MERIDIAN, Idaho — South Meridian Neighborhood Reporter Allie Triepke takes you into the new 40,000 sq ft facility and county Coroner Rich Riffle shares why the new equipment will improve operations.
- The new building will accommodate a growing population as there were 521 autopsies in 2019 to 761 autopsies in 2023. Sharp death rate increase during COVID with no decrease since.
- Equipment like a new full-body X-ray machine will help make autopsies quicker.
- Operations are set to begin in May.
- The old office could be used for storage but all autopsies will be out of Meridian.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
It’s another sign of growth here in the Treasure Valley. In south Meridian final preparations are underway at the more than $30 million facility for the Ada County Coroner's Office.
"I think we're going to see a higher quality of service," said Ada County Coroner Rich Riffle while showing me around the 40,000-square-foot building, designed to meet the demands of a growing community, through the next 50 years.
“With this many stations, we [won’t] have cases waiting in the cooler,” said Riffle, “Like [when] they’re almost finished with one case, they can start prepping the next one, so there is that efficiency of time."
One of those ways they’ll be more efficient is by having two sinks at each autopsy station, instead of just one. Which will save Forensic Pathologists time during autopsies.
Another upgrade is a full-body X-ray machine that the coroner says will cut X-ray time from 45 minutes to about 5 minutes, and minutes matter when they take on cases throughout the whole state.
“Currently we do about 165-ish per year for out-of-counties [cases],” said Riffle.
The addition of Family Bereavement rooms will allow investigators to sit down with family members in a more comfortable environment, as they begin to navigate their grieving process.
“Family comes in, this is where we talk to them and get some additional information. It gives us a place to help the family, as opposed to out in the middle of a parking lot,” said Riffle.
With the state-of-the-art equipment, advancements could be made in investigations when working with other agencies like the health department and law enforcement.
“Especially in the area of illicit drugs, and those kinds of things, we can track them quicker,” said Riffle.
Along with 3 Board-certified Forensic Pathologists, there are currently 32 total staff members through the Ada County Coroner’s office, and with the new space, there’s room to grow staff and operations.
