So, you're thinking about applying to mortuary school. Cool, great, awesome...but wait, do you know what that actually means?
You're probably thinking "Yeah, it means I'm going to be a funeral director and/or embalmer and work with dead people. Cool."
Sure, that's the short answer but do you know what the job actually entails? Blood, guts, wounds, bones, snot, feces, urine, etc. Have you thought about if you have to embalm a suicide case? What about an infant? Mortuary work is not for the weak minded or weak stomached.
- You are "on call" 24/7. This means you may leave your family on a holiday to take care of someone else's.
- You go to pick up the deceased person and notice a smell; and it's a smelly smell. That's a decomposing body that may have been left for a few days.
- You moved the body too much and look at that frothy mess coming from the mouth. That's the body purging from the lungs.
- Uh oh, the body is still purging but this time it's not from the mouth. Let's re-bathe them.
- You're called to the hospital because a women had a stillborn. Now you must walk through the hospital either cradling a dead baby or carrying a car seat so no one asks too many questions; until they recognize you. Emotionally draining.
- It's 3:00 AM and you were woken up to a crying family over a detrimental car accident that may or may not have dismembered their loved one...and they want an open casket.
- The decedent has jaundice? No big deal right? They make embalming fluids to take care of the discoloration. Oh no, why are they green?! You've now caused jaundice green by using the wrong fluids and it can't be fixed. How will you explain that one?
- Oh, and it's a lot of science, chemistry, restorative arts, and math.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that is death care.
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