Hey, here's a question.
Do you know what an Embalmer does?
I'll give you a hint.
Right now,
I am in a funeral home, which is where an embalmer works.
Now you're probably thinking
Vampires, right? Werewolves, zombies?
Yeah, that's not technically correct.
But, an embalmer is a super serious career
with a list of great skills that you have to have
and it sounds really interesting.
So, come along with me
and we'll go find out all about it.
Yes, embalmers work with deceased people,
but it's so much more than that.
Comforting families and organising events
is all part of the job as well.
And today, I'm here with Janelle
to bust a couple of myths
surrounding this interesting career.
- Janelle, hi. - Hi Hans, how are you going?
- Good, now you are an embalmer. - I am.
Oooo, I need to find out what that is.
- Ok, step this way. - Let's go.
- Alright, Janelle you're an embalmer. - I am.
What is that? Please explain that strange job to me.
Well, as an embalmer, I work for a funeral home,
which means that my role is to care for the dead.
The funeral arranger will actually go out,
either to the family's home or the family could come in to us
and, they will be the one that make all the arrangements.
Once all of those details have been completed,
then the information is passed onto the embalmer,
and we will then proceed with the preparation of the deceased.
That entails everything from actually caring for the person,
so, washing them, dressing them, performing any embalming
that the family has consented to.
Placing them into the coffin, cosmetics, doing their hair.
But also liaising with their families, so making sure that
we're giving the family the best experience that we can possibly give them.
And also an experience that they expect and they're comfortable with
and that they're going to remember.
What sort of myths are out there?
'Cause obviously people might not know exactly what it is.
The biggest one that pops into my head and certainly my favourite
is that we have to break people's bones to put them into a coffin.
It's an old myth, and it's still one that pops up every now and then,
but, it's certainly not something that we would do.
We gain the family's consent
to perform any invasive procedures that we need to
and breaking bones is just not one of them.
Ok, so what are the tough things about your job?
We invest really heavily in what we do emotionally.
That's what makes us good at our job.
But it also makes it really difficult for times where
we might be caring for somebody who
perhaps died under particularly tragic circumstances and
obviously the more time we spend them
and the more time we spend with their families,
the harder it can be for us to let go.
Now, obviously you love your job. What's your favourite part of it?
My favourite part is, knowing that I'm providing a service to the community
and being somebody that the family can rely on to do the right thing for them.
Especially when they're at a time where they're emotionally vulnerable.
It's important to me that they're taken care of and that we're
making a potentially difficult time in their life just a little bit easier.
Did you always know that you wanted to be an embalmer?
How did you get into it?
I suppose I just really wanted to do something that mattered,
and after two weeks working for this really small funeral home
with these people that were really involved in their jobs and really cared,
I realised that that was something I wanted to be a part of.
So, once I left high school I just started applying for jobs at funeral homes,
spent a couple of years working my way up, started driving limousines and hearses.
And then was given the opportunity to work in the mortuary,
which is where I started getting interest in embalming.
Alright Janelle, time for you to give us the edge, you ready?
Ready.
Ok, here we go, question number one.
How do I become an embalmer? What steps do I have to take?
Firstly and most importantly, you have to be employed by a funeral home.
Or you have to be employed by somewhere where you can study
and they will provide you with a mortuary and a mentor,
so you can perform all of the things that you need to do to get your qualification,
which will take about two years to get a Certificate IV in Funeral Service and Embalming
and you have to stay employed with the funeral home so you can do all of your case studies
and all of your practical examination before you get to qualify.
- It's pretty involved isn't it? - It certainly is.
Right OK, question number two.
What sort of person is going to be really good and enjoy doing the job that you do?
Somebody that can balance being a professional as well as being caring
and somebody that can work in an environment that is clinical
like a funeral home and like a mortuary.
Right OK, and third question.
If you could offer a piece of advice to somebody who was just starting out
in embalming, what would you tell them?
I'd tell them to definitely stick with it.
It is a lot of study and it can be very arduous,
but it is still one of the most rewarding jobs I think that anybody can do
and certainly a really important one within the community.
- Thank you so much for answering the questions. - Thank you Hans.
Well, how's that?
I bet you didn't even know that embalming was a real career,
let alone one that you could be doing yourself.
Janelle?