Bostrom heads to New York to help victims

Bostrom heads to New York to help victims

Oct 13, 2001

By Katharhynn Heidelberg
Journal Staff Writer

Dr. Paul Bostrom, the Montezuma County coroner, is lending his expertise and time to helping New York deal with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Bostrom, a volunteer under D-MORT (Disaster Mortuary), will travel to New York today to assist the New York City Medical Examiner’s office with identification of victims.

D-MORT, operating under the auspices of FEMA, responds to disasters where there are mass casualties, Bostrom said. The organization is divided into 10 regional teams; Bostrom serves with Region 8, which extends from Montana to New Mexico. Each team is ordinarily available for two-week terms of service in the event of a disaster.

The situation in New York has exhausted the regional teams in the East, Bostrom said, and his team has been asked to lend a hand in what can be a gruesome task.

Bostrom, who will serve in the capacity of medical death investigator, said he would not be at "Ground Zero."

"I don’t think I’ll be pulling people out of the wreckage. I will be working at the New York City medical examiner’s office, helping to identify victims," he said.

This task is admittedly unpleasant, he said, because it involves the "matching up of body parts," and the added emotional difficulty of talking to family members and coordinating positive identification by next of kin.

"It has to be done," Bostrom said. "It helps provide closure to the relatives of these victims as this terrible tragedy suddenly moved into our lives."