June 8, 2009, Monday
I am so excited but a little nervous. I didn’t sleep well because of the excitement and I was right to be excited. After making the drive to Lander I met up with my boss, Ed McAuslan at 9:45am. My first meeting was at the FBI office at 10am. Lander has an FBI office because it is required for the reservation, since the reservation is by law its own sovereign nation. In this they have their own police department called the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). This is similar to non-reservation local police departments. However, the next level of law enforcement is that of the FBI, unlike non reservation police departments that increase in size from local to county to state then to federal. The only form of law enforcement that works both non reservation and reservation in this county is the coroner’s office. It has had jurisdiction both on and off the reservation since the 1920s. This is nice in this area because jurisdictions are hard to accurately identify at times.
I have digressed, let me return to my first day. So my first day I went to the FBI office for a meeting about the upcoming Native American Conference. Then another meeting in the county court house with a grieving family. Neither of which I am allowed to discuss further.
Now for this internship to be beneficial I have to be available for calls, and have a rapid response time. The best way to do this is to live your boss, and his wife, which is exactly what I am doing. Ed and his wife Roni, out of the kindness of their hearts have offered to provide a room and meals for me for the whole summer. This is the perfect living situation for me to learn about the area and experience all that Fremont has to offer.
Day 2
For breakfast that morning Roni made me a cup of juice made from beets, carrots, kale and spinach. I was amazed that these ingredients (none of which I would have put together for a drink) were really good together. I have learned that juicing machines take the nutrients of a vegetable or fruit and get rid of the fiber part retaining all the vitamins and minerals. Roni explained that there is a lot of vegetables and fruits that go into a drink and the only way that they can be consumed in that quantity is if the fiber (the part that makes you feel full when you have eaten a vegetable or fruit) is taken out. Fiber is present in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains so those that "juice" need to be aware of this and make sure they get fiber daily from a different source.
Today Ed felt it was important for me to become acquainted with the area that I would be working. He gave me a tour of part of the county (it is big!) During this tour I was introduced to communities of Fort Washakie, Arapahoe, Saint Stephen’s Mission, Riverton and Ethete. At Fort Washakie I met a man that is famous for his hand-crafted fly poles, Mark Lambert. In fact, when we got there he was working on a set of four poles for the National Geographic fly fishermen. Also in that area I visited the cemetery of Chief Washakie and Sacajewea. Sacajewea’s grave was amazing because it is has a statue of the celebrity and the graves of her two sons. Did you know that Sacajewea was pregnant when she began with Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition and during it she gave birth to her first son? Later, she adopted a son and now all three are buried together in the Sacajewea Cemetery. Today, the statue and the graves of these individuals are decorated with flowers, coins, and other gifts given by those paying respect to the remains of those who played such a significant role in the history of our nation.
Day 3
We drove to Dubois, Wyoming. This is a beautiful valley situated between snow capped mountains. Many have cabins in this area which help them escape the city life and enjoy quieter days (Roni and Ed do). While in Dubois we met with Dan Nowlin the Supervising Deputy Coroner of Dubois and the surrounding area. Let me explain, because Fremont County is so big it isn’t possible for the coroner’s office to be very efficient unless they have deputy coroners in the three larger (and very spread out) cities; Riverton, Dubois, and Lander. Here is a table of the hierarchy of the Fremont County Coroner's office:
Edward R. McAuslan
Fremont County Coroner
Professional Specialties Administrative Assistant
Dentist S&R / Recovery Pathologist
Contract Archaeologist
Chief Deputy
Operations Deputy Intern Program
Property Clerk
Dubois Supervisor Lander Supervisor Riverton Supervisor
Deputies Deputies Deputies
Note: Chief Deputy is the Supervisor of their community of residence
Dubois Deputy Coroners Riverton Deputy Coroners Lander Deputy Coroners
In Dubois we went to the Suicide Prevention Task Force meeting. This is one job that most don’t know the coroner does, or at least a good coroner does. This task force was created to discuss ways to help prevent suicides from occurring in the county. One person from the Public Health services works with the volunteers to write grants, to teach classes on how to identify when someone is contemplating suicide, and how to talk with potential victims. Currently, the task force has created a set of billboards and pamphlets to spread information on what signs to look for, and who to call when someone is depressed or contemplating suicide. Their new poster has actual members of the community that span the nationalities, sexes, and different age groups which they hope will be a stronger message.
I am trying to not eat a lot of food today because I am going to a sweat lodge tonight. I'm nervous that if I eat a lot the sweat will be harder to get through. I was informed that for my first one it may be better if I don’t go with a lot of food in my stomach. I am so excited to experience this Indian tradition that I can’t sit still on the ride back to Riverton from Dubois. The sweat that I will be going to tonight is conducted by a Shoshoni elder named Willie LeClair. Willie travels the state performing sweats for certain institutions with his job as a chaplain. He has even gone to the Vatican to perform Shoshoni spiritual traditions in front of the Pope! This adds stress to me for my first sweat but it also means that I will be experiencing a true sweat with an expert.
The background for sweat lodges and the procedures: I can’t describe the exact method used to construct a lodge because that is not my place to describe as I am not Native American. Additionally, I don't have enough experience in that area of their culture. A basic description is that the land the lodge is constructed on has been blessed by an elder. Then the lodge itself is constructed in a certain manner so that it is both airtight and weather proof. It isn't finished until all the prayers have been said and the east facing doorway is cleared.
What I can explain about a sweat lodge is what occurs when I personally go to a sweat, because it isn’t right for me to explain other people’s experiences. That is disrespectful as a sweat is a very spiritual event and what is said in the lodge stays in the lodge. So what I have learned about a sweat lodge is that they always have certain elements:
1) People are friendly and supportive. By the end of a sweat everyone is considered family and while you may meet everyone with handshakes in the beginning, by the end everyone hugs because they are now family.
2) The area around all sweat lodges are similar with the doorway to the lodge facing the east and a pit in the middle for the hot rocks to be placed. A few feet east from the opening is the mound with a decorated buffalo skull and four different colored flags facing the four directions. A few feet further east is the fire pit where the rocks are heated.
3)The sweat lodge is where the participants go to pray and sweat.
4) There are songs and prayers said within the lodge to honor all living creatures.
5) The sweats consist of four rounds, with the possibility of a fifth round which is optional.
6) There is an individual who sits in the place of respect. They say the prayers and direct the activities of the sweat.
7) Water is given out before each round and if someone decides to drink (or use) their cup of water than they are committed to staying that whole round. Before you use your water you give some to Great Grandfather by pouring it on the hot rocks in the middle of the lodge. The key to giving this to Great Grandfather is that if you pour the water directly on the rocks that’s a sign to the person running the lodge that you want the round to be hotter.
Everything else needs to be experienced firsthand because it is hard to explain how this manner of praying can be different from others. For myself I have found the sweats make me feel calm. It is for this reason that I find after a sweat I sleep very well.
One very funny experience was that right before my first sweat everyone was changing into their sweat clothes (you wear workout clothes or swimsuits in the lodge and have others to change into because you are soaked afterwards). While everyone was changing (I was already in my sweat clothes) Ed came up to me pointed at my upper body and whispered in my ear, “You should probably take that off”. Embarrassed I looked up at Ed and asked, “Are you asking me to take off my shirt?” He stopped and started laughing and then said, “NO, NO, I was talking about your necklace”. Which made both of us laugh and of course everyone else had to hear about it and laugh too.
For my first sweat I went through all four rounds. I exited the lodge after every round (which is not required) and enjoyed the cool breeze that helped to cool my body before the next round began. After the 4th round I was asked if I wanted to do the bonus round. Feeling strong because I had made it through the first four rounds I decided a fifth round couldn’t hurt. So I agreed to do the fifth round and it was by far the hottest of them all. At one point it felt so hot I couldn’t believe I wasn’t passing out. It took a lot of mental control to stay sitting up and breathing and not make an escape attempt. By the time that door opened I was moving toward it, right behind the water. The water is always moved out of the lodge before anyone can leave. I looked back into the lodge and realized I was the only that sat through the whole round and still had the energy to exit. Everyone else had laid down and didn't leave until later. We agreed it was a hard round.
Day 4
I learned how to do a medical request today. This is done when the coroner is investigating a case and needs a person’s medical records. So they give the individual’s doctor a letter requesting a copy of the records. By law doctors can release a patient’s medical records to a coroner, but just in case a doctor is not familiar with this law, all of the medical requests that we write have a copy of the statute in the body of the letter. I wrote the one that we delivered on this day prior to our visit to the doctor.
After this visit we, Ed and I, drove to the courthouse and then got called by the office letting us know that we had been called out to my first scene. I was so excited because I would finally get to know what happened at a scene. I was nervous because this is the first time I got to see a dead person and I had heard the horror stories. I maintained a positive attitude and after taking pictures of the scene, and the body, I found that all I could think of was the family and how to take care of the deceased. The fact that this was my first body was not scary. I do have to admit that after we had cleaned the body and moved it to an area so that the family could say goodbye, I found that I was continually looking at the body waiting for it to breathe or sit up.
Being around a body wasn’t the only lesson I learned. I also learned the role of the coroner and his staff when working a scene. Every case is different so it is hard to explain exactly how each is or will be worked. The main responsibilities of the coroner and his deputies (and me) when at the scene are to learn what happened, gather medical information, watch over the body of the deceased and assist the family, following their wishes to the best of our abilities. This is because the role of the coroner can be described as the individual elected to communicate between law enforcement, medical professionals, and the family. To do this the coroner’s staff gathers all of the medications at a scene, takes statements, and takes pictures to document the state of the body and the area around the body. By taking these factors into account the coroner is able to make a decision at the scene as to whether this information is enough to conclusively determine the manner and cause of death. If there is still any uncertainty then the coroner's staff needs to do research by requesting medical records for the deceased and sending the body in for an autopsy performed by a forensic pathologist.
Now is a great time to describe how important it is for a coroner to have an understanding of traditions and beliefs of their constituents. For example, some cultures believe that one should not touch a dead body. For that reason they shy away from working in professions that perform this duty and don’t prefer to touch their loved one before the body is taken by the coroner to a morgue. Others believe that certain ceremonial practices should be done on a body to help release the spirit and cleanse those who are around the remains. There are a variety of different traditions and an understanding of these traditions helps the coroner to know what questions are important to ask when working with the family so as to make the experience less difficult for them.
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