KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The latest data on deaths in Kalamazoo shows things continue to return to normal since the COVID-19 pandemic, with a slight uptick in local suicides among the young last year.
Dr. Patrick Hansma, Chief Pathologist at the Medical Examiner’s office at WMed, recently updated county officials on the latest statistics from 2024.
It shows a rise in deaths by natural causes, but decreases in most unnatural causes, like accidents, drug use and homicides were down.
“Most of them are natural, accidents being the second most fortunately homicides are near the bottom there, ” says Hansma.
He says their patients may no longer be alive, but they are still in the life saving business. Knowing how they died might save someone else.
“Is there something here that we need to know about whether it is an emerging disease like COVID-19, five years ago.”
He says it’s not just from disease.
“The mere presence of someone who was homicidal in the community, both of those are public health threats.”
The Pathology Department at the Homer Stryker School of Medicine downtown now works with 17 regional counties.
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