An anonymous poem, entitled simply 'To a medical student', will be included in this year's University of Queensland annual Thanksgiving Service on May 6.
The poem, to be read by Mrs Beverley Wood, wife of senior lecturer in anatomical sciences Dr Walter Wood, is expected to provide one of the most moving moments during the service which will begin in Mayne Hall at 5.30pm.
This will be the seventh Thanksgiving Service held to honour and thank those people who have donated their bodies for teaching and research purposes at the University.
This year's service will remember the 48 men and women who were donors in 1996. Their names have been inscribed in a special Book of Remembrance and will be read out during the service.
At the same time there will be a symbolic lighting of candles as University staff and students come together in recognition and appreciation of the generous bequest made by each of the donors.
Besides providing an opportunity to give thanks, the service is also viewed as an important step in the grieving process for relatives and friends of the donors.
Dr Wood, chair of the organising committee, said judging by letters received and the general response from those attending, the services were certainly playing an important part in farewelling loved ones.
During the ceremony prayers are said for the comfort of families, and for staff and students in the hope they will gain maximum benefit from the knowledge being offered.
The first Thanksgiving Service was held in 1992, honouring all donations to the University over the previous 65 years.
Dr Wood said that the ceremony was so warmly received it immediately became established as an annual event and as a model adopted by other tertiary institutions in Australia and New Zealand.
Student representatives from biological science and all the health care courses - medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, pharmacy, occupational therapy, human movement studies and speech pathology and audiology- take an active part in the event.
The service also enjoys widespread support from outside the University. The benefits for teaching and research extend to such external groups as surgeons, nurses, beauty therapists, naturopaths, the Queensland Ambulance Service, the Australian Army Medical Corps and other universities.
The ecumenical service, embracing Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, will be led this year by Father Ian Howells S.J. He will be supported by other University chaplains, Rabbi Uri Themal and Imam Moulana Abdul Quddoos.
University Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay will give the welcoming address.
Singers at the service will be the 50-strong Imogen Chorale and Madrigale, directed by Laurie Gaffney, while the organist is Christopher Wrench.
For further information, contact Dr Walter Wood (telephone 3365 3387).
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