Cook County Morgue To Launch Grief Counseling Partnership With UIC

(CBS) -- The Cook County Board has approved a pilot grief counseling program for the families who must come to the County morgue to identify remains, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.

Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cina says the arrangement will be a win-win. UIC's Jane Addams School of Social Work told his office that grad students could use some professional internships and Cina says starting this fall a second-year graduate student will help with grief counseling at the West Side morgue.

"Families of homicide victims and unidentified bodies that come into the office are allowed to come in and look on a monitor and see if the picture matches their loved ones. You can imagine how trying that is and what an emotional experience it is and we thought it would be great to be able to offer some initial comfort to these people, walk them through the process before it begins and through the process and provide them with some counseling afterwards and some resources," said Cina.

Cina says he saw a similar program at the morgue in Washington D.C.