Prompt death news reporting is important

What's the big deal about the failure of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department and the McHenry County Coroner's Office to report the deaths that were discovered on Saturday afternoon? (This is Friday, and there still have been no news release!)

One reason of importance is that reporting might draw attention to the need to check on parents, other senior citizens and anyone at risk, on a regular basis.

In the case of the elderly couple found dead on Saturday afternoon, a son went to the house after not being in contact with his father for several days, and he discovered that his father and his father's wife had died. Probably there was nothing unusual in the amount of time that passed. If the father died of natural causes and the stepmother's cognitive resources were such that she didn't miss him (only a guess on my part), then some (somewhat short) time might have passed before her own death occurred.

The Woodstock Police Department maintains a Senior Call-In Program. Registered senior (age 65 or older) residents who live alone and independently in Woodstock are to call in daily between 6:00AM and 10:00AM. If they don't call, the police begin a follow-up well-being check.

Unfortunately, this system would not have been available to the couple who lived near Island Lake, had they lived in Woodstock. They would not have been eligible to register, since there were two adults in the house.

But there is a second reason that a senior Woodstock resident cannot register for the Call-in Program. If s/he has a relative in McHenry County, the Woodstock resident cannot register. S/he must rely on that relative to check on his or her well-being. This is a disservice to Woodstock residents and a deficiency in the program that should be corrected. What will it take for it to be corrected? Just wait until a couple is found dead in their home or one individual, with a relative in McHenry County, is found dead.

So the finding of two elderly County residents in their home is newsworthy. And it is a serious failure of the Sheriff's Department and the Coroner's Office to withhold information. Could the Northwest Herald publish information? Surely, reporters must know about the deaths. Don't they wonder why they can't run a respectful story right now? Or why they couldn't do so on Sunday or Monday.