Sophia Garcia-Jackson, Chester County Coroner
Sophia Garcia-Jackson, the County’s Chief Deputy Coroner, works closely with incumbent Christina VandePol, who has decided not to seek reelection. Sophia manages and oversees all functions of the office: administration, investigations, transportation and morgue-related duties. She has supervisor-on-duty responsibilities and is the direct supervisor for the investigators. Her achievements include streamlining the budget process and changing how payments are made in order to enhance transparency. She sits on multiple task forces throughout the County, coordinating with local law enforcement and other agencies. With the Coroner she shares duties including signing death certificates by providing cause and manner of death. Previously, she worked for the State of New Jersey as a Death Investigator for 6 years. She holds a master’s degree in Forensic Medicine from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from California State with a certification in Forensic Identification, and has completed several internships and training programs. Sophia is certified with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and is working on the next level of fellowship and certified with the Pennsylvania Coroner’s Education Board. She will be prepared to lead the office on day one and will keep pushing for a modern forensic facility that provides the proper safety mechanisms for the office to work in the most important of circumstances, like a pandemic.
What does the Coroner do?
An elected row office, the coroner is an independent agency serving the citizens and honoring the deceased of the county by investigating the facts and circumstances concerning jurisdictional deaths which have occurred within the county in order to determine the cause and manner of death, the identity of the decedent, and to provide notification to the legal next of kin, while exhibiting the highest degree of compassion, professionalism, and integrity.
The coroner is required to investigate all sudden, violent, traumatic or unexpected deaths. This includes deaths from apparent natural diseases, but the individual’s treating physician has no knowledge of an existing medical condition that could credibly have caused the sudden death. Under these circumstances, it becomes the coroner’s responsibility to determine how and why an individual died. The Coroner is also responsible for assuring the individual’s proper identity and notifying the next of kin. The coroner’s investigation will always include examination of the deceased, but may or may not include:
• Interviews with family members, doctors and/or witnesses
• Photography of the deceased and/or the scene where death occurred
• Autopsy of the body of the deceased
• Toxicology of the deceased
• Collecting and holding any personal property from (or about) the deceased person that the Coroner feels may assist with the determinations.
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Chester County Democratic Committee Zone 3
Zone 3 represents Democratic voters in 20 precincts over 15 municipalities in Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. These municipalities are: East Nottingham (Township), Elk (Township), Franklin (Township), Highland (Township), London Britain (Township), London Grove (Township), Londonderry (Township), Lower Oxford (Township), New London (Township), Oxford (Borough), Penn (Township), Upper Oxford (Township), West Fallowfield (Township), West Grove (Borough), West Nottingham (Township).
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Mailing Address: OxGrove Democrats, PO Box 242, Oxford, PA 19363
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Our meetings take place on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM. Any registered Democratic voter in the region is encouraged to attend.
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