Grand Traverse County commissioners this week unanimously approved pursuing plans to open a regional forensic pathology center – a move that would provide a local morgue and medical examiner’s office and allow autopsies to be performed in Traverse City instead of Kalamazoo.

The vote, which occurred at Wednesday’s commission meeting, follows a six-month study by an ad hoc committee of commissioners, staff, and professional medical and funeral industry representatives. The group analyzed the feasibility of bringing the region’s medical examiner services – which are currently outsourced to the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine – in-house, servicing not only Grand Traverse County but potentially neighboring counties like Leelanau County, which also contracts with Western Michigan University. The facility would be the only one of its kind in the northern and Upper Peninsula section of Michigan.

Building a regional forensic pathology center would allow the county to hire a full-time forensic pathologist who could conduct autopsies locally instead of downstate. The county is responsible for investigating all suspicious, unnatural, and unexpected deaths – a job it currently outsources to Western – and signing off on cremation certifications, among other responsibilities. Approximately 70 to 80 percent of the average 1,500 annual deaths in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties result in cremation, according to Health Officer Wendy Hirschenberger.

Outsourcing autopsies to Kalamazoo not only means higher expense for Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties – which average approximately 90 post-mortem exams per year and pay to contract for autopsy, toxicology, identification, and transportation services – but also requires additional time and expense for local law enforcement and prosecutors, who must drive downstate for their cases. Out-of-town autopsies also cause trauma for families, a majority of whom are already grappling with unexpected deaths and face further anxiety with their loved ones’ bodies are moved to a different city hours away, Hirschenberger says.

Grand Traverse County budgets just under $500,000 annually for its medical examiner expenses, according to County Finance Director Dean Bott. A preliminary estimate based on a national study of costs to build regional forensic pathology centers puts the construction of such a facility in Grand Traverse County at $1.7 million.

“We spend about $470,000 a year shipping our deceased to Kalamazoo,” said County Commissioner Cheryl Gore Follette, who chaired the ad hoc committee. “For about $1.7 million, ballpark, we could build a facility and do that here and bring in business from other counties. So do the math, and we actually have a proposal for something that could generate income for the county.”

Hirschenberger agrees the proposal makes long-term economic sense for the region.

“If forensic autopsies were to be offered locally, other northern Michigan counties could also direct their medical examiner autopsies to Grand Traverse County, rather than downstate, resulting in additional funds from the cost of these autopsies to help fund the cost of hiring a forensic pathologist,” she says. “Creating a self-sustaining system that converts those contracted forensic service costs to support a forensic pathologist who can begin conducting forensic autopsies locally utilizing a regional forensic pathology center is the end goal.”

Such a facility could also house a local morgue, another service the county outsources. A facility-use agreement with Munson Healthcare engages the hospital system as the morgue for unclaimed bodies, as well as for individuals who die outside of a hospital and for bodies that require storage until a funeral home is designated by the proper next-of-kin.

Grand Traverse County already owns land that could be suitable for a facility – 27 acres of property on LaFranier Road adjacent to the county’s Health Department, an overlap officials note would be complementary for both agencies. The property has also been discussed as a potential site of a new county jail and a partnership project with Community Mental Health, among other uses. With the commission’s written commitment this week to “move forward towards constructing and operating a regional forensic pathology facility in Grand Traverse County,” Hirschenberger says next steps will include evaluating potential locations like the LaFranier property, meeting with neighboring counties to formalize their interest in participating in the project, and going through a request-for-proposals (RFP) to hire an architectural or engineering firm to create a firmer cost estimate for a facility.

County Administrator Nate Alger also expressed his support for pursing the project this week.

“We spend a lot of resources and time and effort with autopsies and law enforcement traveling down to Kalamazoo and…the transportation is becoming harder to find,” Alger said. “The other issue is to have a forensic pathologist in Grand Traverse County to serve this county and the region is going to be extremely beneficial to us. To have them face-to-face versus a phone call…I think is going to be a very valuable resource for us. I really do think it’s a great idea, and I support moving forward with it.”