{"id":95159,"date":"2019-03-12T20:03:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T02:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/county-looks-for-ways-to-ease-space-crunch-at-coroners-office\/"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:03:08","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T02:03:08","slug":"county-looks-for-ways-to-ease-space-crunch-at-coroners-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/county-looks-for-ways-to-ease-space-crunch-at-coroners-office\/","title":{"rendered":"County looks for ways to ease space crunch at coroner\u2019s office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"La
La Plata County has yet to come up with a solution to the space crunch involving the La Plata County Coroner\u2019s Office.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Several attempts to remedy overcrowding at the La Plata County Coroner\u2019s Office have so far proved fruitless, and with a strapped county budget, no easy solutions appear viable to deal with the space crunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d said La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith. \u201cBut I need my own place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the early 2000s, the Coroner\u2019s Office has contracted with Hood Mortuary in Durango to use its facilities for autopsies.<\/p>\n

But with the increasing population in Southwest Colorado, and therefore an increasing number of deaths, there is not enough space to handle the workload<\/a>, Smith said.<\/p>\n

In 2014, for instance, the county performed 39 autopsies. But in 2017, that number jumped to 80 autopsies. And already this year, Smith said the Coroner\u2019s Office has conducted about 20 autopsies.<\/p>\n

When someone dies, an autopsy is required if the death meets any of the 14 standards set by the state, which can include crimes of violence, unexplained infant mortality, workplace injury, drugs, suicides or any case the coroner deems appropriate.<\/p>\n

The Coroner\u2019s Office can conduct autopsies only two mornings a week, which can create a backlog. And, having to wait a prolonged period creates a hardship on grieving families, Smith said.<\/p>\n

\"Smith\"
Smith<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not fair to them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

La Plata County came close to a solution: In October, the county found a company that built mobile morgue units and budgeted about $50,000 to purchase one. But when the county called the company back to make the buy a few weeks ago, county officials learned the company stopped making the unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done exhaustive research to find a similar capability on the open market, unsuccessfully,\u201d said interim County Manager Chuck Stevens. \u201cSo now we\u2019re back to square one and it\u2019s a struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens said annual operating costs for the Coroner\u2019s Office from 2015 to 2019 have more than doubled, a sign of just how much increased workload is coming the department\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the population grows, the demand for services increases,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cEven the coroner is feeling the strain of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county explored the possibility of remodeling part of the Sheriff\u2019s Office, but that option proved too expensive, Smith said.<\/p>\n

Stevens said the county budgeted only enough money to buy the mobile unit. Now, the county must evaluate options and come up with a solution that can be implemented in the next budget year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to do something, but now we\u2019re back at the drawing board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Coroner\u2019s Office is located at the Armory Building in Bodo Industrial Park, where bodies are stored outside in coolers and have to be transported to Hood Mortuary for autopsies.<\/p>\n

Smith said this winter has been especially difficult. Because the coolers are located outside, staff has had to shovel after every storm.<\/p>\n

Smith said her office has moved four times in the past six years, and will move again with the upcoming remodel of the Armory Building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need a place where I don\u2019t have to move them around,\u201d she said. \u201cI need a place.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@ durangoherald.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Backlog in autopsies creates hardship on grieving families<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[475,1512,1745],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-95159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-la-plata-county-government","tag-la-plata-county-officials"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95159"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=95159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}