Embalmer
Shawn’te Harvell (SH) has been studying embalming and practicing as an embalmer for over 25 years, beginning when he was 16. This is not a career for ‘the faint of heart.’ As a professional, he doesn’t permit himself to be sad about death while he works.
TYPICAL DAY’S WORK
On a recent day (as reported within the news article upon which this career story was written), SH walked down the steps of the funeral home, into a room where two bodies, covered in white cloth, lay on gurneys. SH was wearing crisp gray scrubs and leather shoes. A thin, plastic apron was tied around his waist.
By most standards, SH’s job is a messy one. He was there to embalm the bodies – to drain the blood vessels and cavities filled with fluid, refill them with preservative chemicals, scrub the skin, suture any cuts, clean the teeth, sew the mouths closed. He was there to massage the illusion of life back into cold, dead cells.
Now in his 40s, Sh is a professor of mortuary science at a local college, the manager of his own funeral home in Elizabeth, N.J. and a trade embalmer who does nearly 50 embalming’s a week.
SH moved swiftly and deftly. The two bodies he was embalming were opposites: one small and bony, almost to the point of emaciation, the other large, the legs and feet swollen with edemas.
“Every embalmer has a signature procedure,” said SH, as he pulled16-ounce bottles of embalming fluid from the shelf in a nearby closet. A bottle of orange fluId, 20% formaldehyde gas, dissolved in water and mixed with plasticizers to keep the body from stiffening. A bottle of blue fluid, designed for “frozen, refrigerated and cold bodies,” contained salts with large ions to draw fluid out of the skin and keep it in the capillaries. A body of violet-red fluId for color and firmness. “We all have a certain thing we do,” SH said, dumping the liquid into a plastic tub atop a pressurized machine to create a frothy, turquoise mixture.
CHALLENGE – EXPOSURE TO CHEMICALS
Formaldehyde sits at the heart of the embalming process. The gas fixes onto tissue proteins, stiffening them and inhibiting decomposition for roughly 24 hours. It is a vast improvement of the earliest embalming techniques, which sometimes entailed soaking a body in alcohol. But exposure to formaldehyde has been linked to cancer, and the door to SH’s room was plastered with biological hazard signs. He seemed unconcerned. “You’ve got to die from something,” he said with a shrug.
(Editor’s note – Despite SH’s acceptance of the risks of chemical exposure, there is well-documented, scientific evidence of the harmful effects of some chemical exposures. Scientists use a shortened phrase to summarize their beginning assessment: “Duration and intensity” are important starting points. Anyone expecting exposure to a potentially dangerous chemical should undertake some basic research to protect both themselves and anyone else likely to be in the same area of exposure: read the related warnings – on the label or product literature – and take at least basic precautions such as using a mask, gloves and skin protection. For prolonged exposures, review the scientific literature and consult with a physician or epidemiologist.)
The embalmer’s trick is to distribute the fluid throughout the body, starting with a two-inch cut above the clavicle, through which the arterial fluid is pumped into the carotid artery. The stomach is emptied, the contents replaced with cavity fluid that dries and firms up the insides. The skin is scrubbed and washed, the cut sutured shut, the lips sewed together and finally, makeup applied.
But to say that this is the extent of embalming, to embalmers, is like saying to a painter that painting consists only of long and short brush strokes, or saying to a writer that writing consists only of subjects and clauses.
SH, looking up from his work, said, “I can teach the fundamentals of embalming but to do it proficiently, to do it with that…” – he twisted his fist forward and back for emphasis – “you’ve got to have it in you.”
Said another embalmer, a female professional, “Merely knowing the embalming basics and having the right tool kit is insufficient, “You’re given a picture, and you’re creating that person all over again.”
After SH embalmed the two bodies, massaging stiffness out of the joints and pushing the arterial fluid through the blood vessels, the air in the basement room was slowly filling with formaldehyde, with its distinctive odor.
All the while, SH worked with an air pod squeezed into his right ear, through which he was – as he later admitted – carrying on a conversation with a friend. “That’s fine,” he whispered, and it was hard to tell whether he was speaking to the living or to the dead.
The room was quiet. Formaldehyde can make your eyes water and your nose run. A surviving family member observing the embalming process said to SH that she was crying. She assumed that everyone who looked at the embalmed body would also be crying. SH looked up, his concentration broken for a second, and said, while pointing to his own face, “My eyes are dry.”
EMBALMING – THE ART AND SCIENCE
Methods of body preservation after death go back thousands of years. One of the oldest ways is embalming – in modern times, by treating the body with chemicals.
Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or keep them preserved for medical purposes in an anatomical laboratory.
The three goals of embalming are sanitization, presentation and preservation, with restoration being an important additional factor in some instances. Performed successfully, embalming can help preserve the body for many years. Embalming has a very long and cross-cultural history, with many cultures giving the embalming processes religious meaning.
A successful viewing of the body is considered to be helpful in the grieving process. Despite a common misconception, embalming is not mandatory in the U.S.
The modern method of embalming involves the injection of various chemical solutions into the arterial network of the body to primarily disinfect and slow the decomposition process.
An embalmer has formally studied anatomy, thanatology (the scientific study of death and the practices associated with it, including the study of the needs of the terminally ill and their families), chemistry and specific embalming theory.
A mortician is a more general term which may refer to someone who is a funeral director or an embalmer or just a person who prepares the deceased without the formal education of an embalmer. Legal requirements to serve as an embalmer vary among different states
CAREER SATISFACTION
“My ultimate goal is to give (the survivors of the deceased) their loved one back. I’ve had families come up to me and tell me, ‘Wow, they look so nice I couldn’t even cry.”
Apparently SH appreciates hearing such a sentiment without joining its outward manifestation.
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This career story was based on a news article written by Oliver Whang, published by the New York Times on November 3, 2022 plus internet research including Wikipedia.
