will be better equipped to deal with the unexpected tragedy of a sudden death,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cina. 

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“By offering some degree of in-house grief counseling through this partnership with UIC, families will be better equipped to deal with the unexpected tragedy of a sudden death.” - Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cina.

The counseling program is expected to get underway sometime in the fall.

UIC will select the students who will serve in the program, supervised by Antonia Mayorga, executive assistant to Cina. Mayorga holds a Master’s of Social Work degree.

The graduate students selected for the position will have a study focus in one of two academic concentrations at the Addams School: community health and urban development, or mental health. The program will typically encompass 630 hours during the course of the school year.

The Jane Addams College of Social Work is home to more than 400 graduate students pursuing master's and doctoral degrees. Students come to the college from the Chicago metropolitan area, other parts of the United States and other countries.

Families will be counseled on identification procedures, walked through documentation, and prepared for what they’ll see on the video monitor when identifying the remains of a loved one. Once identification is complete, families will be offered informational material and referral services if needed, as well as a follow-up telephone call.

As part of the grief counseling initiative, a list of resources such as victim assistance and various survivor support programs regarding homicide, sudden infant death, suicide and general bereavement will also be compiled and made available to families.

“It is my hope that we can help ease (the families’) burden in some small way by providing information that may be helpful to them immediately and in the weeks after the loss of their loved one,” said Mayorga.

In addition to providing grief counseling for the first time, the Cook County Board also recently approved several other interagency agreements between the Medical Examiner’s Office and local medical schools and hospitals which continue existing pathology education and residency programs.

“The agreements with local medical schools and residency training programs will ensure that Cook County has adequately trained pathologists over the years to come.”

According to Cina, “The agreements reflect the Office’s commitment to both education and meeting the emotional needs of our customers.”

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