On Thursday, October 10, DuPage County Board Member Patty Gustin welcomed DuPage County Coroner Richard Jorgensen to Naperville’s City Hall to share important information on the coroner system. His presentation included shocking statistics about drug-related deaths and highlighted the role of the DuPage County Coroner’s Office.
Who is DuPage County’s Coroner?
A coroner’s responsibility is to investigate the deaths of citizens in their county to determine the cause and circumstances surrounding them. DuPage County Coroner, Richard Anthony Jorgensen, M. D., F.A.C.S., works in the Coroner’s Office in Wheaton. Jorgensen comes from a medical background with many years of experience as a board-certified surgeon in the Chicagoland area.
The coroner is elected by the citizens of the county and serves a four-year term. Jorgensen works with forensic pathologists and investigators to review toxicology reports and perform autopsies, providing critical information on causes of death in DuPage County. The Coroner’s Office is a law enforcement agency that investigates around 5000 deaths per year in DuPage County.
Drug-related deaths in Dupage County and how police personnel are reducing the overdose death-rates
Jorgensen walked through many statistics to illustrate the death rate with drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. He shared that what was once known as the heroin crisis in the county has now shifted to a fentanyl crisis, with traces of fentanyl being found in many drug-related deaths in the county.
DuPage County recently put a program into place to equip area police personnel with lifesaving materials to combat the opioid crisis. Narcan, generically known as Naxalone, is a prescription drug that reverses opioid overdoses. By equipping police officers with doses of Narcan and providing adequate training, the number of deathly overdoses in the county has been greatly decreased.
The last of Patty Gustin’s DuPage Educational Presentations will be held in Naperville City Hall on October 24 at 6 PM.
Check out more Community Events in the Naperville-area.
