Mason County Secures Funding to Boost Lab Efficiency

In recent news, Mason County commissioners have approved Coroner Jaime Taylor’s funding request for additional equipment to accommodate a total of 11 decedents, along with a new cooler space in Belfair. This will allow bodies in North Mason County to be stored locally instead of being transported to Shelton. Once a body is placed in the cooler, the investigation continues, and Taylor can obtain the decedent’s medical records or conduct toxicology tests. In Washington, the county coroner’s office determines the cause and manner of death.

Currently, there is only one forensics toxicology lab in Washington state, and the backlog for tests is 13 weeks. As a result, Taylor must classify the death as “pending” until the toxicology results are received.

Recently, the Mason County commissioners also approved the purchase of rapid toxicology screening tools for the coroner’s office. Taylor proudly showcased the new Evidence MultiSTAT toxicology screening analyser, which provides results in about an hour. This machine examines blood samples and detects the presence of substances like fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and many others.

“Now families don’t have to wait. We can get answers right away,” Taylor stated. She emphasised that there has been a significant number of calls related to drug overdoses and has made drug education a priority, presenting in schools about the dangers of drug use.

According to Mason County Coroners, obtaining a toxicology report from the state lab can take up to 13 weeks, which can complicate the issuance of death certificates and the analysis of drug use in the community. This delay can also affect law enforcement assessments and public health surveillance. In response, Mason County Public Health has recommended the purchase of toxicology screening tools.

The Randox Evidence MultiSTAT is a fully automated analyser that can perform toxicology analysis on blood, urine or oral fluid samples and provides results in less than 30 minutes. The MultiSTAT provides on-site simultaneous detection of up to 29 classical, prescription and synthetic drugs from a single sample and delivers immediate results and real-time data to pathologists, coroners, law enforcement, and emergency rooms. Grants can be used to assist in the purchase of the Evidence MultiSTAT, bringing testing in-house with results in 30 minutes instead of the current average wait time of several weeks.

To learn more about our post-mortem screening visit: https://www.randoxtoxicology.com/post-mortem-toxicology/

To learn more about grant availability visit:

https://www.randoxtoxicology.com/grants/

Or email us at info@randoxtoxicology.com