Guest Blog from Terri Kinloch

What you can learn from observing an autopsy

 As part of the requirements for the Leadership Academy, I job shadowed Mandy Johnson in her role as the administrator of the National Forensics Academy.  I shadowed her on a day that they were observing autopsies in the Knox County Medical Examiner’s office.  The experience was extremely enlightening on many different levels.  First, I directly observed the National Forensics Academy in action.  Mandy and her team do a wonderful job with the Academy and after talking to the participants it was clear that they receive a top notch education in the program. 

Second, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about the operations of the Medical Examiner’s office.  On the days that we were there, we saw five bodies brought into the autopsy room.  Three of the five bodies were under the age of 40 and three of the five people had drug abuse issues.  I was not expecting to see so many young people have their lives ended so early, but the experience taught me a few life lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  The lessons I learned were:

Life Lesson #1: Death Stinks (literally).  Take good care of your body.  Eat healthy and exercise (and don’t use drugs)!

Life Lesson #2: Always have fun at work.  The Medical Examiner had a skull disco ball hanging from the ceiling, played upbeat music and sucked on a lollipop while he performed the autopsies.  If he can make his job fun, so can everyone else.

Life Lesson #3:  Life is good (I wish I would have coined that phrase and put it on a bumper stickerJ).  Enjoy every day.  Slow down and appreciate the little things in life.

I know everyone already knows these lessons, but once you observe death it really makes you realize how wonderful life really is.  We all spend so much of our lives at work, we need to appreciate what we have and enjoy the people around us.