Behind the Scenes at Franklin County's Forensic Science Center with Dr. Nate Overmire

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:00:14

Good day, Franklin County. Welcome to another episode of Talk of the County. I'm your county administrator, Kenneth Wilson. I'm pleased to be here today with our Franklin County Coroner, Doctor Nate Overmire, also known as doctor Nate. Welcome.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:00:35

Thank you so much for having me, mister Wilson. It's a pleasure.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:00:38

We are here live in we have the laboratory, here at the Franklin County Forensic Center. It's feeling like a episode of CSI live Franklin County staff. But let's let's get right into the conversation. What is it what is it, like to be the doctor Quincy for Franklin County, to be the Franklin County court, and to be the head man in charge of the Franklin County Forensic Science Center itself, which is a state of the art, facility. One of the best in the country, modeled after the best for me.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:01:20

Absolutely. We are so privileged and honored to have one of, like you said, the best facilities in the country. Now, administrator Wilson, are you mad at me if I've told you if I tell you that I have not seen doctor Quincy yet, but I promise that I will after this. I've been asked that multiple times. I know who he is, but I haven't seen an episode. And I need to check out this new program called Watson. Have you seen it? Morris Chestnut? He's he's the doctor and investigator, and I need to watch that. But, yes, we're so honored that Franklin County invested in its people, in its county by granting us this beautiful facility and all the people that work here.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:01:59

Every day is a little different being your Franklin County Coroner. Every day we wake up or well, we start the day at 08:00 having agenda. We go through the list of decedents that come to our facility, and then it kinda branches off into everyone's specific roles, and duties. After we set the agenda, we go through our list. Our pathologists and our work technicians are doing autopsies. Our toxicologists, this beautiful lab behind us, are running the machines and, you know, running through the toxicology evidence. Rest of the staff are communicating with families, with law enforcement. So it's a whole host of rules and duties that we have here.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:02:38

How many, folks, work in this office as a pathologist, for example?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:02:44

We're so blessed to have eight wonderful forensic pathologists with a ninth coming this summer.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:02:50

And you have to go to school a really long time to get in this profession. Talk a little bit about the background of pathologists and the journey they have to take to work in this facility in that capacity.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:03:04

So forensic pathologists are physicians like myself. We both go to four years in medical school, but that's where it starts to separate. Whereas I went to family medicine residency, which is just three years, they go to, pathology residency, which is four years. And then to become a forensic pathologist, they have to go through an additional one year of fellowship. So nine years of schooling and training to do what they what they do. And actually, one of our pathologists is a neuropathologist excuse me, a neuropathologist. So she went to an additional neuro fellowship. So she does all of our brain cases, which is really great to have a forensic neuropathologist in our facility.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:03:46

So it's a long time of education, training. They are the experts. And not only do they do the autopsies, they have to work with law enforcement. They have to be familiar with those concepts. Then they have to testify often on homicides or, motor vehicle accident cases or overdoses. So they have to be familiar with that vernacular, with that, those concepts with law enforcement and justice. It's a lot of lot of training.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:04:10

Okay. I talk about team Franklin County a lot as administrator. Talk about some of the other entities that you've worked with you work with each day. You touched on the public safety aspect of the job. What are some of the other partners that people may be surprised to learn that you this office works with?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:04:29

One of our, really important agency partners is Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Public Health. We work with commissioner Mazzola, commissioner Roberts very often to increase public safety and public awareness on things that are going on in community, whether it's overdoses. And so we will if there's a surge of overdoses in one particular, well, there's a surge of overdoses in Franklin County. And specifically, I mean, five overdoses within the same twenty four hour period. We will notify our public health partners. And if it's in one particular community, we'll tell our partners, hey, you need to, you know, go to the scenes to, investigate this further to help prevent this. And so we work with public health on a day to day basis. We mentioned law enforcement, so our detectives come into our office, to view autopsies so that we can so so they can go back to the scene or go back to the office and, you know, put those pieces of the puzzle together.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:05:27

We work with other entities, like celebrate one. I'm really passionate about maternal and infant mortality. And when we have our infant mortality rates being as bad in Ohio as they are, I'm really dedicated to getting to the root cause of some of these sudden unexplained infant deaths and working with Celebrate One to lift them up, to give them the data, but also bring awareness to this really important issue. Couple other agencies that we work with heavily are MH. That's a huge partner that, they provide resources to other county agencies on mental health and addiction. So So we're always working with those really important entities. We're working with the African American male wellness agency talking about black men's health, whether it's in the barbershop or in other in schools or other events to making sure that they're talking about mental health and preventing, you know, anxiety, depression, and ultimately an overdose or suicide in our community. So we're really promoting overall health and well-being in our community.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:06:30

I think that is, part of the the job that you, seem to bring a lot of energy towards and that is being part of, things such as suicide awareness and things such as, bringing attention to the number of preventable overdoses in this community. You know, normally, people would look at your look at your job and say that you are here just for the statutory function of, performing at the law states to do toxicology work at the law state. But you in this position, you wanna do more than just what the law states and reduce the number of deaths and autopsies that you had performed in law enforcement. Talk where does that passion come from? Does it come from, being a family care physician and working with families and to up to this point in your career?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:07:32

Mhmm. So as a public servant, I've always wanted to emulate servant leadership. That's the sort of leadership style that I subscribe to. And so that can mean a whole host of things. But ultimately, you know, caring for patients as a family physician and talking about prevention a lot with with them in the office. Now I feel like as the coroner, my patient is the community, and I want the community to have holistic care, a holistic approach to, the care that they're getting and ultimately preventing deaths that we're seeing in our community. And so that means working with our partners and other stakeholders to advocate. And during as a student, as a resident, and now as an attending physician, I've always been passionate about advocating, advocating for better health, better access, better results, and having a a greater impact in our community.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:08:23

So while while you've spent a a lot of time, preparing educationally and, professionally looking at the science, looking at, the facts, you you still have a, a desire to, provide the intangibles, to, I didn't think that the servant leadership would come up in this conversation. But we we've talked about servant leadership. So if anyone wanna read about servant leadership, began with a gentleman named Robert Greenleaf. And that philosophy has stood the test of time. And it's a it's a form of leadership that's about putting people first. And it's about us, not me. And a lot of folks when they rise up professionally, they can get distance from servant leadership. But in this public sphere, you had to hope that you never lose lose sight of that.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:09:26

You can easily get into that sort of transactional leadership or other models of leadership. But being a servant leader, that takes intention, it takes thoughtfulness to make sure we're continue to think about the community and how we can best serve those and be part of the community. So I've got stuff. I really appreciate that.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:09:47

Great. Now we've talked about servant leadership. What did Doctor. Nate Oberam, I wanted to be when he grow up?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:09:54

You know, from a small age, I always wanted to be a physician. And that was part due to my my two aunts and my mom who always wanted something better than the life that they had. All of my family are laborers. They're all worked in the auto industry, so they all went to high school and then went off to the factory line. And it it provided a stable, house for us. But they always wanted something better for me. So I can hope I can remember from a small age saying, hey, you need to be a doctor. And they didn't say, Nate, you need to be a doctor or a lawyer or a county administrator.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:10:29

They said you need to be a doctor. So for some reason, from a small age, they saw something in me that they wanted me to pursue that. And then it did take a moment in college where I was like, am I doing this for them, or am I doing it for me? And that was a time where I went to Spain for a semester. I didn't take any biology classes, then I realized how much I missed it and that those were sort of pre med, focused, classes. And I realized, wow. This is stuff that I actually love to learn about, and this is what I wanna do with my

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:10:58

You always wanted to be a doctor. Yeah. What age what age were you when you first dissected something that was reported?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:11:06

No. I was not the kind of kid that I would take a frog and dissect. I wasn't that kind of kid. High school.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:11:16

So tenth grade biology.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:11:17

Yeah. Tenth grade biology. You

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:11:18

did your first dissection in tenth grade biology, and you wanted to be a doctor. You're talking about your doctor at age five.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:11:24

Well You

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:11:24

had a teleskin kid, love kid thing around your neck.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:11:28

Yeah. I scope. I was always wanting to listen to people's hearts and lungs. Yeah. I wasn't feel, like, surgical.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:11:33

When did you get your friend white coat?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:11:36

I probably I probably, for Halloween one year, I probably dressed up as a doctor once when I was in middle school. So maybe middle school, sixth grade ish.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:11:49

You've been in this position, I think a a good while now. You you've you've you've assembled a quality staff. Very professional. You you have been nationally recognized already for some of your work. What do you what is your five year game plan for the office? Where do you wanna see the office go? What what areas, that you wanna strengthen, in what areas, that you feel like there's opportunities to get better in that you wanna improve?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:12:25

Well, we wanna continue to build on some things that we're doing right now really well, which is shadowing opportunities for, high school students. That that those may be limited to some tours of our facility, but then shadowing opportunities for the community. Again, that may just be limited to some tours of our facility, but internships for college students who are really interested in forensic science, getting them really excited and engaged in what we do here at the Franklin County Forensic Science Center. So a lot of education with and for the community to get them excited, to get them to demystify some of the things that go on here. And then five years out, with your help, we're excited to be partnering with Ohio State to have a forensic pathology fellowship, and that will provide a pipeline of forensic pathologists so that Franklin County will never have a limited amount of pathologists that are doing the statutory duties, but also providing really good, folks, more than care for for our community in Franklin County. So in five years now, in five years, the our first forensic pathology fellow probably won't have will they probably will not have graduated, but they were certainly will have matriculated at that point.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:13:40

How do we with Black History Month was last month. This month is Women's History Month. How do we get more inclusiveness, in the profession of pathology, medicine, and for that matter of fact, just the sciences in general?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:13:58

So I think it goes to where people are at right now. So we're actively engaging in high schools and colleges in the area. So our pathologists are overdose investigator or suicide investigator going out and giving talks, presentations to communities, communities of color, communities that may be disadvantaged historically. And so it means going out actively saying you are part of the community. We want you to be engaged. We want you to feel welcomed into this family of Franklin County, but also in science and in particular forensic science. We unfortunately see too many minority populations, too many folks within the within minority populations dying of overdoses. We especially see black babies dying at higher rates than their white baby counterparts.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:14:50

So it's saying, hey, moms, hey, dads, how can we engage with you? How can we partner with you to make your life better, to make the community healthier? And that can mean is there an opportunity for you, person in the community who may have been in law enforcement, maybe at the age of retirement, but you want to give back? So, hey, be an investigator, Help, you know, figure out the cause and manner of death of these babies, these overdoses, homicides. And then how can we engage in some of the prevention things that we talked about? So I partner with Columbus Violence Reduction with Director Robbins to talk with young black men saying, hey, we see that you're on this path that's not sustainable. We don't want you to end up in the morgue. We don't want you to end up jail. We want you safe, alive and out of prison. So what resources do you need and how can we partner with you and your family to keep you healthy, to keep you alive? And that may mean and I'm committed to this administrative Wilson. Are there roles? Are there jobs here at the Franklin County Friends of Science Center that you have you may be able to apply to right now? Or are there educational opportunities and training pathways so that we can get you into an investigator role, into a forensic pathology role? Are you do you wanna be a physician, a young twenty twenty year old person or, hey, 15 year old, you know, someone in at Whitehall or Reynoldsburg High School or in Columbus City Schools. How do we talk to you in a way that engages you and excites you about forensic science and that maybe in eight, ten years, you are a forensic pathologist in Franklin County.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:16:29

That leads me to the next question. What is, you know, what what are entry level type positions you may have there, but may require as little as an associate degree or or less than it or

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:16:40

less everything. We have, more attendant positions. We have four of those. Those folks are in charge of receiving and releasing bodies, and you only have to have a high school diploma. Now you may think, oh, receiving release and bodies, that's an unimportant role. But let me tell you this, and then figure Wilson, the first time that we release a body that's not the right body and that body gets cremated, I'm going to be on the news and I might lose my job. So that person is critically important to the structure and the roles that we have here. And, yes, you only need a high school diploma to say this is John Doe or this is Jane Smith.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:17:17

And we gotta make sure Jane Smith is being released to the right funeral home so that she can get cremated or buried in the proper way, so that we're interacting with the funeral homes in a timely, and thoughtful, intentional matter. Because if you're of the Muslim faith or the Jewish faith, there are timelines after death, and we wouldn't be thoughtful and intentional about the way we're doing business here so that we can honor someone's death and their wishes after death so that someone of the Muslim faith can be buried. We can we try our best so that they can be have their burial practices within the twenty four hours like their religion dictates. And so being a mortgage tenant, you have to kind of be even though you only need a high school diploma. It's a very important role. Same thing goes for a case secretary. Those folks are doing some of the clerical work, inputting the data, doing some quality assurance checks, just making sure John Smith, Jane Doe are being inputted in the right clerical manner so that when I get these reports, everything's lined up for me. I spend about an hour every day reviewing these reports and then signing my my signature.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:18:23

But that that also is an entry level position. Super important because if those some of the things aren't accurate and I'm reading the wrong things on the wrong person, that's an issue. Okay. Really important stuff.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:18:35

What would surprise people most about the operations here at the Franklin County for instance?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:18:45

So that's a great question. Ministry Wilson about surprises that community may not be aware of. That pathologist, number one, are hard to come by. There's only 600 of these pathologists in the nation. We have eight of them, so we're really blessed. But we need about a thousand friends of pathologists, the entire United States. We only have 600. So there's a there's a gap in the services that could be provided.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:19:11

But thankfully, in Franklin County, we're well staffed. Something else that might surprise folks in Franklin County is that we're not a viewing facility. And that's a that's a pain point that we often get with the community is that, you know, mom or dad may want to see their loved ones, see their baby in our facility and and identify them. But we often use scientific means of identification, DNA, fingerprints, dental, radiography. So we often don't need someone to identify someone via And this is the classic of pulling the screen back in the movies and saying, yep, that's my that's my boy. Yeah. We don't do that here 99% of the time. And in the times that we do need a photo, a visual identification, we use a photograph.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:19:59

And so people feel a sense of, like, you're not allowing me to be with my loved one, but the time to be with your loved one is at the funeral. Let us do the important work of determining cause and manner of death in the highest manner of dignity and respect for the loved one, but let us do our job as quickly and accurately as possible so that we can get your loved one to the to the funeral home. Another surprise that or a misconception that's being made may not know is that we do not determine guilt. We're not law enforcement, but thankfully we are an independent agency from law enforcement. We need law enforcement. We need their their work that they do in the community. It's really important. Just like we need EMS fire, we need all their reports to come to us so that because we're not investigating the entire scene, we're just investigating the body, but we need all their reports so that we can finish our work.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:20:52

And so sometimes when it takes two, four, eight weeks, sometimes that's what we're waiting for. Sometimes we're waiting for psychology, sometimes we're waiting for histology. We have a lot of different stakeholders that we're working with, and that's what sometimes why it takes a month or two months. Rarely does it ever take now in 2025 more than two months for an autopsy or a report to be finalized, which I'm really proud of. There was a point where it's taking a lot longer than that due to the lack of pathologists and lack of staff here. But with your support and assistance and the county's support, you sort of shored up our staff here so that we can be both accurate and timely because people are relying on insurance money from the students, states and so many other things. So we want to be timely.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:21:42

So so I mean, this this there's a lot of technology in this facility. Sure you all go through a lot of chemicals and for the for the research. But your your top, expenditure is people. Am I correct in that?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:22:02

Yes,

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:03

sir. And it's because of how long you talked about pathologists and amount of time they spend preparing, and and receiving all of the certifications and everything that they need to be on top of their, profession.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:22:23

There's some days. There's a there's

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:25

a stair and there's a scarcity. There's a market scarcity. Yeah.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:22:28

There are some days where I'll look at a corner report and I'll see their findings, and I'll be like, oh, I learned about that in med school. Because as a family doctor, I don't see some of these, you know, strange or rare disease states or like a lesion that, oh, I did learn about that in this school, but I'll so some some some days are reminded how much expertise and how much it takes to know what they know and, how much training, how much education, and that's so they are the experts, and I'm really happy that we've taken the investment that we have to invest in these important people.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:23:04

How would the Franklin County, coroner's office measure up size wise, compared to other metropolitan counties?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:23:13

For the biggest in Ohio, I believe, save for Montgomery County, but Montgomery County takes a lot of out of county cases. So up there, I think Montgomery has 10 or 11 pathologists, which you might which actually might surprise you. A county the size with Dayton in it should have half as much as us. Right? But they have a little bit more than us because they take, you know, half of the state. All most of Western Ohio, counties that need an autopsy go to them, whereas we just take Franklin County cases. Hopefully, with our ninth ninth pathologist, we can have a discussion about taking out a county cases, if that's appropriate. But we measure about the same as Cuyahoga and Hamilton. So Cincinnati and Cleveland were about the same.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:23:59

Okay. Is it common for, corners to be, doctors But that that that when you go to national conferences, is that the standard that most have to be a doctor of some type?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:24:16

In Ohio, the coroner has to be a physician. But actually, The United States, there's only 14 states that have coroner systems. The other other 22 have medical examiner systems, and the other 14 have a hybrid. So actually, we're technically a hybrid since Cuyahoga County and Summit County, they had medical examiners. So their top foreigner person is a forensic pathologist who's not elected. It's appointed by someone like you. And so they're not directly responsible. They can't be held accountable directly from the people like I am.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:24:53

You they would hold you accountable for the medical examiner's issues that they would have. And so when I go to conferences, it's a weird split. I'm always like, where are you from? What state are you from? Oh, you're a medical examiner or or you're a coroner and, oh, like, for example, in West Virginia, the corners don't need to be a a physician, which kind of makes sense since West Virginia has such a scarcity of physicians already. It'd be really challenging for their county, each county, to have a a coroner who is a physician.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:25:20

In Franklin County, we put a great emphasis on employee wellness, and I thrive on benefits play. And we zero in on, certain, professions that, put a lot of stress on our employees. And it it causes you know, when you're doing something you're doing tough work time and time, you know, over and over again repetitively, it can, put your, your your your mental well-being at being at stake. And then your mental well-being is tied to your physical well-being. You know, this is a circular thing. What are some of the things that you do here in this office to help employees given the type of work that they do?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:26:11

Well, we're so grateful that the county is so generous in the resources and support that they give all of us, all of us employees. And I make sure I tell everyone we are constantly being inundated with trauma. You know, the pathologists and the more technicians, they have to cut on people every day. And that might not be traumatic because that's their job. But at some point, especially with some cases, you know, the things that really bother me are teenagers that die by suicide. Those really does choke me up a lot. Kiddos, when we see a baby once a week and that's not normal, it's normal for us in a sense that that's kind of our standard of work. But at some point, it's gonna take its toll on someone.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:26:59

And so I really recommend every employee, whether you're a pathologist or a case secretary or a chief of staff to make sure you're taking good care of your mental health and your physical health. So I encourage people, hey. From a physical health standpoint, are you exercising? Are you eating right? And are you getting enough sleep? But all those things contribute to our mental health. But the county has amazing resources from a mental health standpoint, but we also have, a canine unit that comes from the sheriff's office. So some puppy love, that can help, you know, increase morale. Therapy pets. Therapy pets. Yep.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:27:33

But we also, as a staff as a leadership staff, try to make sure we're being thoughtful and intentional about having, you know, cookouts in the summer for staff or other ways that we we give back our time and energy so that they know that they're cared for, that we are a team. We're almost the family and family has to take care of each other.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:27:55

Community outreach. Reaching the public and getting them to understand, what you do, why you do it, particularly when you're supported by the taxpayers is important. What are some of your key community outreach, in civic engagement strategies?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:28:18

So that's a great question, minister Wilson. We have a whole lot of outreach from our overdose investigator and our suicide investigator. In particular, our overdose investigator is starting to go out to high schools and talk to them about preventing overdoses and the disease of addiction. So that can be really beneficial to students who may have seen something in in their community, may may be experiencing that within their family or within themselves. It's an opportunity to for us to reach out and connect people to resources. We are so resource wealthy here in Franklin County, but sometimes connection poor. So I feel like we can be Switzerland and connect, people to different resources in the community. Then I'm going out partnering with, for example, mothers of murdered Columbus children, doing some advocacy on their behalf, talking about how we want to prevent homicides, and we don't wanna see any more children, any more or any more adults for that matter dying at the death of the hands by the hands of another in our community.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:29:21

It's but we talked about engaging and exciting the next generation of forensic pathologists. So it's me going out to COSI and talking about what I do and and talking to students who are really interested about forensic science and saying, hey. You have a place here at the forensic science center. This is where you could have a job and make, you know, decent amount of money, have great benefits by working at Franklin County and tying into all the other agencies and many other opportunities in our community. So there's a lot that we're doing in terms of outreach. Just this past, this weekend, I educate I did a presentation at a church. And so it's reaching out to the faith community talking about misconceptions. There may be in the community, but also educating about what we do here so that we can demystify, but also engage, excite that next generation of

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:30:13

of forensic pathologists and, other workers in our community. When you go to when you when you go to conferences, amongst your peers, I would've what's the what's the what's the profile? Median age, is, Chad, Benjamin, you kinda, like

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:30:31

Stand down a little bit. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:30:33

That's a good thing in Mount King, but I know you kinda stand out.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:30:38

But there are younger forensic pathology pathologists who are just out of fellowship that are my age or younger. So that's nice to have that sort of Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:30:48

But you demon in charge here. The demon in charge. You ain't just out of school. You like

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:30:54

There is, one Man. Younger ish, foreigner in Ohio. He's in his, forties. But for the for the most part, classically speaking, foreigners get a bad rap for being, like, in a retirement age job. Like, alright. You're in your sixties or seventies. You're gonna, you know, write off in in the sunset on a easy job. But this is not an easy I don't view this as an easy job.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:31:17

I view it as an opportunity to really engage, advocate, have an impact in my community so that we're seeing less people dying of overdoses, less people dying of suicide, homicide, all these manners of death that are it's tragic for someone, for a family and for a community. It's a huge cost when someone dies at the hands of another. You know, just recently, I went to a summit that was hosted by Columbus Police in the in the community, and it's millions of dollars that's spent through the justice system, through our office when these deaths happen. So if we can prevent them, we're saving the taxpayer a lot of money and all the trauma associated that, you know, when I go out to these scenes of of the students and I see their families in that initial shock, it's so much trauma that they're going through then there. But that's going to last for days, weeks, months, years. And I've talked to many families who have said, Doctor. Romer, when I found my son, for example, with a gunshot wound to his head, you know, years later, I thought about taking my own life because of how hard it was to grieve. And some people follow through on that.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:32:33

Thankfully, that doesn't happen as often as, but there's just so much trauma. So if we can prevent that and I see this as a very serious role to help prevent that in our community.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:32:43

How does your office, coordinate with, with with with Lifeline, for the organ donation and all that? How does that how does all that?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:32:53

So, we have a good relationship with Lifeline of Ohio, the Oregon and Tissue procurement organization within Central Ohio region. There are cases where we restrict access on, for example, most homicides. We don't we don't want organs or tissues going, if it's going to affect a case. But we we want to allow tissue donation and organ donation to folks in need as much as possible. So we work closely with them to make sure we have appropriate guidelines and restrictions in place to keep the decedent, to allow us to provide justice to the decedent. But we also want, you know, lifesaving organs and tissue to go to others in in our community. So we work closely with them to make sure we're we provide appropriate guidance. We did get an award last year, fifth from Lifeline of Ohio.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:33:52

Because of our dedication of working with them so closely, we developed, some logistical and operational aspects within our data system to help streamline some of those, access points. And so when I mean, access and time is of the essence, literally within these cases. So if we can streamline processes and operations so that we can say yes or no to a donation or not, and if that yes can happen quickly and that they can, get lifesaving organs and tissues to people who need it, then that's a win for us. Right?

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:34:28

Right. Right. Growth. Franklin County is the largest county in the state of Ohio. 1,400,000 people and growing. And, you know, I'm sure you get the pot you get the population SMS from Mid Ohio, regional planning commission and know that, you know, just over the next six years or so, we probably will be, approaching 2,000,000 people. How does this office project for that, and what does, you know, you see for the future in this office to keep pace? Because your office quite naturally will be affected by that growth.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:35:10

And that's that's such a good question. We we are just right now formulating our four year strategic plan, thinking about population growth and what the the community and the county needs, but also what our own office needs. And then taking that strategy, looking at what are the gaps, what are the needs, and then going to folks like you and the commissioner saying, here are some opportunities because of this potential growth and the perceived growth. You know, what do our do we need more pathologists? I think, thankfully, right now, administrator Wilson, we're we're good on that for now and for the coming future. But as we plan and continue to grow from fears to what you're saying is 1.2, one point three to two million the next several years, that's inevitably gonna have more deaths. Like, yes, I would love for the number of deaths to go down, and we are seeing a good trend in that way in terms of overdoses. But as population continues to to grow as our county grows, you're you're inevitably gonna have more deaths that are gonna come to this office. And so it's, you know, taking our numbers, taking the data, looking at it closely, broadly, but also with the the fine tune fine tune comb and saying, hey.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:36:23

What are some of the needs? What are or projections? And then the county so far has been very generous and very supportive of our needs, making sure that we're being accurate, timely and compassionate with the care that we're providing the county. And so we want to continue to do that.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:43

Is there any, legislation out there that could impact, the burdens on county foreigners here in Ohio? Is there any legislation that increase the number of instances where, autopsy is mandated? Are there are there

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:37:03

Thankfully, not not that. No. Thankfully, no.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:06

So is there any legislation you're aware of that, and I guess that leads to the question. There's a lot there's a great focus on on Washington right now, and, federal funds are being reduced in all kinds of areas. Are there any areas of your budget here that makes the Franklin County Coroner to office in forensic science center run that could be adversely impacted by, federal

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:37:36

action. Our overdose investigator in particular is 100% grant funded. And when we learned that some grants were being cut off right then and there, we were like, what are we gonna do with this? Now, thankfully, there's been

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:51

a sort of a lifeline. Judicial is pleasure. Issue, in in in ejection.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:37:56

Correct. So that position is safe for now. But, you know, in general, both business and government like stability, and we have so much instability coming out of Washington. It's it's a little not a little alarming. It's quite alarming. And because we're mostly taxpayer funded, you know, the amount of policies that Washington and the federal government put on the states and local government is is concerning. And so we're we certainly continue to monitor both local, state and federal policies and procedures that may impact our day to day operations, but also our strategic goals and and values.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:38:40

Thank you. As we, wrap up the podcast, I wanna lighten things up a little bit like I always do. And and your work, you know, we know us we know us we talked about the stress. You you talked about, you know, your focus on our residents and ensuring that we get a you give them the best, service possible. How do you, man? How do you balance that? What do you what do doctor O'Meyer like to do for fun?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:39:12

Well, I love going to crew games and Blue Jackets games. We just had a tie this past weekend, so I was a little upset about that. But our opening was amazing. So if you're a crew fan out there, I usually stand in the in the Nordeka section and read on my crew. That's like the You

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:39:29

stay in the Nordek.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:39:29

I'm on the Nordek, mister Woods.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:39:32

Anybody know anything about CrewSC, the county coroner, doctor Obad in the Nordek. So you got a edge to you just alone. We're gonna say that. Be it. They had the bravery.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:39:44

It's fun. I love it.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:39:46

It's so narrow, though. It's exciting.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:39:49

It's I love it. It's amazing.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:39:51

You don't get the urge that you're just gonna fall, like, forward, like, over.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:39:55

There's a railing. There's there's protective barriers. The

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:39:57

broadcasters, if you you gotta see you Google it. Look up the Nordec, and you'll know what I'm talking about. That you would you'll feel like you're going it's the narrowest place, but it's it's the equivalent. Yes. The the It's the socket. The rubber's our steep. Dog pound.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:40:14

It's tough. We're rowdy. We can't be.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:17

It's the socket equivalent. When the ref Can be. That decision. Can be rowdy. I would never look over at the Nordeck. It is not Raleigh. I'm too conservative to be in the Noordec myself.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:40:27

That's when I'm able to yell and get my frustration out, administrator Wilson.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:31

See, I might get in trouble if I was in the Noordec, so I can't go over there. I can look over there. But now I'm a know you over there.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:40:37

You could probably get in trouble with something.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:39

Now I'm a know you over there. I'm a be like, so what we're gonna do?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:40:42

Now great. Someone's gonna pick me out and put a camera on me the entire time. No. No. That's gonna get

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:48

me in trouble. Our viewership is not up to high. Don't worry about it too much. Don't worry about it too much. Don't worry about it. Okay. We're gonna move on. Beach or mountains?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:41:00

Beach.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:02

Where? Atlantic, Pacific? Don't matter. Mhmm. Caribbean. Caribbean. Puerto Rico. Mango. Okay. Alright.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:13

What you like to do? What would what what's what's you like what what's cool about The Caribbean you like most? Because that's it. That's more than just beach. It's not other stuff there. So I

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:41:23

love Puerto Rico because there's they're not only beach, but there's, like, basic food. I like the music. I love the culture, the dancing. Oh, I love it. It's all it's all amazing.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:36

But You say that you you say birds, so that that that don't that is not why you're there for the colorful birds. Means. Are you are you a nature guy?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:41:46

Yes. I love birds.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:51

Okay.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:41:51

Yes. I'm an ornithologist.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:53

You you now we're gonna now we're gonna skip to do you like you like the buckeyes? I know you like buckeyes, don't you? Yep. But that's what Well, you know I'm a bobcat. I am too. Two. Alright. Bobcat. Yeah. I know.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:09

O u o. Yeah. I've done yeah. All of that.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:42:12

Okay. So we're both Bobcats and Bobcats.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:14

I went there for grad school. I don't know if that don't count the same, though. So I was hiding I was hiding during Halloween as a graduate student, wanting to end. Look through looking through my blinds. Like, when did it end? When did it over yet? So, you know, I I gotta real you know, I gotta I gotta realize I don't have as much credibility as a OU graduate because I'm a grad school graduate, if not undergrad.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:42:37

I feel the same way. I feel like my credibility is a little less. Right? Because yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:42

Because wild And have that college. Wild things happen on the on the hockey. Harvard on the hockey's and wild days happen around the league. Oh, it could just be any given weekend based on my the observation. Streak. It could be any given weekend.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:42:59

We love that. We love to have them. We love people having a little fun, you know, expressing themselves and getting off some steam or just

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:06

Well, you a burrito, burrito buggy here?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:43:10

Mama, Big Momma's Burrito? Yeah. I love Big Momma's.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:14

They had a lot of different food was good. Mhmm.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:43:21

Yes, sir. I studied all the time, the administrative Wilson. I I studied just study, study, study.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:26

I believe that. Now we're gonna skip to on to professional football. Which which which team you root for?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:43:34

I think you know that I'm a huge San Francisco forty niners fan.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:38

I just want you to repeat it. So give us some background on why the forty niners.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:43:45

So my grandma used to live in San Francisco, and I visited her in 1990, the year last year we won Super Bowl.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:53

I don't know. Has your team Nineteen ninety nine. It's a long time. February. Nineteen '90. Ninety. Ninety. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:03

It's been a while. Mhmm.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:44:04

But

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:05

I'm no way. What you was last time your team won? They have they have That's

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:44:09

what I thought.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:09

But they did. They won. Now I'm looking forward to

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:44:16

a great year. Rock pretty soon. We can get paid. Now we just lost Deebo. Deebo is he's such a, like and he has such versatile in this to it.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:28

Yeah. It's just big. Very, very, very it's

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:44:30

a thick like, just big guy to get fast. So I'm I'm sad to be lost, but I'm hopeful hopeful we're gonna pick up some new additions with the draft and continue to utilize our our skilled players in the best way.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:43

What else do you wanna share, before we conclude this podcast? Doctor Nate, anything else you wanna share? Anything else you wanna you wanna put out there? This is your time for your public service announcement.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:44:56

So a few things I wanna make sure I mentioned. Coming up later this month, the ministry Wilson, we are having our art grand opening. And you may think, what are opening in the forensic science center? But we are having a destigmatizing event when it comes to overdose awareness. Folks who are struggling with the disease of addiction and folks who are in recovery from their their disease sometimes utilize this outlet of art. And so we want to assist and uplift those people who are in active recovery and showcase their work because there's a we I was we're so fortunate to visit some sites who are working with folks who are in the recovery process, and some of them are utilizing art, paintings, other forms of art to express their disease process or help something that's helped them through recovery. And so we are having an event showcasing some of that work and showcasing the work that's that they're doing in treatment and recovery, staying alive and contributing back to society, contributing back to our community. So we're really excited about that. That event is coming up March 27, at our at our facility in the evening, and there's lots of ruptures going on about that.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:46:20

Administrator Wilson. So we're having a black male behavioral health symposium talking about talking about black male mental health.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:46:27

It's a big issue.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:46:28

It's a big issue.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:46:29

We have a soul talks initiative that is, very similar today.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:46:34

And so I don't know if you know this, but the the person who has most at risk for an overdose in Franklin County is a black man aged about 50. That's the person with the highest risk. And so how do we get that particular population to talk about their mental health, to talk about their disease of addiction, and how do we partner with organizations that are working in that space?

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:02

We have a middle a you have a middle middle age crisis to the level that you wanna take your life. But, it's a lot that leads up to that. A lot of pain, a lot of disappointment, a lot of, a lot of a traumatic, experience that that lead once about that when they get to that point. And then on the other end of the spectrum, what also troubles me is, you know, he is age 88 to 13. That being a leading cause of death for that group, which is like 12 and

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:47:38

in the same vein. So we're we're partnering with the Columbus and Franklin County addiction plan and we host the annual overdose awareness event. International Overdose Awareness Day is always August 31. So we try to have an event around that day to to symbolize the work that's being done in the space to recognize the work and uplift those who are who are struggling.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:48:03

Do you do any, we touched we touched on outreach, but just looking around at the facility, Have you all, done any, community open houses? Let people see, you know, what not restricted areas, but just to see their tax dollars at work and to see the lab and to see everything we do because I wanna bring more exposure to you. I think you, she you're under you're underexposed. You need to bring more exposure to doctor Omar. Because I expect you to be county coroner for a very, very, very long time. So we need the community to know who you are and then and raise your profile.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:48:42

Well, I appreciate that.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:48:43

No. I doctor b at they got doctor b at cosine award winning, podcast, the Grammy awards. He thought he could have a doc doc doctor doctor o. No. We gotta give you something unique, but we we you're underexposed. And I could tell you don't you gotta come out more. You look good. You gotta come out more.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:49:05

Thank you. You gotta come out more and let let them know who you are and what you're doing. There's only one Franklin County coroner, and it's you. It's you, sir. You need to you need to get out there. You need to get you a public affairs staff. I know I know a few, folks that work for you that I'm a have to get them to get to work and then get you more exposed. I know a little bit.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:49:29

I've known a little while. I know a few of your folks. They're pretty good too. They just need a little push. They just need a little motivation.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:49:36

Well, I think we're we're doing a lot. I appreciate that statement that we're underexposed, but we are doing we're being thought we're being thoughtful and methodical about bringing folks into the facility, Citizens Academy sort of folks who are interested in the work, but also folks who have had a loved one die and what we want to demystify, like what has gone on. We have brought folks into our facility, but we can, you know, think about proper ways, to appropriate ways to open up art and give some choice.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:50:08

Because, you know, it's like it's like having to go to court. You only see the court when something bad happened. You see, that's that's what that's what it reflected. Now coming here, you know, it's and to see it in it in it, you know, before something might, you know, never happen. I think many people go through life and never never even have to drive by here, but it it serves an important governmental function.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:50:33

It sure does.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:50:34

And, I admit, I I appreciate you. You could have done many other things other than become county coroner. So, that's why I'm, you know, I'm an advocate for you to have a long tenure here. You just, you know, be the family you'd be a family physician. You you could do that. You know? And that's probably in it. You know? I won't I won't quote the number where you might have to be at eight. You got a lot of upside.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:00

I tell you. You got a lot of upside. We do we're gonna we're gonna magnify all of that. So Thank you, mister Stewart. Thank you for taking the time for being on this podcast. This is another episode of having an opportunity to, bring community champions on the podcast and and talk about, the work they do.

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:51:21

Thank you for highlighting our important work in the public service that we're doing. It's really important. Thank

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:25

you. One more time. You got a book. You wanna you got a book. You gonna you got a a digital music favorite. You gotta what what you want else you wanna say?

ty Coroner Dr. Nate Overmire [: 00:51:34

Why do why the mic's on? Oh, my favorite book is, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. No. Okay. That's good. That's a good answer? I don't know. I don't know Columbus. You tell me.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:47

People will look it up and see. Well, we're we've concluded this podcast. It's it's been an enjoyable conversation with doctor Nate O'Brien. And as I always end by saying, do you because nobody else has time to.