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| Edmunds |
Bodies donated to the USA Anatomical Gifts Program are used not only to train medical students learning anatomy, but also to train practicing physicians learning new medical procedures and to aid in physician research. The bodies are treated respectfully and professionally by students and physicians alike.
During the service, USA medical student Wes Edmunds thanked family members of participants in the Anatomical Gifts Program. The following is a portion of his presentation:
"Medical school is a process filled with many experiences, both educational and personal, but there are a few that are unforgettable to many physicians. Gross anatomy stands out in many people’s minds as one of the quintessential experiences of medical school. While it is filled with many lessons about how the human body works, it also came with a few personal experiences that I feel my classmates and I were very fortunate to have had exposure to.
With that being said, if it were not for the anatomical gift donors, we would not have had the valuable glimpse into the place where a person’s memories, emotions, thoughts, hopes, and dreams translated into the people that were known by many of you that sit here today. That translation between the mind and body is a symbol of something that is very real to every person, and I feel that it is the reason that my classmates and I have chosen to pursue a career in medicine.
While I spent many years preparing for the scientific knowledge I would gain in the classroom while in medical school, I wasn’t quite aware of the personal experiences I would have once we progressed through the semester in gross anatomy. The unexpected feelings I had at the time were not due to the anxiety of our first days in anatomy; because I had had plenty of time to mentally prepare myself for that. Rather, they came from seeing the physical remains of the people that provided me with the tools to learn about the human body that my classmates and I would be treating and caring for the rest of our lives.
The tattoos, the painted fingernails, the scars on hands, all of that gave me a glimpse into the life of the person that made the selfless decision to trust a group of medical students with their most intimate possession with hope to help build the foundation of their careers. At a time when it was easy to become preoccupied with my studies and visit the classroom with the goal of memorizing structures and landmarks in order to perform well on exams, the tattoos and nail polish, in a way, reminded me why I originally chose medicine as a career.
Medicine is one of the few, if not only, professions that rely on such a unique dynamic between the objective qualities of science and subjective aspects of the human condition. The unexpected experiences I had in Gross Anatomy during my first semester of medical school were invaluable and nearly impossible to take for granted. The impact these experiences had on my classmates and I not only benefited us, but will also benefit those who we will be caring for in the future. The gift that your family members gave was not one of substance that will soon be forgotten, but was one of knowledge and experience that will affect more than just the students at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. So on behalf of all of my classmates, I would like to say, thank you."
-Wes Edmunds
Class of 2015
If you are interested in becoming a donor or would like more information on the USA Anatomical Gifts Program, click here.
