Body donor program
is put on hold at UHMorgue problems and a resignation
prompt closure until Sept. 1
The University of Hawaii medical school has temporarily stopped accepting donated bodies used to train students after its morgue's air conditioning broke and its embalmer quit.
Officials for the UH Willed Body Program said the morgue at the Manoa campus' medical school will be closed until Sept. 1, and so they will be unable to accept donations for that time.
Program officials said part of the problem is that the air-conditioning and filtration system in the campus' Biomedical Sciences Building is about 35 years old and has to be replaced.
"You just can't have an embalmer working in a morgue with no air filtering system," said Program Chairman Scott Lozanoff. "The medical school is very, very appreciative of these donations. We can't have the medical school without them.
"This is an unfortunate situation but it's really beyond our control."
Lozanoff said the school is also looking for another embalmer because their current one gave two weeks' notice that he is resigning because of personal reasons.
Lozanoff estimated that roughly 45 to 50 bodies are willed to the medical school every year for use by students.
University of Hawaii
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