On Wednesday, April 6 175 Allied Health (which encompasses nursing, respiratory, dietetics, and EMT/Paramedic) and science students and faculty from Black River Technical College attended the Bodies Revealed Exhibit at Discovery Park of America in Union City, TN.
The exhibit showcased several full body specimens, organs systems, and hundreds of individual anatomical specimens. The bodies are actual human specimens that came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science for the purpose of study and education. The specimens have been examined by anatomist, biological anthropologist and medical examiners in order to label the specimens and disease processes accurately.
The bodies and anatomical pieces are prepared through a polymer preservation process in which the human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber. The preparation time for a full-body specimen may take up to a year to prepare, but can last for decades. Each system was represented: skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, digestive, urinary, reproductive, endocrine and circulatory.
Several displays demonstrated disease processes such as a pair of lungs damaged by tuberculosis, another set of lungs damaged by smoking. The smoker\’s lungs also included the heart which was three times enlarged due to the workload placed on the heart from the damaged lungs. There were also brain specimens showing aneurysms and strokes due to blood clots, and various cancers. One body was cut into cross-sectional images and preserved with glass plates in order to show the anatomy from the view of a computed-tomography scan (CT scan). Nurses were present throughout the exhibit to explain the anatomy and answer questions for the students.
The trip and meals was fully funded for all students which was made possible by donations from the BRTC Student Government Association, BRTC Special Event and Activity (SEAS) initiative, and student fundraising through RADA and Little Caezars Pizza sales.