Introducing my innocent little article that got blown out of proportion by a certain Chair/bully at Guelph University. It was never published in our modest school paper as a result, but I thought I'd share an article which caused so much commotion and unnecessary stress this week.

I will not go into details, because I'm too tired and frustrated to rehash the 'learning experience' (which I could have done without) but I hope you enjoy. You will notice it is hardly an article to get worked up and political over! 

Dear future journalism students, this is a possible consequence of what happens when you refuse to hand over your final draft to interview subjects to vet or review, even though they insist. However, you will at least feel better about maintaining your credibility and adhering to proper journalistic practices... right??

Skin Deep: Kinesiology students share their experience in the cadaver lab
Lindsay Bishop

Ask Kinesiology students what their favourite class is and you’ll likely get the same response: cadaver lab.

In the first year of Kinesiology, classes are bused to Guelph University once a week for a two to three hour lab. Although it is a two hour roundtrip from Humber College to Guelph University many students agree that it‘s “worth it”.

“You get to see the muscle fibers and the direction they run and you get to see the actual organ. And it just makes so much more sense,” says Elaine Popp, Kinesiology program head.

Guelph is the only Canadian university without a medical school that gives undergraduate students an opportunity to dissect full-body human cadavers. There are anywhere between 12 and 20 cadavers at a given time.

Before students are granted access to the lab, they are prepped with rules and regulations. Rules include no hats, cell phones or loose jewelry.

The environment of the lab demands respect, more so than you would find in your everyday lab at GH. “They don’t let you make those silly little comments like ‘it looks like chopped liver,’” says Krissy Carlton, a second-year Kinesiology student.

On the first day, the class experiences a dissection of its own. One group of students prefer to watch from a distance, while another group is eager to reach into cadavers to handle different muscles.

Carlton said she wasn’t fazed until one memorable moment, “when we were studying the flexors of the fingers and what not, something that really, really got to me is that it was obviously an older body and the nails were painted. The person was in the hospital because they had various diseases and you could actually see them. They definitely had cancer, you could see the tumor on the ovaries and on the uterus. But someone had taken the time to sit with them in the hospital and paint their finger nails.”

Everything but the actual part students are studying is covered with wet sheets in order to preserve the body. The parts that are more personal, such as the hands and face, are almost always covered.  Students who want to see a facial dissection can request a special lab time.

At the end of the academic year there is a memorial for each one of the cadavers—people who meant something to someone—faculty, staff, students and the families of the donors are invited. Music plays in the background as a candle is lit and a flower is placed, students come forward and share their learning experience made possible by donors. Katie Billard, anatomy lab instructor, says it is especially important to thank the donors since there is always a shortage of cadavers.

The donors are cremated and then returned to the family. Although the cadavers can be preserved for several years, the family can request for them to be returned sooner.  “The family and loved ones always come first,” says Billard.

For Kinesiology students, the cadaver lab is an essential tool for learning about the anatomy of the human body. Although they have two lectures during the week that teach about the parts of the body using slides and artists’ depictions, the lab allows students to match up what they have learned and identify muscle groups up close and personal.