An Alternative Method of Expressing Appreciation to Families of Body Donors

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONFor over fifteen years, the UCSF Willed Body Program (WBP) has sponsored an annual student‐led body donor memorial service. The service provides first year UCSF medical, pharmacy, physical therapy and dental students with an opportunity to appreciate and process their experiences in the anatomy lab. Due to a number of limiting factors, including a lack of facilities to host the expected number of attendees, donor families are not currently invited to the service. Donor families have expressed disappointment to WBP staff over not being included. Recognizing the importance of expressing appreciation to donor families, the WBP has sought alternate methods to honor donors and include families in an expression of gratitude. To this end, the WBP prepared a book featuring personal notes and artwork from medical students that is sent to donor families within a few weeks after the death of a donor.METHODSAt the memorial service students are asked to write notes to donors or donor families on 3″ × 5″ cards, a practice now in its seventh year. WBP staff reviews the notes to ensure they are legible, appropriate and contain nothing that will identify the donors. A number of notes are selected, scanned, and formatted using Adobe Photoshop, imported into Adobe Acrobat and then exported as PDF files for printing. The book also includes student artwork and an introduction written by WBP staff explaining the purpose, value and appreciation for the generosity of body donation. The 2019 book contains 24 pages plus the cover. The cost per book is approximately $3.50 and is printed by UCSF Documents and Media. The WBP mails a copy of the book to each donor family or representative upon a donor’s death. Since January 2019, when the WBP began sending the books, the WBP has received dozens of phone calls expressing appreciation for the book, as well as requests for additional copies. Families regularly comment that they understood that body donation was important but that personal reflections from the students emphasize the profound impact of body donation in a much deeper way.CONCLUSIONThe gift of a whole body to medical education and scientific research is a significant act of generosity that deserves recognition. While memorial events that include donor families are ideal, not all universities have the facilities to hold such events. Alternative opportunities to express appreciation and connect students and donor families are available and can be created with minimal resources while remaining deeply meaningful.