ECC class lets students dissect cadaver from head to toe

Some community college students might lose their lunch over the thought of dissecting a cadaver from head to toe. Others call it the experience of a lifetime.

Elgin Community College Professor Luis Martinez' seven-week summer course, "Special topics in biology: Human Growth. Anatomy and Cadaver Dissection" has given eight students the opportunity to learn about the body in a hands on way.

Two teams of two students apiece are assigned to each body, one team working on the left side, the other on the right, using scalpels and bone saws to precisely dissect each cadaver to be used in the college's anatomy and physiology classes in the fall.

"As far as I'm concerned this was priceless," said Richard Schopp, of Gilberts.

Schopp, who's studying to be a surgical assistant, said the course is "giving the opportunity to see firsthand what I'm going to see in my career."

Not many community colleges allow students to touch - let alone dissect - cadavers.

As his students' first assignment, Martinez tasked his students with calling a number of other community colleges in the state, to find out if they offered similar opportunities.

Few did.

Martinez got the idea for the course, he said, after spending summers dissecting cadavers to be used in his anatomy and physiology classes for the following fall.

"I was always dissecting and there was always one student or maybe two who'd volunteer to give me a hand," he said. "But then one day, I was thinking 'why not give students the opportunity to learn the human body?"

Martinez approached then-science and health dean Tony Miska about the idea. With his support, the course was ready to be offered by summer.

The cadavers, Martinez said, are donations from the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois.

Students must spray the cadavers, which are embalmed in formaldehyde, constantly with chemicals called "wet solutions" to prevent them from getting moldy, Martinez said.

With the majority of class time spent dissecting, it is the students' responsibility to study dissecting techniques at home before performing them in the lab under Martinez' guidance.

"What these students are doing, it requires a very high level of quality," he said. "If you flunk your dissection, we cannot use those cadavers. They have a lot of responsibility."

Although the class ran for two hours, three days a week, Martinez said that most students logged many extra hours in the lab.

"They are so into it that they come early in the morning, they stay after class," he said. In the summer, the college is closed on Fridays, but Martinez often came "just to open the lab for the students," he said.

Schopp works 30 hours as microscopic laser welder. Still, he said, he usually headed to class around 11 a.m. each day.

"If I get out by 4 p.m., I'm lucky," he said.

The experience, he said, "grossed me out less than I expected. You're so fascinated by it you don't think about it."