Reverential Event to Commemorate Body Donors

New location, the same idea: to honour those, who donated their body for the purposes of quality education of doctors and other healthcare professionals. Generations of students have been, are and will be passing through the Department of Anatomy FM MU, where they get acquainted with the structure and arrangement of human organ systems during their studies.

This year, the reverential event was held for the fourth time, however, this time in a new place – in the Merciful Brothers of the Convent Hall, the Hospital Order of St. John of God. The reverence was preceded by ceremonial laying down of bouquet at the atrium of the Department of Anatomy FM MU.

The guests at the Merciful Brothers Hall were welcomed by Natálie Srbová, the Vice-President of the Medical Students’ Association, together with the Dean of the FM MU prof. MUDr. Martin Repko, Ph.D. Words of appreciation were said on behalf of all the students and graduates of the faculty to all the body donors, as well as thanks to those, who are still considering the idea.

The reverence ceremony included a concert of personalities connected to the faculty and the university. The male choir Láska opravdivá presented the composition “Odvedeného prosba” (Prayer of the Taken) by Pavel Křížkovský, the aria from the Don Carlos opera by the composer G. Verdi, was sang by prof. PharmDr. Petr Babula, Ph.D. accompanied on piano by Jitka Houfová. Acapella band DNA (Dej Nám Akord) also performed several songs. Songs “Zatím hodně pus” (Many Kisses so Far) and “Miluješ, nemilueš” (Love, Don’t Love) by the composer Zuzana Navarová, accompanied by Ivo Koláček (drums), MUDr. Martin Janků (guitar) was sung by MUDr. Michaela Richtrová (also viloncello). The final composition of the choir Láska opravdivá called “Odpočiň” (Rest) from the composer Leoš Janáček resonated through the hall before the final word of the Head of the Department of Anatomy, doc. MUDr. Marek Joukal, Ph.D., who mentioned the importance of getting to know the real human body, of which the structures cannot be completely replaced by the use of advanced modern teaching technologies.

During these All Souls’ Day times, we can pay tribute to body donors and remember our loved ones by listening to a virtual concert, organized by our faculty last year, when the reverence for body donors took place only in the premises of the Department of Anatomy. We honoured the memory of body donors by a virtual concert, to which our students, employees, and even applicants and the public contributed. You can listen to selected songs here. We should also remember the fundraiser for the Memorial for Body Donors at the Central Cemetery Brno. You can contribute to the fundraiser at the transparent account set by The Medical Students’ Association FM MU: 2901871435/2010.