Student says cadaver lab not what he expected

Sept. 23, 2004
By Christine Mastalio
Features Editor

He walks slowly up the stairs, turning onto the second floor of Lewis Hall. He swings open the door marked “Authorized Personnel Only”. Bones are strewn across the counter, but his attention is focused on the tank at the back of the room. He sets his bag on the table and peers down at a dead body, floating in formaldehyde.

This is not the opening scene in a horror movie. It is just a routine part of Justin Gerhardt’s day. As part of his Anatomy and Physiology course, Gerhardt is required to take cadaver lab.

“I expected it to be really bloody and gory, but it’s really interesting,” he said.

Since 1990, St. Ambrose has used cadavers from the willed body program at the University of Iowa to enhance the curriculum for physical therapy, occupational therapy and nursing majors.

Kirk Kelley, professor of biology, holds a key to the room where the bodies are locked up.

“Cadavers are the best way to study anatomy,” he said. “If you’re looking at a picture in a book, it’s two dimensional, it’s flat. There is no depth. With a real body students can see how they’re made and how amazing it is.”

Gerhardt said that despite the smell of formaldehyde that permeates his clothing after lab, he is gaining valuable information for his career in medicine or physical therapy.

“The best part I’ve dissected is the heart, because a lot of people die of heart disease and you can see up close and personal what is really in the heart,” he said.

Anatomy and Physiology is a foundational course that students can build off of in future classes.

“I think that for those students in healthcare fields, the value of having some practical knowledge and experience of working with and inside the body can’t be measured,” Kelley said.

Students are given the age, sex and the probable cause of death of their cadaver and set to work cutting the bodies to examine the internal organ systems. They also identify slices of bone and tissue under microscopes in the lab. Only 16 students are in the cadaver lab this semester, but additional classes dissect cats and are able to compare them to the human bodies.

St. Ambrose has the bodies for one calendar year before they are returned to the University of Iowa, cremated, and the ashes are returned to the families.

“The students understand that these people donated their bodies to science and that’s an incredible sacrifice,” Kelley said. “These bodies need to be treated with respect.”

As Gerhardt pulls off his gloves and puts away his cutting tools, he looks forward to showering off the smell, but doesn’t regret the time spent bent over his cadaver.

“In classes down the road we’ll work with cadavers again,” he said. “Now I’m already familiar with them and know how to handle them.”

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