The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office has a new chief deputy. Newly elected Coroner Tim Carson announced Monday that he has tabbed Scottdale funeral director James Jacquillard as his second-in-command. Jacquillard, 50, has been a licensed funeral director for 28 years. He is a supervisor and funeral director at Graft-Jacquillard Funeral
As of early December, of the almost 34,000 people who died from COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, less than half had applications for FEMA's funeral assistance program.
Federal funding is available to help cover funeral expenses for people who died of COVID-19.
Families who lost loved ones to COVID-19 can now apply for thousands of dollars in government assistance for funeral expenses from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and officials say nearly 7,000 Pennsylvanians have applied since the program launched less than a month ago.
“I don’t know that money can ever make up for things like not being able to say goodbye to your loved one, but it’s our society’s only way of doing that,” said Kathleen Ryan, executive director of the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association. “In this case, for all the people that struggled to try to pay a funeral bill, this money is certainly helping to alleviate that problem.”
Paul Lesako admits the obvious. âIâm in the death business in a sense,â said the man who owns and operates a Carmichaels funeral home.
He was accustomed to the grim undertakings of his profession â but not the grim ramifications of COVID-19.
âI handled 14 cases through last year,â Lesako said, referring to people who succumbed to the coronavirus. Some had relocated out of state and some had remained local.
âItâs been tough for me mentally. Iâd say its been brutal. You lose people youâve known for decades, who may have been older but were in good health, who succumbed to (the coronavirus).â