Scattered Episode 20: Practicum at the Medical Examiner – Interview with Alisa Hardy and Taylor Dube-Mather

I talked to Alisa Hardy and Taylor Dube-Mather about their experiences doing a practicum at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in Alberta. Alisa is currently doing the practicum and Taylor completed the practicum in 2019. I did a very casual version of a practicum at the OCME in Edmonton during my graduate program. I wanted to see how our practicums differed and what they learned from their experience.

In this episode we talk about:

• Alisa’s and Taylor’s personal backgrounds and what brought them to the OCME practicum
• the 3-month OCME practicum as coordinated through Mount Royal University, and what Alisa and Taylor experienced during the practicum. This includes the OCME’s processes, their role as a student, and hands-on experience with paperwork, external examinations, and autopsies
• that a certain kind of person is attracted to and will succeed at the practicum. We talk about the sensory experience of the OCME
• that not all deaths go to the OCME, and autopsies will not be performed on all decedents at the OCME. We also talk about how it is decided when an autopsy is performed
• the high number of suicides that arrive at the OCME and how this impacted Taylor
• the culture in the OCME and feeling included as a student. My experience was very different from Alisa’s and Taylor’s
• how Alisa and Taylor have personally changed because of the practicum experience. We talk about compassion, respecting the dead, being grateful for life, and feeling honoured and proud for the experience of working with the dead.

The program at Mount Royal University is a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and you can find out more here: https://www.mtroyal.ca/ProgramsCourses/FacultiesSchoolsCentres/Arts/Departments/EconomicsJusticePolicyStudies/DegreePrograms/BachelorofArts-CriminalJustice/index.htm

The OCME practicum is coordinated by Dr. Janne Holmgren. You can view her profile here: https://www.mtroyal.ca/ProgramsCourses/FacultiesSchoolsCentres/Arts/Departments/EconomicsJusticePolicyStudies/Faculty/JanneHolmgren.htm

Taylor is currently doing her MA at Simon Fraser University with Dr. Gail Anderson.

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