New home: Johnson County Health Department, Coroner’s Office move into new building

At long last, two Johnson County departments have new, larger spaces to call home.

The new joint Johnson County Health Department and Coroner’s Office building was officially dedicated and opened to the public during a ceremony Wednesday in Franklin. The new building, located at 95 S. Drake Road, marks a milestone for the two departments.

“When you go in, you’re gonna see a state-of-the-art facility. It’s one of the top in the state,” said Kevin Walls, county commissioner. “I’m just so proud. It takes a community like Johnson County to pull this together.”

Both departments have needed larger spaces for several years. The coroner’s office had operated out of three different locations across the county: the Johnson County Courthouse North Annex and Johnson Memorial Hospital, both in Franklin, and Jessen and Keller Funeral Home in Whiteland.

The health department operated out of a rented space at 460 N. Morton St. in Franklin. File cabinets lined the hallways, boxes were stacked on whatever counter space was available and employees shared small office spaces.

But now, both departments have more than enough space for their operations. The building is divided into two wings: one for the coroner’s office and one for the health department.

Coroner’s office

On the coroner’s office side, there is a morgue cooler with the ability to store 10 decedents, along with a private sally-port at the back of the building to pull in cars and transport decedents in and out of the office away from the public eye. The coroner’s office does about 50 autopsies a year.

There will also be two offices, a secure evidence room, a dedicated family meeting room and an autopsy suite with a viewing window. Having all of the coroner’s office in one place will improve efficiency, and in turn, save taxpayers money, said Mike Pruitt, county coroner.

The autopsy suite is the first dedicated for the coroner’s office in more than 50 years, when under the leadership of county coroner Dr. Harley P. Palmer an autopsy suite and offices for the coroner were added at Johnson Memorial Hospital around 1970.

Palmer’s legacy lives on at the new building, with the autopsy suite is named for him. His family was in attendance at the ceremony and were proud to see his legacy live on, they said during a tour of the coroner’s wing.

Palmer had a legacy of service for Johnson County and surrounding areas, serving as Johnson County Coroner, pathologist for JMH and Morgan County Hospital, president of JMH’s medical staff, president of the Indiana Association of Pathologists, and as Marion County Coroner and pathologist, Pruitt said.

“My first autopsy I went to — which was in the early 80s — that was the very first one that I ever went to with Tug Sutton … That was the first time that I ever got to meet Dr. Palmer,” Pruitt said.

Health department

The health department wing is double its previous space. It includes several employee offices, cubicles, three exam rooms and plenty of storage rooms for vaccines, medical supplies and records.

Over the last two decades, the department has been in four different buildings. The new space is now their “forever home,” said Jefferson Qualls, county health officer.

“When I took this job, Commissioner [Brian] Baird told me, ‘Don’t worry, we have an excellent health department.’ And now we have an excellent building to go along with it,” Qualls said.

The technology in the building will make the department more efficient, Qualls said. Now they can do more with less, he said.

It also feels more welcoming to county residents and staff, said Betsy Swearingen, health department director.

“Everybody seems to have their niche and seems to just feel at home,” Swearingen said. “Hopefully they can do a good job for the citizens of Johnson County.”

With their new space, the health department hopes to open an after-hours clinic at the facility using state funds from the Health First Indiana initiative next year. Costs of this clinic are still being determined, she said.

Health officials also plan on adding new testing for sexually transmitted diseases as well, Swearingen said.

“We’re open for and looking at any new way that we can grow,” she said. “We’re partnering with the state department of health to grow our services and just become bigger and badder and so on.”

‘Shared vision’

The new building was made possible through funds the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which is a multi-trillion dollar federal COVID-19 relief bill. About $6.5 million, all funded through ARPA, was allocated for the building by county officials.

Swearingen is thankful county officials had the foresight to use the funds for the building, she said.

“Thank you to the elected officials of Johnson County for having the faith in us and giving us a new building and letting us spread our wings and expand our department,” Swearingen said.

As officials prepared to cut the ribbon for the new facility, Pruitt remarked that officials were not just opening a new building but a “a new chapter in the story of Johnson County” — one that promised greater health, safety and in-depth investigations for residents.

“This facility is a testament of what we can achieve when we come together with a shared vision,” Pruitt said.