When I took office Chester County’s ability to effectively conduct autopsies in a safe and cost effective way was in jeopardy because of one major issue: there is no facility or morgue. Each autopsy is conducted in space borrowed by several hospitals, or in a make shift temporary structure. It doesn’t meet the standards necessary to conduct this work and doesn’t have the technology to conduct the rigorous investigation that the procedure demands. This has been on an ongoing issue for several decades that countless past Coroners have attempted to address without any success.

The first thing I did in 2021 was ensure we had a temporary solution in place to allow the Office more flexibility in the storing of decedents; a big problem in the past as the Office relied on the generosity of hospitals in the area for storage which was unreliable and costly for the county. I was able to get funding and approval to open our own facility to store decedents when they are in the custody of the office, and that came on line in 2022.

Since then I have worked tirelessly with the Chester County Commissioners to have put a long term solution in place. I’m happy to announce that I have secured funding, approval and have purchased a building for Chester County’s first forensic facility. The project has already moved into the design phase and work is expected to start this year on the start of the building.

This will provide our county a state of the art forensic facility that will allow Chester County to lead the Commonwealth in the ability to safely conduct autopsies and as a result of new technology available be able to conduct more thorough investigations.

This will also reduce waste by eliminating the need for multiple transports of decedents during the process and hiring a full time doctor to conduct all the autopsies, saving Chester County tens of thousands of dollars a year and increasing the Office’s efficiency.