The Jefferson County coroner may deal with death, but the job requires a compassionate understanding of the needs of the living during what may be the worst time in their lives, Coroner Richard Dial said.
Dial, the Republican incumbent, presides over hundreds of death investigations each year. His experience is what makes him the better candidate, he said.
Dial was appointed to the position in 2005 after former Coroner Carl Blesch left to take a position with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office.
A dentist by training, Dial has maintained a private practice in Lakewood for 18 years and has been doing death investigations for more than 17 years. Former Coroner Wilber Richie hired Dial as an investigator and introduced him to forensics, he said.
Dial is a board-certified forensic odontologist who specializes in identifying remains through dental records. He is the president-elect of the American Board of Forensic Odontology and helped identify victims’ remains for two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as well as last summer after Hurricane Katrina. Dial also helps identify remains for several metro counties, he said.
Although the majority of the deaths Dial handles in Jefferson County are natural, the experience is just as valuable, he said.
“You need as much experience in investigating a natural death as you do with a suicide or a homicide,” Dial said.
Not only does the coroner investigate death, he works with the office’s budget and administrative functions. Dial is a member of several state and county disaster planning committees, he said.
Dr. Richard Dial
Age: 45
Residence: Unincorporated Jefferson County
HOW LONG: 40+ years
Family: Wife, Elizabeth; one son
Profession: Dentist and coroner
Education: Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and doctor of dental surgery degree from the University of Colorado
Katherine Loughrey-Stemp
The Democratic challenger for Jefferson County Coroner will focus on community outreach and suicide prevention if elected.
Katherine Loughrey-Stemp, a registered nurse who is a clinical instructor in mental health at the Denver School of Nursing, said the coroner’s duties mesh well with a nurse’s training. Nurses work with the whole body and are trained to treat the whole person and the patient’s family, she said. They also are often present when a patient dies.
“(Nurses) know almost as much as a doctor does,” she said.
Loughrey-Stemp’s husband, Roger Stemp, died last year. As coroner, Loughrey-Stemp would go beyond her normal duties by providing grief support resources for people because she knows what it’s like to lose a loved one unexpectedly, she said.
Loughrey-Stemp also would work on suicide prevention programs, she said. Colorado has the seventh highest suicide rate in the country, and suicide rates in Jefferson County rose 30 percent between 2000 and 2004, Loughrey-Stemp said.
Loughrey-Stemp wants the coroner’s office to get more involved in the community and to help educate people about the coroner’s often-misunderstood responsibilities, she said.
The coroner’s office does a commendable job with its statutory duties, she said. So well, in fact, she believes the office could go beyond that and do more.
Loughrey-Stemp would not continue to teach full-time if elected, she said.
Loughrey-Stemp said she will not bring politics into the race unless she is forced.
“I’m not just there to take care of Democrats,” she said. “I’m there to take care of everybody.”
Katherine Loughrey-Stemp
Age: 51
Residence: Unincorporated Jefferson County
HOW LONG: Nine years
Family: Widowed, one son
Profession: Clinical instructor, Denver School of Nursing
Education: Bachelor’s degree in nursing, University of Phoenix