Funeral Service Education hosts Mock Arrangements

An unusual event took place this week at Mt. Hood: the annual Mock Funeral Arrangements exercise that was in the Town & Gown Room.

Students, role-playing “grieving relatives,” and several caskets put a spotlight on a little-known fact: The home of the Saints has real bodies in the basement lab of the Funeral Services Education department, for their scientific study.

MHCC houses the only Funeral Services education program among Oregon colleges, and one of only five such programs west of the Rocky Mountains.

Established in 1970, the FSE program is located in the lower level of the Academic Center.

“We embalm (preserve) bodies in our lab here on campus,” said Doug Ferrin, director of the MHCC FSE program.

Ferrin has led the FSE since 1998 and said he wanted to be part of the program because he was “curious after college, then I learned more about it and discovered it had a lot to offer.” He said he enjoys watching the students in the program work hard and move on to their careers.

The mock funeral exercises have been held annually since 1990, because of former MHCC staff member Bill Malcom.

“They’re a chance for the students to get some real-life experience before they get put into the field,” said Scott McMahon, a first-year FSE student at Mt. Hood.

McMahon explained that the event helps students with the job of meeting the (‘deceased persons’) families, gaining familiarity with going over everything that’s in the funeral, and improving skills on explaining legal matters that need to be taken care of when a funeral is being arranged.

It’s also a great chance for community members to visit the mock funeral arrangements and figure out what goes into the event and planning, for their own needs, he explained.

McMahon said that he became interested in funeral services through a friend’s parents who happened to own one of the major funeral homes in Eugene. He worked there part-time as someone who helped with the removal of the deceased individuals, which was a 24-hour job. “The call could come in at any time,” he said.

The deceased have to be treated with the utmost respect and care, when going through the process of a funeral, he said.

“If the families deal with someone who is respectful to the dead and is comforting in that first interaction” they appreciate it, he said. “I started to see that there’s a lot more importance to it, than just taking away a dead person.”

The FSE program is a two-year program, including the general education requirements.

McMahon said that it’s a great career path for someone who doesn’t want to spend six-plus years in college.

“It’s a great thing just to check out if you have any interest in what goes on in funeral arrangements or things of the sort,” he said.

There are currently 26 students in the Mt. Hood program this year, but Ferrin said that 40 is a “more common number.”

For more information about the FSE program, visit: mhcc.edu/FSE.