Gone but not forgotten – Indigent Remains Ceremony 2025

May 15, 2025.Reading time 4 minutes.

Photo of gravestone with flowers surrounding it

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office Indigent Remains Program provides burial for King County residents who have died without resources or family to claim their remains for a proper burial. The next ceremony to remember these individuals will take place on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Renton (100 Blaine Ave NE).

Public Health investigates HIV infection in heterosexuals who inject drugs

August 30, 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

Public Health – Seattle & King County has recently identified an increase in the number of new HIV cases among heterosexuals who inject drugs in King County. HIV infection is typically much less common among heterosexuals in King County than among men who have sex with men (MSM). But the risk for HIV infection increases […]

Staying involved helped one man out of homelessness, and empowers others

June 21, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

by Rekha Ravindran, Health Care for the Homeless Network Over the past decade, Greg Francis has moved into stable housing after living unsheltered – and he still remembers vividly what it was like to live unsheltered. “It was tough,” he says. “It felt like someone else was controlling my life. So I came up with […]

Meningococcal (bacterial) meningitis case in shelter resident

March 20, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

A resident of a homeless shelter in Seattle tested positive for bacterial meningitis (meningococcal disease) on March 18. The patient, a man in his 60s, is hospitalized and his condition is improving. The bacteria that causes meningococcal disease spreads through direct contact with infectious saliva or respiratory droplets (e.g. being coughed, sneezed or spit on, […]

Rising number of homeless deaths reflects increasing numbers of people needing shelter and care

March 5, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

If we’re ever asked to consider that we might die someday, most of us probably hope it’s at home or doing something we love. For people experiencing homelessness in King County, 72 percent die in unfortunate public places, ranging from crawl spaces under buildings, to parked cars, to public parks. In 2017, the King County […]

Q&A with Dr. Jeff Duchin: Communicable disease outbreaks show homeless at increased risk

February 28, 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

Public Health is currently responding to increases in several infectious diseases in King County that particularly affect people living homeless. These diseases include group A streptococcal infections, Shigella, and a cluster of serious infections transmitted by body lice called Bartonella quintana. We sat down with Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Disease […]