We had a great time at The Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds this week attending a Surgical Suturing for Families workshop. As the budding surgeon in the family, Aggie enjoys all things body-related; Peggy, however, is less keen. After a trial run with a kidney at home, and one in which Peggy didn’t faint or throw up, she decided that perhaps dissecting a kidney wasn’t so bad after all!
This workshop was an add-on to the standard entry fee. At just £4 for all of us, this workshop was really good value. Entry to the museum for 2 adults and 2 children is £35 though so that’s the expensive bit. You can, however, return as many times as you want for a year after buying your ticket.
At the workshop, each family was given a pig’s kidney to dissect. The function and parts of a kidney were explained to us really clearly first and then a demonstration was given showing how best to do the dissection. After a bit of a battle between two left-handed girls and a pair of right-handed scissors, they eventually opened up the kidney to see all the parts inside.
The presenter then showed everyone how to do suturing and we were then let loose on a banana and the kidney we’d just dissected. It was a fiddly job but I’m pleased to report both banana and kidney pulled through!
This was a busy workshop and plenty was learned. A few children had to leave as they felt “squiffy”, and the smell of kidneys was pretty strong at the end of the hour; we were all glad to get some fresh air at the end. Both girls overall gave the workshop a 9 out of 10 which is high praise!
The museum is looking to host further workshops on the heart, eyes and possibly brains so we’ll be looking out for those in the next 12 months as our museum tickets are valid for a year.
