What To Do When Someone Dies in Schuylkill County, PA

Whether a death in Schuylkill County is sudden, or a long time coming, the loss of a loved one makes us feel emotional and overwhelmed. No amount of preparation can fully prepare you for this loss. When you are in a heightened emotional state, even the most basic decisions can seem staggering. The following is a rough guideline of what needs to be done within the first 24 hours after death.

On this page, we’ve put together helpful information to guide you through this process.

If the person was not under hospice care, the local or Pennsylvania State Police will have to be notified immediately. The police will be dispatched to the home and place the call to the Schuylkill County Coroner. From there the coroner/medical examiner will take the body and determine whether further action is necessary. The coroner/medical examiner must release the body before our funeral home can do anything. If the person was under hospice care, contact the hospice representative if they were not present and they will notify family members what the proper procedures are to follow.

Schuylkill County Coroner's Office, 15 Alliance St, Suite 2C, New Philadelphia, PA 17959 - (570) 277-0200

If the deceased died out of state this will require the coordination of a funeral home in each city. Most funeral homes have relationships with world-wide agencies that specialize in shipping bodies home. Call our funeral home location at 570-385-3381 for assistance.

The staff of a care facility, such as a hospital or a nursing home, will notify you and the necessary authorities immediately after a death has occurred. If our funeral home has been provided to the hospital or nursing home, we will be notified at the time of death. If you are present at the hospital when our funeral director arrives, they will ask a few questions about the deceased wishes and set up a time to come into the funeral home to make funeral or cremation arrangements, however, if you are not present one of our funeral directors will contact you by telephone to discuss these arrangements.

Once everything has been cleared with the proper authorities, the next call you place should be one of our funeral homes, Geschwindt Stabingas Ebling Funeral Home & On-site Crematory or Ebling Stabingas funeral Home. Our funeral directors are here to help you obtain a death certificate, transport the body into our care, and in the event preplanning was not done, select a casket/urn/keepsakes and arrange the funeral service or memorial gathering. Our funeral director will also help you notify the employer and insurance company of the deceased to assist with those arrangements. Our funeral directors are here to help and advise you and will work very hard to relieve the stress and logistics involved in funeral planning.