NATRONA COUNTY CORONER
NEWS & PHOTO GALLERY
Jacobson will run for coroner
Since the day she was named coroner of Natrona County last September, people have asked Connie Jacobson if she was going to run for the position. The answer has always been, "absolutely."
"I have been anticipating this campaign from the beginning," she said. "And I look forward to the upcoming events that I have planned in my strategy."
Jacobson is seeking the Republican Party's nomination in the Aug. 17 primary for the coroner's office. She will face Natrona County Commissioner Matt Keating, who also is seeking the office. If she wins the primary, she will be on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
Following former Coroner Dr. Jim Thorpen's retirement in August, the county commission named Jacobson to the post.
"When the commissioners appointed me, my intention was to stay in the office of coroner," she said.
Jacobson took control of the office toward the end of former Chief Deputy Coroner Gary Hazen's troubles.
Hazen was ultimately indicted on 10 counts of illegal drug possession and other crimes in November 2008. He pleaded guilty last year to two counts and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.
Jacobson, 58, said she understood from day one the challenges the office faced in the court of public opinion.
"I have repaired the coroner's office reputation to be trustworthy, reputable and credible," she said. "And I will continue to maintain that. ... for as long as I am in office."
A 58-year-old registered nurse and forensic death investigator, Jacobson spent the majority of her career in the emergency room at Wyoming Medical Center. She said her 17 years working in Casper's medical field help her tackle the day-to-day job of a coroner.
"I am familiar with the medical community and law enforcement in Natrona County," she said. "But what is more important is that they know me, my reputation and my leadership abilities."
A Montana native who has lived in Wyoming for more than 30 years, Jacobson noted that the position of coroner is not suited for "on-the-job training." She said her experience in the office -- including four years as an investigator before becoming coroner -- coupled with her professional and educational background make her the most "qualified person as coroner."
In the medical field, she holds an associate degree, a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree.
She said the work of a coroner is an extension of her professional career in nursing.
The most satisfying part of the job, she said, is using her background to analyze evidence gathered at death scenes and "put together all the pieces to certify the medical portion of the death certificate."
The hardest part, she added, is communicating to families information they need to make decisions in the traumatic wake of loved ones' deaths. It's something she takes seriously. "Families know that I am always available to them," she said.
She said she hopes to move the coroner's office forward into "a more innovative and forward-thinking world." This includes developing an electronic database for death investigation reports.
"Eventually, all our files and reports" -- currently residing in 23 file cabinets -- "will be electronic," Jacobson said.
It is her hope, she said, that this "will provide not only the coroner's office, but the community as well, with useful data."
The position of coroner will earn $75,000 when the county's new fiscal year begins.
Jacobson seeks to retain current coroner post
by Carol Crump
Natrona County Coroner Connie Jacobson
has announced her intention to run for re-election. The Republican was
appointed by the Natrona County Commissioners on Sept. 1, 2009, to
replace Dr. James Thorpen, who retired.
“I love this job,”
Jacobson said. “It’s such a smooth transition from what I was doing as a
trauma nurse and manager. There’s a true synergy there.”
Jacobson is a registered nurse with
training in forensics and a Master’s in Healthcare Administration. She
served an internship and four years in Thorpen’s office as a death
investigator.
In her 21-year career at the Wyoming Medical
Center, Jacobson was an Emergency Room nurse, a staff nurse, a charge
nurse and a flight nurse. For the last eight years at the hospital, she
was the medical center’s trauma program coordinator. She is certified
for advanced trauma life support through the American College of
Surgeons, a level of certification that is usually reserved for
physicians.
Jacobson cited her nursing background
and experience in forensics, investigation and trauma as qualifications
for coroner. She said her experience also helps her communicate with
families, the medical community and the pathologists with whom she has
developed a working relationship. Jacobson is the secretary-treasurer of
the Wyoming Coroner’s Association.
With a year’s experience in
the position at the time of the election, Jacobson said she will be “the
most medically qualified” to continue as Natrona County’s coroner
Jacobson hopes to restore trust in office
Death no mystery to county coroner
By JOSHUA WOLFSON – Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Saturday, November 7, 2009 12:00 am
Formally worked at the Wyoming Medical
Center,Connie Jacobsen took over as the County coroner in Sept. (Tim
Kupsick/Star-Tribune)
Connie Jacobson has been asking questions about death for almost her entire life.
Growing up, she’d quiz her father about his work embalming bodies at a funeral home. She wanted to know things, like where all the blood went.
“It wasn’t dinner table conversation, but I had curiosities,” she said. “I had questions when I got old enough to know what he was doing.
“Her interest would eventually lead to the top job in the Natrona County Coroner’s Office. Death, she says, has never been a mystery to her.
“I guess what intrigues me is my job of finding out why that patient died, or that person died, and putting all of those investigative pieces together,” she said.
As coroner, Jacobson is responsible for investigating accidental, violent or unattended deaths, as well as suicides. The 57-year-old assumed the job in September, replacing Dr. James Thorpen, who retired after nearly three decades in office.
Jacobson took the job in the midst of the criminal prosecution against former chief deputy coroner Gary Hazen, who has admitted to taking prescription drugs from the office for his own use. Jacobson, who plans to seek re-election next year, said she has taken steps to prevent a similar situation and restore the public’s faith in the office.
“Because of this last year’s history … my concern and my focus is to regain trust and credibility with the community, and to be more open with the community,” she said.
Forensic nurse
Jacobson came to the coroner’s office after more than two decades as a nurse. She most recently served as Wyoming Medical Center’s trauma nurse coordinator.
Her speciality is forensic nursing, in which nurses, in addition to caring for patients, also collect evidence and serve as liaisons between the medical and law enforcement communities. She feels her experience — including training in criminology — helped prepare her for the coroner’s job.
“My nursing background … is probably the best background to have as a coroner, if you are not a physician,” she said.
Compared with other specialties, the field of forensic nursing is relatively new, only gaining official recognition from the American Nurses Association in 1995. At one time, Jacobson said, she was the only forensic nurse in Wyoming. Even now, there are only a handful, with most specializing as sexual assault examiners.
“I kind of felt like the Lone Ranger, striking out, doing things that other nurses aren’t usually or normally doing,” she said.
While finishing up her education for forensic nursing, Jacobson had her first experience with the Natrona County Coroner’s Office, where she served as an intern. When the internship ended, she told Thorpen she’d like to work for him if a position every opened up.
“So he hired me,” she said.
From 1998 to 2001, Jacobson worked as a coroner’s investigator when she wasn’t at her job in the Wyoming Medical Center emergency room.
“There is nothing really glamorous about the job,” she said. “It’s man’s work. You do a lot of heavy lifting, hauling around. You are out in the weather.”
Changes
Jacobson resigned from the hospital this summer and sought the coroner’s office after Thorpen submitted his formal letter of resignation.
The Natrona County Commission selected her as coroner in August after interviewing her and one other candidate. Thorpen lauded the selection, calling Jacobson a “top-drawer person.”
New leadership has led to several changes at the coroner’s office. Because she’s not a physician like Thorpen, Jacobson has to rely on doctors in Montana, Colorado and Nebraska to perform autopsies.
Another notable difference, especially in light of Hazen’s crime, is the new prohibition against investigators collecting drugs from death scenes. That task is now left to the police, who are also responsible for storing the evidence and destroying drugs when they are no longer needed.
“We count, log and store all medicines over there,” Jacobson explained.
Jacobson also plans to increase communication between her office and the public.
“There are no secrets here,” she said. “There is nothing in our process that we can’t share with anybody else, as long as it is not still under investigation.”
That increased communication extends to the families of those who have died. Jacobson wants her office to spend more time with family members, because she believes they can help investigators take better care of the deceased.
“Families need to be involved in what we do and help us make decisions and feel a little bit of control… ,” she said. “We don’t stop taking care of people just because they died.”
Jacobson hopes to restore trust in office
Coroner: Wyoming Skull Could Be That Of Teen Pioneer
By Ron Richter on Sat 12/05/2009 07:20
GLENROCK, (AP) - The Natrona County coroner says a piece of a human skull found east of Evansville this week could belong to a young pioneer who died while traveling the Oregon Trail. A Glenrock plumbing contractor digging a hole to work on a water line found the bone Tuesday.
The skull fragment was found about four feet deep next to the Oregon Trail, the 2,000-mile route 19th-century settlers took between Missouri and the Pacific Northwest. Coroner Connie Jacobson said this week that the aged bone came from a child or teenager, likely from a historical burial.
Jacobson said an archaeologist who assisted her office felt confident the remains were part of an Oregon Trial burial site; scientists have excavated other burial sites in the area. No other remains were found.
Thorpen was first elected in 1982
Natrona County coroner announces retirement
Natrona County Coroner Dr. James Thorpen emerges from the courtroom after testifying in the murder trial of Dale Wayne Eaton in 2005. (Star-Tribune file)Natrona County Coroner Dr. James Thorpen will retire later this year, he said Tuesday.
"I hope to get my stuff out in March, April or May," Thorpen said.
"Doc" Thorpen, the state's only coroner who is a forensic pathologist, was elected to the position in 1982 and has won re-election every four years since.
He played a key role in solving many murder cases including those that went cold, such as the 2006 conviction of Rita Ann Humphrey in the shooting death of husband Jack Humphrey in 1977. Evansville Police Chief Zach Gentile reopened the case in 2004, and Thorpen re-examined Jack Humphrey's body.
During his career, Thorpen was instrumental in establishing training and certification standards, and has lobbied for a state medical examiner's office.
