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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE COOK COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE FOR RECEIVING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR HUMAN SERVICES
WHEREAS, the National Association of Counties (NACo) awarded the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office its Achievement Award for the Office's Indigent Burial Program; and
WHEREAS, the Achievement Award honors innovative, effective county government programs that enhance services for residents; and
WHEREAS, the Indigent Burial Program has improved the disposition for all identified and indigent decedents by hiring an indigent coordinator whose sole focus is ensuring their dignified disposition; and
WHEREAS, previously, the indigent disposition process was only handled with burials, often delaying disposition for decedents with costly effects for the constituents of Cook County; and
WHEREAS, the Indigent Burial Program has created a timely and cost-effective program to handle the disposition of the County's most in need. This program is utilized throughout the year despite temperature and weather which had previously hindered the disposition process; and
WHEREAS, the County's unclaimed and indigent veterans are buried with honors at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery through the Indigent Veteran Burial Program. The Medical Examiner has streamlined the eligibility process thus shortening the time an unclaimed veteran remains at the Medical Examiner's office; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County Medical Examiner has dedicated a memorial at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery memorializing the indigents, unborn and unknown decedents whose disposition was handled by the Indigent Burial Program; and
WHEREAS, Catholic Cemeteries has not only donated cemetery plots for the burial of unborn children, but continues to show their dedication to constituents of Cook County with a dignified and honorable ceremony for every County burial; and
WHEREAS, awards are given in 18 different categories that reflect the vast, com...
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