COEUR d'ALENE - Jody DeLuca Hissong isn't intimidated about running for Kootenai County coroner.

After all, she said, she has basically been doing it for three decades.

Chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County for the last 27 years, Hissong acts as coroner whenever the official is ill or absent, which has happened consistently with coroner Robert West operating a separate surgical practice during much of his tenure.

"What we've been doing for quite a few years now is he's on call for seven days, then I'm on call for seven days," said Hissong, 67. "The fact that I've been doing it for such a long time, I think I can step into those shoes."

Hissong, a Democrat who filed her candidacy for coroner on March 8, pointed out that her entire career has prepped her for the position.

Raised in Hailey and then Pocatello, she earned her nursing degree through the St. Anthony Community Hospital in Pocatello in 1963. She worked for St. Anthony and various pediatric offices before moving to Post Falls in 1968 with her husband, Skip, who is now a City Council member.

She started working for the coroner's office as a nurse in 1970, and hasn't left it since, she said.

"I'm kind of a long-standing person," she said with a laugh. "I don't go from job to job."

She had to earn respect in the industry early on, she said, as women were rarities in the field at the time.

"I had to make my mark. I had to prove myself," she said, especially at crime scenes. "I couldn't show emotion. I couldn't cry."

It must have paid off, as former coroner William Wood promoted her to deputy coroner in 1982.

When West took over the office in 1984, he appointed her chief deputy coroner. While working under him, Hissong also helped in his separate surgical practice for over a decade.

"His knowledge has rubbed off on me," she said, adding that she has also attended countless seminars and training classes on death investigation and autopsies over the last three decades.

She is also a member of the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.

Her medical background is important to performing the coroner's duties, she said.

"It has saved me, believe me," she said. "Sometimes to go to a crime scene and see all these medications, if you know the names of them that really helps you."

She recalled one instance when law enforcement called her to a scene with concerns that the body of an elderly man was covered with bruises. She immediately recognized they were only age marks and not bruises from an attacker, she said.

"Medical background really is helpful," she said.

Hissong and her husband have six children, 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

She believes her long history with the office will allow her to sustain the successful relationship between the coroner's office and law enforcement agencies, as well as with funeral homes and assisted living facilities.

"The office is so well respected and has such a good, ethical reputation," Hissong said. "I would just like to see that continue."