Even on a good day, Greg Sandstrom’s job forces him to face despair and grief that would send most other people spiraling into depression. In his emotionally draining, rigorously demanding role as Kitsap County Coroner, an office he has held for 17 years, Sandstrom routinely interacts with the very people who elected him to the position on the absolute worst day of their lives.

Sandstrom perseveres, he said, and ultimately finds a great deal of fulfillment in the somber work through a mix of humor and compassion.

“You have to have a good respect for people that are going through a hard time,” he said. “That compassion really comes through. You’ve got to put yourself in the family’s shoes.”

There is often a great deal of confusion, Sandstrom said, as to what it is that the coroner exactly does, and one of his primary goals has always been educating the public about the roles and services of his office.

The responsibilities and priorities of the county coroner include providing investigations into the deaths of all individuals that die within the county as well as guidance, support and instruction for the deceased’s families and loved ones, and also compiling a comprehensive statistical report annually of all deaths in the county.

Many ties in Kitsap

Sandstrom prides himself also on the amount of outreach his team engages in, working with community groups such as Survivors of Suicide, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the Kitsap County Traffic Safety Task Force and, one of the causes closest to Sandstrom’s own heart, the Cribs for Kids program, which provides safe cribs to families with young children as part of a nationwide effort to eradicate unsafe sleeping environments and prevent infant mortality. Kitsap County, Sandstrom said, has historically experienced as many as 10 or 12 infant deaths a year, at most, a number which has been greatly reduced with the growth of the program.

“One of the major causes of baby deaths is unsafe sleeping,” Sandstrom said. “Without a crib, the mom or dad sleep with the baby; roll over on it. They may even just put it in the corner of the room, pull out a drawer, put some padding in there, put the baby in there. You wouldn’t believe what we see.”

The coroner is both a familiar and mysterious figure in popular culture. In television cop dramas, haggard detectives stand in the rain looking stern amidst police tape and flashing lights as somebody in a white coat attends to the body, or perhaps they’re seen trekking down to the morgue to get crucial “lab results.”

What’s in a name?

Often, the titles of coroner and “ME” — medical examiner — seem to be interchangeable.

They are not.

There are three systems in place around the state, Sandstrom explained, dependent on a county’s population and size, which determines how death investigations are handled.

The coroner system, like in Kitsap, relies on an elected coroner such as Sandstrom, who acts as a procedural administrator and liaison with the police, fire department officials, doctors, prosecutors and even Naval Criminal Investigative Services, if necessary. A contracted forensic pathologist comes in to perform autopsies, when needed.

In a medical examiner system, the person who does the autopsies is also the administrator.

In counties with a population of less than 40,000 people, the elected prosecutor is automatically the coroner as well. Only larger counties can afford to operate under a medical examiner system, Sandstrom said, as it is much more expensive.

“We get a call for everyone who dies,” Sandstrom said. “But the only things we take jurisdiction on are trauma-related [deaths], absence of a doctor — such as somebody dies at home without the care of a physician — and any kind of traffic accident, homicides, suicides.”

The coroner becomes involved after a phone call from either the police or medical officials notify him that a death has occurred.

The police, sheriff or military investigators are in charge of the scene of an accidental or suspicious death, but Sandstrom and his team are in charge of the body.

“They don’t touch the body because they know we’re the experts there,” he explained. “And we don’t touch the scene because they’re the experts.”

Why do it?

It is, obviously, not the ideal job for everyone. But for Sandstrom, it was the perfect combination of his life’s ideals and past experiences.

Even before his years as coroner, Sandstrom said that his professional life had always been governed by the idea of “service before self,” a philosophy he saw personally embodied by his father and which he has striven to emulate, beginning with his first career in law enforcement.

After 13 years with the Washington State Patrol, Sandstrom switched paths to another form of service and worked overseas with a ministry group. He returned stateside and worked as a fire department chaplain and as an assistant pastor before finding this, his perfect job.

“This job came up as deputy coroner and I thought, ‘What a great background to have,’” he remembered. “I did a lot of funerals, and I’ve got the investigation background and it was a great fit.”

After five years as deputy, Sandstrom ran for coroner more than 15 years ago and was elected. He has held the office ever since.

“It’s a wonderful job,” he said. “The best part of this job is helping families through the process, because it’s the worst time in their lives.

“Somebody’s got to be there for them,” he added.

Come so far

Sandstrom is assisted by Chief Deputy Coroner Anthony Steward and six full-time deputies, at least one of whom is always on duty, working out of the Bremerton facility, which was newly constructed about seven years ago.

Prior to that, Sandstrom said, he and his staff operated the morgue out of the basement of an old house.

“It’s a far cry from what we have now,” he laughed, adding that participating in the design and completion of the new facility is one of his proudest accomplishments while in office.

“I worked very hard on getting the financing for this as well as helping with the design of this building because I want to make it very functional for Kitsap County for years to come,” he said.

When he is not at work, Sandstrom, a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, enjoys camping and riding his motorcycle. He has two adult children, five grandchildren and a fiancé. They will get married next year.

What’s next?

The largest challenge facing his office in the coming years is undoubtedly the steadily rising population, Sandstrom said.

It may surprise most residents to know that the most common cause of preventable death in the county is suicide, which occurs here much more frequently than the national average, Sandstrom added, and not necessarily within what was once considered high-risk groups.

“Last year was a record year for us,” he said. “We had 52.

“There’s a lot of depression in Kitsap County [and] a lot of people on depression medication and it’s just not doing the trick,” he added. “You think about teen suicides, but that’s a very low number for us. Our highest number are middle aged men.”

Sanderson and Steward agreed that assisting grieving families, ensuring justice by contributing to successful criminal investigations and the behind-the-scenes camaraderie of the personnel in the office are the most rewarding aspects of the job, and what makes them look forward to what would otherwise quickly become a melancholic endeavor.

“The entire job itself is difficult because of the emotions you deal with,” Steward said.

“Kitsap County is a small town,” he added. “There have been several times for each one of us that we have responded to a scene and we know the person who has died, or we know the family of the person who has died. It just happens. It’s going to happen.”

It is next of kin notifications, Steward said, not grisly accident scenes or viewing autopsies, that are the hardest parts of the job.

“They don’t remember the cops,” he said. “They don’t remember the firefighters. They don’t even remember the chaplain if we’re lucky enough to have a chaplain with us. They always remember the person who took their loved one out of their home and that’s why we’re so picky and so selective about who works here, because they will remember us when they will forget everyone else.”

Steward spearheads a newly begun Reserve Investigative Assistant program for Kitsap residents with EMS or law enforcement experience who are interested in pursuing a career in death investigations. Openings are announced and more information is available at the office’s website (www.kitsapgov.com/coroner).