Monica Silva: 2024 candidate for Kane County Coroner

Bio

Party: Democrat

Office Sought: Kane County Coroner

City: Aurora

Age: 51

Occupation: Chiropractic physician

Previous offices held: Kane County Board member since 2010; Aurora Township Trustee; Kane County Forest Preserve Commissioner

Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?

My health care and scientific background equips me with the clinical expertise to understand the human life cycle in its various stages of disease. My scientific/clinical training and my 20 years of experience as an administrator in the health care field makes me very familiar with the ethics of confidentiality, medical decision making, and accurate medical documentation.

As a mother, I have a deep sense of justice and am strongly motivated by protecting families and upholding the quality of life in Kane County. As a current county board member, this is a natural progression for me since it’s a unique role that allows me to leverage my training as a physician, my public health background, fiscally responsible nature, and my strong dedication to community well-being in a role that directly affects public health and safety. I am motivated by developing targeted prevention strategies and interventions. This knowledge can lead to the implementation of policies to reduce risk.

If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the board and what would your priority be?

Prevention: My clinical experience allows me to understand the importance of using evidence-based outcomes in order to understand factors in mental health, such as ACES and other reasons for long-term impacts on mental health. These allow us to intervene as early as possible and to allocate resources to the organizations best suited to help.

Awareness: My relationship with board members could allow me to gain support for initiatives. My willingness to work with all other elected officials allows informed decision making as we implement policy.

A coroner also plays a vital role in engagement. As coroner, I will bring a stronger public presence and bring the office into the community. Involvement at community functions and strong visibility can help to foster safer environments. The coroner could bring awareness to the prevention of death by recognizing patterns of fatalities among high-risk communities and as such should attend efforts to support these communities whenever possible.

What special experience and professional qualifications does a person need to be an effective coroner? What experiences and qualifications do you possess that will provide a foundation for your success in the office?

I believe that the coroner position requires someone with clinical experience who understands the various underlying medical conditions and their implications. Training in anatomy, pathology, and clinical decision making is helpful when determining cause of death. Effective leadership and an ability to inspire team cooperation and growth are essential skills. The ability to analyze and interpret data in order to assess policies and adapt them as real life situations change is another qualification of the office.

I believe that these are some of my strongest assets and qualifications, in addition to my clinical experience and health care/scientific background. I also have a genuine desire to connect with individuals and maintain positive relationships with colleagues, stakeholders, and the public.

Describe your position regarding the allocation of resources in the coroner's office. Are personnel allocated as they should be? Are there capital expenses or other budgetary items that the office must address, and, if so, how do you propose to address them?

As a board member, one of our most important responsibilities has been the fiscal management of the entire county, including the coroner’s office. In my time on the board, I've demonstrated fiscal responsibility by voting against all property tax levy increases. As coroner, I will assess current policy for timeliness, ease of information, and budgetary adjustments while managing the office in a fiscally responsible manner.

The coroner has internal control of his office, including managing his personnel as he chooses, and I cannot comment as a board member on that. If elected, I will assess how resources are allocated. A period of oversight would be necessary to evaluate how efficiently the team functions.

Some of the major needs in the coroner’s office include additional resources for professional development and possibly more staff. Additionally, as a county, we have identified a need for warehouse/storage space and modernized automation software for offices and departments.

Describe your position on transparency and public service in the coroner's office and the ease of access to records by the public. If you believe improvements are needed, what are they and how would you go about achieving them?

Providing updates is important for transparency, but we must keep in mind any ongoing investigations by law enforcement and also next of kin who may not have been notified. We must ensure ease of access, while respecting confidentiality and law enforcement efforts. Data sharing should also be done through detailed reports to the judicial/public safety committee.

When trends are noted, we should give a detailed assessment of the circumstances of death and the objective data necessary to identify the safety measures/precautions necessary to amplify the need for prompt action.

Public service in the coroner’s office involves not only the way we serve the families of the deceased with dignity and integrity but also how we interact with the community by having a strong presence in the community. The coroner’s office must be compassionate, professional and responsive when dealing with families suffering loss but must also be present to celebrate the vibrant milestones of life with it.

Please describe your philosophy about working with the media to get information to the public.

Media, whether print or otherwise, plays an important role in seeking information from elected officials and communicating it to the public. As I have said, informing the public about issues such as trends in aggregate death due to traffic fatalities in a certain area, increased rates of suicide in certain groups, public health alerts, and fentanyl exposure are just some areas where information can help to reduce preventable death.

I see the media as a partner to help disseminate this information to the public. I also feel that the media should cover outreach events and other times where the coroner is speaking to the community so that we can amplify the message to those who are unable to attend.

I plan to use press releases about office accomplishments and initiatives to provide information to the media. Increasing the office’s social media presence is also necessary both for the public as well as the media.