In early October families of the 152 donors to The University of Western Australia’s 2020 - 2023 Body Donation Program gathered in Winthrop Hall to join with the university community in honouring the donors’ lives and expressing gratitude for their selfless gift to Western Australian education.
The University holds the memorial service every three years to honour whole body donors to the Program. The families were joined at the thanksgiving dedication by university academic faculty, special guests and students to acknowledge members of the WA community who bequeathed their remains to advance medical and anatomical teaching and research.
The families were warmly welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia Professor Amit Chakma and Head of the School of Human Sciences Professor Michael Rosenberg.
Head of the Division of Surgery and CTEC Director Professor Jeff Hamdorf delivered the Memorial Address, speaking to the generous legacy donors leave to not only medical and allied health students but also to WA health care professionals and patients via CTEC’s training program.
“Our Centre – which is part of UWA’s Medical School - is located right next to the School of Human Sciences and we share a lot of wonderful resources. The Body Donation Program is of course the most valuable resource we could imagine,” said Professor Hamdorf.
“CTEC’s 25 year partnership with the School of Human Sciences has led to donors having a true impact on the health care of the next generation of Western Australians. We cannot underestimate the vital role of medical education in promoting patient safety and quality of care in our hospitals and health care systems. The University of Western Australia’s Body Donation Program is an asset to both our state and country.”
Since CTEC’s launch by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000, more than 53,000 Australasian professionals have received vital medical and surgical training at the dedicated surgical simulation centre.
Quoting renowned American poet Robert Frost, Professor Hamdorf paid tribute to the courage of those who had taken the challenging decision to donate their body upon their passing and take “the road less travelled” for the betterment of medicine, health and science.
“For the families and loved ones of the Donors, I imagine embarking on this road less travelled must have also been so very challenging….. What a truly noble and generous gesture to consider donating one’s body to the University for teaching purposes. Surely this can only be thought of after a full and wonderful life.”
Professor Hamdorf described how he had come full circle to pay tribute to the donors and their families. He began his career as a medical student at UWA in the 1980s.
“We relied on the generosity of donors to allow us to learn anatomy as medical, dental and science students – this has been the case for many hundreds of years,” said Professor Hamdorf.
“If we look at today’s medical school however there is a lot less time in the curriculum for students to study in the anatomy lab and so anatomy is taught using preserved specimens, digital images and x-rays often with three-dimensional modelling. Yet whole body donors still have a major role in medical education and this has extended way beyond the traditional anatomy lab-based teaching.”
Professor Hamdorf detailed how CTEC offered education, skills and training to the full range of our state’s health community with the support of the Department of Health WA.
“Students come through CTEC but also junior doctors, nurses learning the management of trauma, dentist learning new skills, podiatrists, general practitioners, physicians and surgeons at all levels from early training to qualification and onwards,” he said.
“Medical education has become a true professional continuum. This means that from university through to retirement doctors, nurses and other health care professionals can come back to the University and CTEC and take advantage of opportunities to maintain skills, learn new skills and – this is really important – to train their juniors. Our Donors make this exceptional level of Western Australian medical education possible.
Professor Hamdorf detailed just some of the numerous advances that had recently come out of CTEC with the benefit of the Body Donation Program including workshops teaching nerve blocks to anaesthetists, multiple series of training workshops for junior doctors, rural General Practitioners and nurses, advanced vascular surgery workshops that had made a real impact on surgical training across Australia and New Zealand and highly sought after practical workshops for surgeons and emergency department physicians.
“We are working with an WA based orthopaedic surgery research group which has developed techniques for the most advanced robotic joint replacements which provide a much more accurate result than even the most talented orthopaedic surgeon could ever dream of. This is expected to be more freely available over the next 5 to 10 years.”
In terms of research, Professor Hamdorf said CTEC and the School of Human Sciences were privileged to be involved with some world first activity including the development of keyhole kidney transplant techniques which were first put into practice at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
“We are currently working with the transplantation surgeons at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in a major research project to further develop the techniques of liver transplantation,” he said.
He said these examples in teaching and research show elegantly that the donors were having a true impact on the next generation of Australian health care and the promotion of patient safety and quality of care.
“UWA’s Donor Program is an asset to both our state and country. To the Donors and their families, loved ones and friends – we thank you for this extraordinary gift.”
UWA students honoured the donors by reading the names of all who donated between 2020-2023. Their names have been inscribed into a Book of Remembrance permanently held in the School of Human Sciences.
Donors are also honoured by the University’s tranquil Memorial Garden, a symbol of gratitude and remembrance located adjacent to CTEC and the School of Human Sciences’ Anatomy Building.
A dedicated garden set up by UWA in collaboration with the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board at Karrakatta Cemetery also recognises and honours the Body Donation Program. Every year the ashes of donors not returned to their families are laid to rest in the garden and their names etched onto an annual plaque. Relatives and loved ones are always welcome to visit these gardens and pay their respects.
For further information contact:
The UWA Body Donation Program
Tel: 6488 3288
Email: bodydonation@uwa.edu.au
CTEC
Tel: 6488 8044
Email: admin-ctec@uwa.edu.au