When the
Grand Rapids Public Museum first contemplated bringing
"Bodies Revealed" to town, they brought together a board to have a conversation. Members from medical, educational and religious communities, all with different perspectives, took part in this discussion to ascertain what the exhibit really meant on all fronts and if it would be a good fit for the Grand Rapids community. Discussions included how the bodies were acquired, cared for and presented and the educational opportunities the exhibit would provide.
One of the positive side effects of Bodies, according to Bodies' Chief Medical Director Dr. Roy Glover, is that the exhibit not only encourages people to take an interest in their own bodies, but also inspires students as well as adults looking for a career change to take an interest in the medical field.
"I think it's a wonderful idea that all these partnerships can develop within the community so that a museum and a major group of medical people can work together, each supporting one another to make good things happen for the city," Glover says.
The Grand Rapids community places a high priority on health care, education and research -- drive down the Michigan St. Corridor if you want a reminder. As the Public Museum Director of Education, Interpretation and Research Christian Carron says, "(Grand Rapids) used to be the furniture city, and now it's the medical city." The second floor of the museum, in preparation for Bodies, contains examples of medical technology being manufactured and researched in Grand Rapids at places like the Van Andel Institute or Stryker.
"(The exhibit) gives people a chance to see the medical advancements being made in their own backyard," Carron says.
An estimated 16 million visitors (650,000 of them school children) have seen Bodies Revealed, Glover says. This is Grand Rapids' first chance, and it comes at an opportune time. The
Helen Devos Children's Hospital opens Jan. 11, the Secchia Center of MSU's College of Human Medicine opened just recently, and the
Van Andel Institute's Phase II opened last January. The Medical Mile is expanding at a rapid pace, offering new job opportunities and attracting health science researchers, professionals and students. Medical professionals will be volunteering their time during the exhibit's high traffic hours to answer questions, and there will be health career exploration days for visitors interested in pursuing those opportunities.
Near the cases featuring these technologies is an entrance into "The Wonder of Life -- Redux." Debuted in 1970, this retrospective exhibit features TAM, the Transparent Anatomical Manikin. She was high-tech when the Public Museum acquired her, with each of her plastic organs lighting up over the course of a sound tour explaining how each worked. She seems strange now when matched against an exhibit where actual human organs are contained in cases, and skinless bodies, preserved with silicone polymer, reveal muscles working to throw a baseball or ride a bike.
One of the questions most frequently asked is how the bodies for the exhibit are procured. As an anatomist who taught for over 30 years at the University of Michigan, a school with a body donor program, Glover knows the process and the regulations. Each body once belonged to an individual who chose to donate their body to medical science. The cause of death in each instance was natural. The bodies were dissected and prepared at medical schools "because they have the expertise to do so," Glover says.
"We're using the bodies in our exhibits," he explains. "They don't belong to us. We basically care for them while they're in our possession. We display them as respectfully as we can in a comfortable environment for people to come and learn."
There are examples of how blood flows through the body, human embryos in stasis, frozen in time, showing how a mass of cells transforms into a human being. There are organs, pink and healthy, and there are organs, distorted and black from cancer or years of being a smoker or drinker. It is hard not to imagine those organs inside your own body.
Glover says he feels it's important for people to learn about their bodies, saying that some of the information commonly passed around about the body is incorrect.
"We want people to be better in tune with their body," he says, "and to see it in a very real way. To look at themselves when they come here and understand what they're looking at is not just a body that was donated for the purposes of education, but that they're the ones being educated about themselves. (Attendees learn) where their stomach is, how they digest, that the heart is a muscle that needs to be exercised, that smoking is harmful. When they begin to learn, they say, 'That was something I should have known, but now I'm connected to it.'"
Glover says people make decisions to exercise, quit smoking, eat better, drink less and sleep more after visiting the exhibit. This experience could change a person's life.
"We're in the health and wellness tradition," he says. "This exhibit is not about dead bodies, but what the body can continue to teach us about ourselves and the life that we all want for ourselves. We don't want to be unhealthy, sick or in the hospital."
He adds, "Healthcare to day is about prevention. Don't end up in the hospital if you don't have to be there. The best way to do that is to be responsible for yourself and no one can do that better than you can."
Bodies Revealed opens Nov. 20 and runs through May 1, 2011. Tickets and ticketing information are available online at the Public Museum's
website. Be sure to check out the lectures series, planetarium show, life drawing nights and other related events as well.
Photos:
Bodies Revealed (8)
Photographs by
Brian Kelly -All Rights Reserved