Pennsylvania's Lycoming County Coroner Charles Kiessling published a Facebook post on Sunday calling for the development of a Coroner’s Office/Regional Forensic Center that will better meet the needs of the community he serves.
The 20+ year veteran says he has been addressing issues of contamination with the County Commissioners Office for 8 years, but nothing has been done. With COVID-19 still very much alive, Kiessling is increasingly concerned about reaching max capacity at the morgue, seeing as his facility already nears capacity on the weekends.
Kiessling said he and his staff often enter death scenes with decomposed remains and uncertain cause of death. In the process of investigating the death, packaging the deceased and transporting the remains to the morgue, the staff can come into contact with—possibly dangerous—bodily fluids.
“Our transport vehicles become contaminated with these same bodily fluids placing ourselves at risk. We have no place to decontaminate ourselves or our vehicles especially during the winter months,” Kiessling wrote. “We have used car washes to wash these contaminants from our vehicles and must take the clothing and other items to our homes for decontamination. With all of the COVID 19 concerns, I am certain you will agree that this is no longer acceptable.”
The Lycoming County morgue services four hospitals, soon to be five. On weekends, Kiessling said the facility often nears capacity, a situation only made more dire with the increasing number of unclaimed deceased, homicides, suicides and drug overdoses—not to mention COVID-19.
“If we have a surge in COVID 19 deaths and funeral homes are not identified we would then need to hold these deceased until arrangements are made for disposition. Any mass fatality incident due to a crash, fire, shootings will likely exceed our current capacities,” wrote Kiessling.
As it stands now, autopsies cannot be performed locally but rather in Allentown—two-and-a-half hours away. Additionally, Kiessling’s office is in a town building that is currently being sold, meaning he needs to relocate. The coroner argues now is the perfect time to move “into a building that will meet the needs of my office now and well into the future.”
In fact, Kiessling, with the assistance of the County Maintenance Director, has already found such a property.
“This building will allow the county to develop a Forensic Center and Judicial Center, meeting the needs of several county departments at significantly less than the current $400+ sq. ft. cost of new commercial construction,” wrote Kiessling. “County Act 13 funds can be used for emergency preparedness and judicial services. Lycoming County has more than enough Act 13 funds to cover the cost of this building and millions of [dollars] will remain in reserve.”
Kiessling said once the office has moved into the new building, he can begin recruitment of a forensic pathologist to perform autopsies for Lycoming County and all 11 surrounding countries, reducing the wasted time and money of coroners and law enforcement traveling to and from Allentown on a weekly basis.
Photo: Kiessling performing a safety seat check four years ago. Credit: Lycoming County Coroner’s Officer Facebook.