Here's a question.
Do you know what and an enbalmer does? I'll give you a hint...
Right now I mean a funeral home which is where an embalmer works, now
you're probably thinking vampires, right?
Werewolves, zombies, 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 it.
Yes, embalmers work with deceased people but it's so much more than that
comforting families and organizing events all part of the job as well
and today I'm here with Janelle to bust a couple minutes
surrounding me interesting career.
Janelle, Hi. Hi Hans, how are you going?
good, now you are an embalmer. I need to find out what that is.
Okay, step this way.
Janelle, you are 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 actually go out
either to the families home or the family could come in to us and they'll be the one that
make all the arrangements
once all those details have been completed then the information is passed
on to
the embalmer and we will then proceed with the preparation deceased.
That entails everything from actually caring for the person, so
washing and dressing them performing any embalming that family has consented to.
Placing them into the coffin, cosmetics doing their hair.
But also liaising with the family 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 are comfortable with that they are
going to remember.
What sort of myths are out there? Because obviously people may 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 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.
Okay, so what are the tough things about your job? We invest really heavily in what we do
emotionally.
That's what makes us good a job, but also makes it really difficult for times
where we might be caring for somebody who
perhaps died under particuraly tragic circumstances and
obviously the more time we spend with them the more time I spend with their
families
the harder it can be for us to let go. Obviously you love your job.
What's your favorite part of it?
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 when
they're
emotionally vulnerable. It's important to me that they are taken care of and that
we're
making a potentially difficult I'm in their life just a little bit easier.
Did you always know that you want to be an embalmer? how did you get into it?
I suppose I just really want to do something that mattered
and after 2 weeks working for this really small funeral home with these people were
really involved in their jobs and really cared
I realize that that was something I want to be a part of. So, once I left
high school I started applying for jobs at funeral homes.
spent a couple years working my way up, started driving limousines the hearses
and then was given an 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
Ready? Question number one how do I become
an embalmer? What's steps do I have to do? Firstly and most importantly you have to
be employed by funeral home or you have to be employed somewhere
where you can study and they will provide you with the mortuary
and a mentor so you can perform all the things that you need to do to get your
qualification out which will take about two years to get a certificate IV in
service embalming
and have to stay employed with the funeral home so you can do
all of your case studies and all your practical examinations before you get to
qualify. It's pretty involved isn't it? It certainly is. Question number 2
what's 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.
Okay, and third question if you could offer a piece of advice
to somebody who is 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 its they can be very arduous but
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 answering the questions.
I didn't even know that embalming was a real career let alone one that you
could be doing
yourself. Hopefully now you have enough information to decide
whether it's right for you, but if you need more information you can always get
in touch with the WA careers centre.
Whatever stage you are at in your career you can always get on the Career Center website
for investigation
exploration and planning your next step and you never know
could end up in a job just like this finishing at five o'clock.
What time is it? Janelle?
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