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Board approves MOU with Madera Community Hospital for morgue services; hospital says state approval could clear reopening
Summary
The Board of Supervisors approved an updated memorandum of understanding authorizing the coroner’s office to provide morgue services for Madera Community Hospital, a step county and hospital staff said is needed to meet CDPH requirements as the hospital seeks license approval to reopen.
The Madera County Board of Supervisors on March 13 approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the sheriff’s office/coroner’s office and Madera Community Hospital to allow the coroner’s office to take custody of decedents and provide morgue services while the hospital lacks an on‑site morgue.
Lieutenant Blum of the sheriff’s office presented the MOU and said hospitals sometimes lack capacity to store decedents who do not fall under coroner jurisdiction. He said the agreement was amended before the meeting to clarify that financial responsibility for decedent disposition, when remains stay in‑county, would not rest solely with the hospital as earlier drafted.
Hospital CEO Steve Stark told the board that California Department of Public Health (CDPH) rules—including Title 22 requirements—require hospitals with more than 50 beds to have a morgue or local resources available and that hospitals larger than 100 beds must construct a morgue. Stark said the MOU is “the fastest way to reopening without a morgue” while the hospital finishes design and construction of a permanent facility. He listed three additional outstanding items that CDPH must clear and said the hospital was optimistic about receiving state sign‑off but that licensing decisions rest with CDPH district and Sacramento offices.
Stark described a staffing plan that would allow shifts to begin once licensing is finalized; he said the hospital was aiming to begin night shifts and an early‑week opening if CDPH approves the MOU and remaining items, but he cautioned that the timeline could change if the state requested modifications.
Board members raised the related issue of county representation on the hospital’s board of trustees. Stark said he recommended permitting the board of supervisors to designate a member to serve on the hospital board as a voting member and liaison; hospital board chair Deidre Da Silva said she and the hospital board would take a proposed arrangement back to their board for consideration. County counsel and the county administrative officer agreed to draft MOU language for the supervisors’ consideration and to return the item to the board agenda on March 18 for possible action.
The board approved the MOU and authorization for the chair to sign by roll call, 5–0. The MOU presented at the meeting included the clarified financial‑responsibility language and signed copies were provided to the board. County staff said additional drafts and related MOU language to permit a county representative on the hospital board would be developed and vetted before final placement on the hospital board’s agenda.
