ELYRIA — The county coroner postponed the autopsy on Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub for a day while waiting for medical officials to determine if he could be an organ donor as desired.
“LifeBanc has to do its thing first and the autopsy is delayed until then,” County Coroner Stephen Evans said.
Evans said the delay hasn’t changed his preliminary finding that Eichenlaub, 58, died after suffering a medical event, possibly a heart attack, causing him to lose control of his 2007 Ford Explorer on Sunday morning. He went through two yards and hit two trees before coming to rest in the front yard of a home near Park and Miami avenues.
Hadie Bartholomew, spokeswoman for LifeBanc, the area’s nonprofit organ procurement organization, said patient privacy prevents her from commenting on specific cases, but in general when a person dies and they have expressed a desire to be an organ donor, doctors must determine if they are a good candidate.
Steps are taken to keep the organs viable for transplant and — if a person is a good candidate for donation — organs are typically recovered within 24 to 36 hours.
Bartholomew said any one person can donate up to eight organs — heart, both lungs, both kidneys, the pancreas, liver and intestines — and tissue matter. And 98 percent of people who wish to be organ donors state so when getting driver’s licenses, just like Eichenlaub, Bartholomew said.
The Laubenthal-Mercado Funeral Home is handing funeral arrangements.
In the meantime, fellow city officials who worked with Eichenlaub daily continue to mourn.
Elyria City Council members have decided to postpone tonight’s Finance and Community Development Committee meetings.
Council President Forrest Bullocks, D-2nd Ward, said the meeting was postponed because Eichenlaub was an important part of the city’s operations and many employees are in shock over his death.
“I still can’t believe it,” Bullocks said.
Agenda items scheduled for discussion tonight will be discussed at a future meeting.
Bullocks said the only pressing item involves whether Council will give Mayor Bill Grace the authority to discuss a possible agreement with the Lorain County Metro Parks on the operations of Cascade Park. A committee is being formed to be a part of the discussion, and Bullocks said those committee members will be discussed and chosen at 6:30 p.m. Monday, just prior to the regular Council meeting.
Councilman Tom Callahan, D-at large, and head of the Council’s Community Development Committee, said he always found Eichenlaub to be knowledgeable on city issues and easy to work with as an administrator. He considered him to be more of a friend.
“I still can’t grasp what happened,” he said.
Councilman Vic Stewart, D-at large, and head of the Finance Committee, said Eichenlaub had his hand in everything and postponing the meeting made sense.
Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.