It’s not a scene common to medical teaching facilities, but Anderson University nursing students, faculty and administrators gathered for a special service to honor the lives of the first four individuals who donated their bodies for scientific research.
Anderson University nursing students pause in prayer during a service to honor those who gave their bodies to science and education.“As an intentionally Christian school of nursing, we feel it is important to honor the lives of these individuals,” said Pamela Binns-Turner, dean of Anderson’s school of nursing. “We are so honored by their gift and will always treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
Anderson University has the only cadaver lab devoted to undergraduate instruction in the state and region. While the simulators in the new nursing building are among the most high-tech available anywhere, there is still an important difference in using actual human cadavers in instruction, especially when the nurses earning their bachelor of science degree at AU will make life-saving decisions in a clinical setting, Binns-Turner said. They refer to the people they will study as “silent teachers.”
“We should always remember that these were individuals with dreams and families,” said Evans Whitaker, Anderson University president. “They lived and accumulated assets and ultimately made this incredible gift so that [our] students would be the most highly skilled professionals possible.”
Anderson’s school of nursing launched successfully in August with full classes in both the traditional B.S.N. program and the accelerated B.S.N. program for adults seeking a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
As the new students gathered to pray, the large white board in the room where they held the service listed the Scripture reference, Genesis 1:27: “So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”