Our last field trip this semester was definitely one to remember. I just got home from the trip not too long ago, and my first thought was to blog about it, so here it is.
You can say I'm naive, but I did not expect to see what I saw today. I called my mom and my sister after leaving the medical examiner's office, and they both said, "What did you expect? You knew you were visiting a morgue." I guess I'm just used to the other trips we've taken this semester; nothing more visual than a slide show.
I got to the medical examiner's office at 2 p.m. I thought to myself as I was driving into the parking lot, "I never knew there was a morgue this close to campus." I walked into the lobby and signed in. Then we gathered into a meeting room with an overhead projector, where Vernard Adams, MD. spoke to us about gathering public records in a medical examiner's office. It was pretty standard information. No photos are allowed to be taken in the facility to respect the privacy of the grieving families. We were split up into two groups for the tour of the facility.
We saw the different rooms in the administration building, then our tour guide, Manger of Operations Dick Bailey, took us outside and over to the morgue next door.
I knew we were going to see the exam rooms where autopsies take place, but I believed we would not see any dead bodies. I mean, the staff wouldn't make a bunch of journalism students witness something so gruesome, right?
We initially went into the room where bodies are stored. It was a cold 56 degrees in the room, which is warmer than the usual 37 degrees. They had it set at 56 degrees to conserve energy. We were all starting to shiver so we stepped out and walked into the autopsy room. I didn't see any bodies, but I noticed some blood on a table next to me. This is when I started to get nervous. Then, I saw one of my classmates point in horror at something over to the right. Sure enough, I looked over and saw a dead body, sliced open with all of the insides exposed. I had a mixture of feelings. I didn't know if I wanted to cry or vomit.
It did not even look real. I've seen dead bodies and gore in movies, but never in person. Almost like a train wreck, you don't want to see it, but you can't look away. So I couldn't help but inspect the body, and sure enough, it was a real dead body lying there.
We quickly went into the X-ray room. I felt safe. Then, an examiner opened the door with a skull in his hands. The coincidence made the situation slightly humorous, but I was honestly in shock. I can still visualize the body lying there in my mind.
The rest of the trip was honestly a blur to me. I had a moment of PTSD after seeing my first dead body. I wish we were warned we may see a dead body, but at the same time, I think not knowing is what added to the shock factor. It made the experience one to remember.
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