Bostick continues to serve as coroner

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By Steve Swogetinsky

The Kemper Messenger

Terry Bostick was sworn in Tuesday as coroner of Kemper County, a position he has held for more than eight years.

Bostick was elected in the General Election earlier this year.

“I was coroner for the last eight years, and 10 years prior to that, I was a deputy coroner,” Bostick said. “When the coroner decided to retire, I decided to run for the office.”

The job of coroner has Bostick on call 24/7. Ben Dudley serves as the deputy coroner. But it is one of his two jobs.

“I am in the medical field as an emergency medical technician,” Bostick said. “I have 25 years of experience working in the medical field. I work in Philadelphia at Neshoba General on the ambulance full-time. I have been with them for 20 years. I started in Noxubee County and worked some in Kemper County. Then I went to Neshoba.”

He said he averages about four calls a week but the phone can ring at any time.

Bostick’s work takes him to wrecks, crime scenes and other unpleasant scenes. He also gets called out to homes where people have been on hospice and nursing homes when the deaths are natural. But it is work that has to be done.

“It’s not all wrecks,” Bostick said. “The last three I have done have been hospice. I have to fill out the paperwork.”

His job requires that he receive 24 hours of continuing education each year. When his term starts, he has to complete a 40-hour death investigation course.

“It is taught through the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s office in Pearl,” Bostick said. “That’s where the Crime Lab and Medical Examiner’s office is located.

“They do the 40 hour course during a week. You get the continuing hours through two conferences we attend through the coroner’s association.”

A native of Kemper County, Bostick lives in the Preston Community. He attended Neshoba Central and Kemper Academy. He went through the EMT program at East Central Community College.

 






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