County coroner and staff receive further training

[February 27, 2010]  Coroner Robert Thomas and deputy coroners Doug Brooks and Penny Thomas recently attended the annual Winter Coroner Training Conference hosted by the Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Association. The two-day conference was in Mount Vernon. Training topics included fire/arson fatality investigation, federal drug enforcement related to drug overdose deaths, elder abuse deaths and child abuse deaths, and autopsy procedures.

Thomas and Brooks also recently participated in a two-day Forensic Pathology training in Springfield, hosted by the Illinois Law Enforcement and Training Standards Board. Instruction was provided by Dr. Tracey Corey, chief medical examiner for the state of Kentucky. The agenda included training related to the cause, mechanism and manner of death, blunt force trauma, motor vehicle deaths, thermal injuries, drug- and chemical-induced death, sudden natural deaths, firearms injuries, and asphyxia and drowning.

Both training classes were funded by a state of Illinois grant, with no tuition fees to the coroner's office.

Thomas said, "The information provided significantly enhances the abilities of staff to perform the necessary investigative functions of the coroner's office."

[Text from file received from the Logan County coroner's office]