How to organize cadaver ceremony?

[Goldenhair]

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Did anyone have or is going to have a ceremony for cadavers?
What did you do/will do/hear other schools are doing? What was the program?
We don't have a strong tradition in our school yet, it was done just once before us, so we are very flexible but also very inexperienced in what we do.

 

[45408]

What I liked in ours was that each group could send someone up front and say something. Some people took it very seriously, others just expressed gratitude, and some people managed to make it funny while still being respectful (e.g., "PS: bet you didn't know you had three ureters!" - we all laughed). I'd keep it short and sweet so that your classmates won't fall asleep. You could have someone read this article - http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=472479

 

[Doctor Bagel]

We had a luncheon with the cadaver's family before we started dissecting. We met our donor's daughters, got to see pictures of him when he was alive and learned about his life. Then we had a memorial service after we were done with dissection. It seemed like lots of families weren't particularly interested in participating (or the donor didn't have family, I guess), but the people who did show up said they liked the luncheon and the memorial service.

 

[Crazy4F1]

i believe our memorial is more of a mass (unsurprising), and the families are invited. i'm not sure if we get to meet the family of our donor or not.

 

[osli]

At our school, each cadaver is a willful donation specifically to our program - a choice made during life that our school is where they wanted to go to help students.

At the end of our anatomy year we have a memorial service for the donors and their families. Almost all of the donors have multiple family members who attend - its a pretty large ceremony. We have a couple of speakers, including the president of our university and the head of our anatomy department, and our volunteer vocal group sings a touching song or two. It is a very solemn, meaningful, and worthwhile program. Before and after the program students meet the family members in attendance and have the chance to thank them personally for the tremendous gift their loved ones made.

I can't imagine not having such a program.

 

[Repeat]

We don't.

🙂

 

[Goldenhair]

So how long was your ceremony and how long do you suggest we should make ours?

 

[Goldenhair]

Osli, I really like the idea of having a vocal group sing a song. Thank you!

 

[osli]

Our ceremony was probably an hours or less, but the "mingling" with family members started an hour before and probably went on for an hour after.

btw, there are two choral arrangements of "Going Home" that are both appropriate... one (difficult) by Dvorak, another (less difficult, probably more appropriate) that I have no idea who wrote. 😳

 

[julie29524]

We organized a committee where an ethics professor oversees the whole committee, he basically tells us what we can and can't do, what is tasteful and what is not.

-we got Student Affairs to sponsor lunch
-made participants dress in business casual
-bought a card and rose for each tank/cadaver, asked people to sign the cards for their cadavers (cards later given to lab coordinator to mail to families)
-had about a half hour of music (composed for this event), readings, and poems (original).
-after ceremony, the class lit candles (1 per tank) and walked outside to a memorial dedicated to all those whom participated in the will-bodied program, and had a moment of silence.

The whole thing was very appropriate and heartfelt.

When you do yours, make sure you are allowed to do what you are planning to do, because we weren't allowed to light the candles inside the school, the police department said so.

good luck.

 

[LowlyPremed]

The committee at my school had a similar problem last year. The ceremony organized by the committee (myself included) was the first one done in 10 years. Our program consisted of (in no particular order): a speech by a family member (his request), a student reflection and poem, general readings along a religious theme (stress general - we didn't have a religious ceremony), a song played on an acoustic guitar. This all lasted about 1 hour and was followed by a reception provided by the student affairs office. We gave each of the families a bunch of flowers at the end. I really liked the cermony (not only because I helped to organize it) but because it had the perfect tone. It wasn't a memorial service but it did recognize the families that contributed. It was not religious but it recognized that death and religion are highly intertwined for many people. The family really appreciated the ceremony. During the reception, my anatomy course director told us that "it was the most beautiful thing he has seen done by medical students in a long time." I'm hoping he mentions this in the new edition of his book.

 

[DocDocGooseM]

The committee at my school had a similar problem last year. The ceremony organized by the committee (myself included) was the first one done in 10 years. Our program consisted of (in no particular order): a speech by a family member (his request), a student reflection and poem, general readings along a religious theme (stress general - we didn't have a religious ceremony), a song played on an acoustic guitar. This all lasted about 1 hour and was followed by a reception provided by the student affairs office. We gave each of the families a bunch of flowers at the end. I really liked the cermony (not only because I helped to organize it) but because it had the perfect tone. It wasn't a memorial service but it did recognize the families that contributed. It was not religious but it recognized that death and religion are highly intertwined for many people. The family really appreciated the ceremony. During the reception, my anatomy course director told us that "it was the most beautiful thing he has seen done by medical students in a long time." I'm hoping he mentions this in the new edition of his book.

Hint: You guys attend the same school. Long-time reader, first time poster.

 

[Noeljan]

I am organizing it with a few other people at my school. We were going to have students read poems, one may play the violin, etc. I was thinking of having a few different religious clergy there. What do you guys think? Also, I wanted to do something that involved each lab table but not quite sure what to do. I was in a sorority so I have a few ideas on ceremony type stuff. I was thinking having one person from each table come up and light a candle and make a circle, or having one per table read a line from a single poem (though there are so many tables). Any suggestions?

 

[Noeljan]

We organized a committee where an ethics professor oversees the whole committee, he basically tells us what we can and can't do, what is tasteful and what is not.

-we got Student Affairs to sponsor lunch
-made participants dress in business casual
-bought a card and rose for each tank/cadaver, asked people to sign the cards for their cadavers (cards later given to lab coordinator to mail to families)
-had about a half hour of music (composed for this event), readings, and poems (original).
-after ceremony, the class lit candles (1 per tank) and walked outside to a memorial dedicated to all those whom participated in the will-bodied program, and had a moment of silence.

The whole thing was very appropriate and heartfelt.

When you do yours, make sure you are allowed to do what you are planning to do, because we weren't allowed to light the candles inside the school, the police department said so.

good luck.

that sounds nice. I was also thinking of the candle lighting. I will have to check if we can light candles in that room. thanks

 

[ItOnlyTakesOne]

At my school the ceremony carries quite a tradition and actually involves about 800 family members each year. It is actually organized by the Anatomy faculty and, because individuals are able to donate their bodies directly to the university (via our willed body program) we are able to invite all of their family members to the memorial ceremony.

During our ceremony (which lasted about two hours including the reception afterwards with the family members) we had 4 students give reflections, students give prayers from several different denominations, and each table bring up one flower to add to a collective bouquet that we placed on the school's memorial grave-site at a local cemetery. We also had students playing instruments (this year it was flute, and piano, but that varies from year to year) and a group of 8 students singing.

I would look to your school's Anatomy dept and Student Affairs office to help you out with the planning.

Good luck and I hope it turns out great!!!

 

[medstylee]

we got a few of our classmates together who played instruments and made a string quartet. we played for about 15-20 minutes as students and donors' family members walked into the ceremony. it was a nice touch and it was easy to put together.

one thing i'd suggest - make sure to tell all your speakers to keep their references to the donors as neutral as possible - ie, say "donor" instead of "cadaver" or "body." one of our speakers said "cadaver" a few times, and each time he said it i could hear a donor's family member sitting near me wince. it was obviously pretty jarring for her to hear her family member referred to as a cadaver. anyway, that's just a suggestion. we all do a pretty good job of disconnecting ourselves from the fact that these were once living people while we are in anatomy lab. for the ceremony, we just have to remember to reconnect - not necessarily for our own sake, but more for the family members of the donors.

 

[snobored18]

My school has been running a "Convocation of Thanks" for years. Between the MD (43 people) and the PT (27 people) programs two leaders were elected for general oversight and then several committees were formed to deal with 1. Music 2. Flowers/ushering 3. Printed Program 4. Invites/logistics. 5. Organizing ceremony (selecting poems, non-religious readings etc.) Breaking down the work is really key, as is working closely with the institutions willed body program which will likely be able to provide you with some financial support if they know what is good for them. We had a brunch following the ceremony to allow the family members to meet and talk to the students whose learning was benefited by their loved ones gift. The biggest piece of advice is if you are going to do it, do it right. Make sure you have a nice venue (i.e. not your first year lecture hall), a short but original and touching program, and the chance for relatives to interact with the students (many of the elderly in attendance absolutely loved telling us stories about their deceased spouse and listening to our career plans).