A unique business in Coquitlam - the first of its kind in Canada - is giving chiropractors, nurses, kinesiologists and massage therapists a chance to brush up on their anatomy.
Located in a non-descript warehouse, Somatic Explorations welcomes practising health care professionals to explore human anatomy, not in a textbook but on human bodies.
It's a fact that owner Chris Hagey acknowledges will make many people squeamish, but he's also quick to defend the people who make his business possible.
"Donors are few and far between, because it takes a special kind of person to do this," Hagey said in the lobby outside his lab. "I can't do what I do without the generosity of the donors and the generosity of their families."
The classes, whether it's a pro-section of a pre-dissected cadaver or a week-long, full cadaver dissection, allow those working in health care to get ongoing, hands-on anatomy education, which improves the care of thousands of patients and clients.
A registered massage therapist, Hagey said the business developed out of a passion for studying human anatomy.
"People should revisit anatomy," he said. "Even if you think you remember anatomy from way back in the day, or if you learned it from a text book...a 2-D image isn't a true representation of anatomy. There are always things missing."
While Hagey was a director at the West Coast College of Massage Therapy students were able to take a week-long anatomy class at the University of Saskatchewan, but it was pricey and it meant missing class.
"That's when thought, 'Gee, maybe I should build my own lab, but can I?'"
THE SEARCH IS ON
That was in 2004, and what followed was years of research into any applicable regulations from all levels of government.
"I did a lot of due diligence, but there's really no recipe for this kind of thing," Hagey said.
By 2007 Hagey was satisfied there were no laws precluding him from opening a lab, making the next big hurdle obtaining cadavers. In B.C. the provincial government handles the donation of organs, but not whole bodies, so Hagey had to look south, where there are three non-profit body donor programs that aren't attached to universities.
(Before Somatic opened its doors, the only way to donate your body to science was to contact the University of British Columbia's faculty of medicine directly.)
Hagey was eventually accepted to the U.S. donor programs after a series of ethical and procedural reviews, but the work was far from over.
"My biggest problem was getting insurance," he said. His was the only private anatomy lab in all of Canada, and insurance agents weren't keen on a start-up business for which they couldn't find a way to quantify the risk.
It was a Coquitlam broker who took the time to develop an extensive information package on Hagey and his business, and later found a Vancouver-based company to take Hagey as a client.
Still, the work wasn't done.
For four months Hagey was on a full-time mission, searching for lab space and sorting out zoning issues (the lab falls under both funeral home and medical research regulations).
"I'd gotten good at the spiel," he recalled, chuckling a bit at the reactions of many landlords. "I'd let it hit the floor, and before they could say no I'd launch into an explanation of what I wanted to do."
Door after door was closed, until one day, in the summer of 2008, a landlord didn't immediately turn him away.
"He said, 'Wow, that's weird. It's cool, but it's weird.' I missed half of what he said on the tour because all I could think was, 'I can't believe this guy didn't say no.'"
CLASS IS IN SESSION
Taking a Somatic workshop doesn't mean walking straight into the lab. Hagey has participants spend time in the outer lobby, where he talks about lab protocol, safety measures and, yes, the fact that they're about to work closely with a deceased person.
From there, the group moves into the secure lab, where they sit in an area off to the side, but within sight of the raised stainless steel boxes that contain the donors.
At this point Hagey reminds participants of the tremendous gift the donors and their families have provided, and that the gift has been generously offered so that others may benefit from their furthered education.
When the class does approach the boxes, and the tables are lifted up to expose the bodies - covered but for the part to be examined - some are calm, others nervous, many emotional.
"There's a quiet reverence, and it's not unheard of to see a few tears, but there's nothing wrong with tears in a lab. There's nothing wrong with accepting the gift that's been given," Hagey said.
Annu Kliem, a Surrey-based RMT, recently took two workshops at Somatic Explorations.
"When I took the first course I wasn't scared, I wasn't 'icked out,'" she said. "I think I was just nervous about seeing the human form opened up the way it was."
Kliem went into the class planning to soak up as much information as possible, and says the experience has already improved the way she treats her patients.
"The course...helped me understand a greater palpation of organs and musculature, it helped me understand depth-wise, how to go deep, where to stop," Kliem said. "It totally opens up another layer, it's opening your eyes to an understanding of the human body."
GRATITUDE
Hagey knows many people will find his work strange, and says even his wife worried about the effect on his psychological well-being.
The donors are in the lab for two to three years, and he spends upwards of 250 hours preparing each one. At the end, the donors are cremated here in B.C. and shipped back to the U.S. organization, which returns the remains to the family.
(The donors are anonymous, though Hagey receives a basic medical history for each one.)
And yes, he's sad to see them go.
"I'm grateful for the gift they've given me, and I'm grateful for the gift they've given the students," Hagey said. "But I don't want to dwell on their life before. I'm just grateful they're here."
For more information, visit www.somaticexplorations.com.
