Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — The Vital Statistics Office at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is operating normally again following a computer crash last month that created a backlog of requests for records, agency officials said Thursday.

A three-day "deployment" of agency volunteers working to eliminate the backlog of record requests all but eliminated the backlog, according to KDHE officials who reported that by the end of the business day Thursday, "just over 500 applications remain."

Those records would require "further handling due to additional requirements associated with the requests," officials said.

Since Saturday, 6,402 backlogged requests for records had been processed.

“We would like to thank Kansans for their patience,” said KDHE Secretary Roderick Bremby in a prepared statement. “We have returned to normal processing times.”

Officials said people seeking certificates of birth, death, marriage, divorce, etc., could request them via the Internet, telephone, regular or priority priority mail. They also could ask for them personally at the Vital Statistics Office.

Processing times could vary from from 15 minutes for a walk-in request to a week or more for a request by mail, officials said.

“Without the extraordinary efforts of KDHE staff who volunteered to help clear the backlog, it is likely that thousands of requests for vital records would not have been fulfilled for many weeks,” said Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, state health officer and director of health. “Kansans can all be proud of these dedicated public servants. They understood the need and they responded to the call.”

Information on how to order certificates is available online at www.kdheks.gov/vital/index.html.