LANCASTER --
The Lancaster County coroner's former office could have fit inside the morgue used to hold dead bodies in the new facility.
Eight people shared one office, with two desks and one computer, Deputy Coroner Karla Knight Deese said.
The coroner's office had no space of its own to do investigation work, inform families or even hold bodies, she said.
"We've never had a morgue; we always used the local hospital," Deese said. "They only have room for one person, and they get the priority."
There's room for about 20 bodies - and even 40 in the event of a mass-fatality disaster - at the new South Main Street coroner's office that opened this month, Coroner Mike Morris said. Morris' staff held an open house at the new facility Thursday for area law enforcement, EMS, funeral home personnel.
Buying an existing building, upfitting it and adding equipment cost about $520,000, Lancaster County Administrator Steve Willis said.
"Hard to believe a couple of years ago Morris' office was a closet," Willis said. "They've come a long way."
Officials looked at existing buildings - to keep costs down - before deciding on the site, Morris said.
The new office allows the coroner's staff to better serve the public, Morris said.
"It's a big upgrade for us," he said. "We can do our job a lot better. A lot more efficient than in the past.
"It's hard to get excited because of the line of work we're in, but it'll help the public, it'll help law enforcement. It's an assetto everyone," Morris said.
As the county has grown, Deese said, so has the need for space for investigating and storing bodies.
"The County Council was extremely gracious in listening to what we had to say, our needs and wants," Deese said.
Lancaster County's coroner's office has become the third in the state approved as a procurement site, where LifePoint can harvest bone tissue, eyes and other organs, Morris said.
The new facility makes it no longer necessary to take an individual pronounced dead to an area hospital for testing, storage or family notification.
The added investigation space and exam room allows the coroner's staff to perform toxicology tests in-house, before sending fluids to labs, Deese said.
"Now we have it all here to do ourselves," she said.
In the new facility, the coroner and deputy coroners have their own offices and investigative tools. They also have a private conference room where coroners can notify family members and have them identify the deceased, Deese said.
"Before, we were notifying families of someone's death at the hospital, trying to find a quiet corner or, a lot of the time, doing it in the room where the person died," she said.
"It's just not right."
Deese, who has worked at the coroner's office for seven years, said that's the only element of her job that bothers her.
"I still have to really gather my thoughts and get my nerve up to inform the family," she said. "It's nerve-wracking. No matter how many times you inform, it's like you're doing it for the first time, every time."
The additional space, she said, allows families unprepared for the loss of a loved one the time and place needed for grieving before contacting a funeral home.
"We are extremely excited for our county to have a facility of this magnitude," said Tommy Baker, owner of Baker Funeral Home in Kershaw. "It benefits residents and funeral homes. It's nice they have a place to bring families that's private."
