As I walk through the hospital hallway, I get numerous stares. People distraught and even disgusted at the sight of me walking through. It’s almost as if the grim reaper himself was here. Everyone is scared and fearful of witnessing what I am here to do.

I stroll on by numerous rooms until I come to my destination, usually the Intensive Care Unit. I usually don’t have to present myself to the nursing staff; it is pretty obvious what I am here to do. With a gurney at the tip of my hands, a pair of gloves in my pocket and, lastly, a face sheet, I go to work. I prepare all of the necessary equipment to safely remove a corpse from their deathbed.

After loading up the corpse into my removal van, I transport the body straight to the mortuary. Upon arrival I get the body into the prep room and apply moisturizing cream on their facial features to avoid any dehydration. And finally, put the corpse into the refrigeration unit and call it a day.

Members of our society have placed their trust in me to fulfill the responsibility of disposition of the dead. I deal with death willingly on a daily basis whereas others avoid it. My job helps people obtain closure. I give families the opportunity to say their last goodbyes.

I chose this profession because it has always been my childhood dream. As a child, I spent a lot of my time with my father and I would accompany him to funerals whenever he went. I enjoyed viewings and burials, and from then on I knew that I wanted to become a mortician.

As a teenager, I never forgot my interest in mortuary science and, as an adult I self-researched the profession.

After attending Bakersfield College for two years, I pursued a career in the funeral profession. I obtained a volunteer job at a local mortuary and an internship at the coroner’s office. I wanted to make sure that I could handle performing the duties a mortician did, and I ended up loving it. My family was not supportive, but I applied for acceptance into mortuary school anyway. I started in the fall of 2002 at Cypress College and planned to complete the program in one year, which totalled to 50 units.

Mortuary school was one of the best times of my life. Monday through Friday consisted of all day mortuary curriculums ranging from anatomy, chemistry, embalming, funeral ceremonies, restorative art and accounting.

Embalming was done on campus once a week. The first semester, we were not allowed to embalm because we hadn’t had the experience yet. However, we did get to raise arteries and veins in order to learn the circulatory system. After gaining enough lab experience, we were allowed to embalm our second semester. Embalming is a single point injection made into the common carotid artery. A preservative, formaldehyde, is injected into the circulatory system while blood drains out.

Overall, I learned the differences between casket and coffin, autopsy and embalming, and cadaver and corpse. But most importantly I learned everything I needed to know in order to become a licensed funeral director and embalmer.

After working in the workplace, I immediately knew that I loved my job. I didn’t become a mortician for the money because reality is my job is underpaid. I became a mortician because I feel a tremendous amount of happiness while I am at work. I love knowing that my job performance will have an effect on the families that I serve.