Great information Kari I've done trade embalming even though I worked for my family's establishment I definitely took my own tools because some funeral homes and mortuaries are not fully equipped with some of our own concoctions, and standard equipment. I always have trocars, syringes, hypodermic needles, scapuls, aspirators, and all other items that I preferred to use to guarantee a positive outcome. Keep up the good work!
Great video. He’s right. In the south, most of the embalmers own the funeral home. It would be rare in my experience to have an “embalmer” to not own the funeral home..
Great video! I love Matt Smith. You are so lucky to know him. His podcasts are wonderful. As a recovering heroin addict, the podcast dealing with the opiate crisis brought me to tears. We should start a campaign to have Mr. Smith have Kari as his next podcast guest. That would be an episode I would be very excited for.
Awww you remembered me! Yeah I had no idea I could change it! Lol 8 years and I thought it couldn’t be changed. I kinda wanna go back. Creature of habit 😂 I had my fun.
I just started watching your videos Kari and I always wanted to do the kind of work you do. I got a question Do you ever get emotional when you do a nice case and it is a toddler that you have to work on or anything dealing with children?
The baby lotion made me smile! I went to a viewing for a 2 month old and the overwhelming smell of chemicals was astonishing! Even my husband noticed it. She was in the hospital for her entire life so no decomp.
I'm glad I found these videos. My daughter (a high school senior) wants to study mortuary science. I actually mentioned to her she could contract herself out as an embalmer only if she chooses.
I love that the last gentleman saves the webril tubes. I'm gonna suggest that in lab next semester when we learn how to embalm autopsy cases. Thank you Kari!
Great video, Kari! I'm curious about the wax used in times of reconstruction of the face. Is there a way you could demonstrate what it does to rebuild?
This was fascinating to me. I didn't realize that embalmers aren't necessarily funeral home employed! I always thought embalmers were a funeral home staff. Have you ever done a home embalming, or is it legal? I have much to discover! Thanks for broadening my knowledge and enriching my thoughts. 👍🏻
Most people don't know that my state, California, is the third largest state. This means we have huge rural regions that some mortuaries cover. We are mostly not a municipal state. In my work as a mortician, there were times when we had no local pathologist for autopsies. So, similar to these very mobile embalmers, we had mobile pathologists. Many is the time we had to arrange to meet these fellows wherever they were going. Often hours away. So we have used prep rooms in many mortuaries, some quite distant. Otherwise, our autopsies were frequently done at the facility of a neighboring county, the nearest one being about 90 miles away. It was good work. It just seemed odd to be in the death care industry, yet for weeks I lived pretty much on the road.
Here in the San Francisco Area, most homes have the embalmer on staff. The embalmer is somewhat like a physician in "reverse"...heal the body from "falling apart" in death.
Great video. How do u all sterilize all the instruments. Do u use a machine.? If so, do the funeral homes have them?? Thank u for showing me the importance of embalming in certain situations. But we are running out of real estate to bury people. But natural burial has a lot more places right now. I’m so conflicted. Chris is such a caring man. All of u are the amazing good guys in the industry. Thank u.
I've heard they cut the clothes up the back when they are dressing the deceased but their clothes look normal when they are being viewed..do they stitch them back on?? What's with the shoeless feet??
@@KaritheMorticianIn my neck of the woods in Pa., a lot of caskets are full open. Shoes are needed. Also, the family blankets the loved one before the casket is closed, a gesture of love and goodbye.
@@josephkrizauskas1052 That's a good gesture of having a blanket around the loved one. Native Americans do that also and bury them in new moccasins to travel to the spirit world.
So in Michigan, all the funeral homes hire a traveling embalmer? I come from small towns in west Michigan and I always thought our funeral home owners did the embalming. A couple of funeral homes my family has used for years, the owners with to mortuary school, so I assumed they also did the embalming.
" I've burned over 17,000 bodies"...eek! Hey, someone has to do it! I did my grandmother's makeup for her funeral. It actually helped me. I've always wanted to help with that part of the job. The makeup, dressing, I wouldn't mind making videos for the fam. There's lots of things that wouldn't bother me, BUT the cremation part is sort of eerie to me. I don't think the embalming would bother me as much. Just something about the burning, doesn't set well with me. However, my grandmother was embalmed after a viewing. It was her wishes, her ashes along with my grandfather's are in the Atlantic Ocean.
Kari, I stumbled upon one of your vids last weekend, & to my surprise after watching it, I subbed! When I was in 5th grade, each student had to choose a career and then go spend a day with that practitioner to see what the "day to day" business was all about. I chose to be a "Mortician" (the term we used back in 1968!). Unfortunately, we were not able to get the "Mortuary" in the area to have me over for a day, so I ended up choosing another career path (both then & later in life). Thank you so much for providing an avenue for me to begin exploring the career that I missed!
Kari Northey , I pursued Architecture and ended up focusing on historic preservation and adaptive reuse of old buildings. My real passion however, was the design of Christian Houses of worship. I now create Christian iconography for Greek, Russian, & Ethiopian Orthodox Churches. As a interesting side note, traditional Orthodox Churches don't allow embalming of the faithful departed, so usually the same "faithful" get buried pretty quick!!!
+Kari Northey Wow, I learned so much! First, I never even knew that someone other than the funeral home did this work. What is the pay like? Do you get paid per job? Or does a funeral home give them a salary? I would hope a job this important woud make 6 figures. I was so fascinated to see what they carry and what's in their bag. Thanks so much for educating me
@ Kari Northey, wow I didn't think you were going to see my question and I looked through all the comments first to make sure no one else responded and you answered them lol, thanks! I really learned a lot from this one. But you know how us Wolverines do, we are always thirsty to learn ;) Go Blue!
For the average person that doesn’t experience death every day, I’m so shocked that you guys have so many bodies to tend to a day. I always thought it’d be like a few bodies a month lol.
Hi Kari! A couple of things. First, please don’t forget to do a 2 minute video on purging 😊 Second, I know this is weird but sometime in the future would you consider showing us the embalming process on a life size dummy? Lastly, can you please talk about the rigidity in the skin when embalming and why does that happen? Thanks so much!! I really love all of this information you share with us.
baby lotion 😮. After a baby is embalmed, and the parents want to hold the baby, will they feel a significant weight change or will their child feel like normal weight?
do the embalmers ever meet with the family ? the trade embalmer is an agent of the funeral home -- have you ever heard of a family want someone they select ? Did i misunderstand ... some high volume trade embalmers have their own facility ? So is the person brought there embalmed casket-ed and dressed ... or are they only tehre for embalming and nothing else ?
@@KaritheMortician My goodness Kari - its christmas eve and here you are answering questions ! Talk about dedication .... Thank you so much. I hope you have had the time to get all your shopping done and wrapped. My two grandsons no longer have the desire to know what will Santa bring, Now its hey Pappy I would like .........(they love video games ) so this has been great as a gift card works well and they can pick thier own. No wrapping, no wondering if its the right kind ect ect They seem happy and I no longer have to deal with the crowds and clowns at walmart lol I truly wish you and your family a wonderful holiday . Marc ps i am still working on that list of questions....maybe i will have Santa deliver it after the holiday. take care and thank you for your knowledge and sharing your passion and love of your profession. PS how do I get to hear his pod cast ?
Kari, i just want to make sure i understand correctly.. In Michigan you guys are "guns for hire" and funeral homes dont have their own in-house embalmers? Is this correct?
@@KaritheMortician thats very interesting, ive never heard of that. But it does make sense. When you have your smaller, family-owned funeral homes w/ little to no staff compared to the large, corporate-owned homes that have an army of embalmers at their disposal. I have a few friends in the industry, all female, btw, that are "mom and pop" based as they all left sci years ago. Side Note: i never realized just how many females were in the trade. Not that its a bad thing, they just have more compassion than i do, i guess. And arent creeped out as i am :)
They have baby Cologne johnson and johnson makes it its at cvs or walmart under $5 and looks like baby oil but isnt..i know it sounds morbid to say about a baby.. but it smells like a baby anytime i have a friend that uses it it reminds me of when my 13 yr old was little
I like all new videos what you upload I give you a hundred percent you're expressed as a farewell only explain them they're very good
Thank you
Great information Kari I've done trade embalming even though I worked for my family's establishment I definitely took my own tools because some funeral homes and mortuaries are not fully equipped with some of our own concoctions, and standard equipment. I always have trocars, syringes, hypodermic needles, scapuls, aspirators, and all other items that I preferred to use to guarantee a positive outcome. Keep up the good work!
thank you!
Chris Needs his own channel. Very informative. Thank you for sharing.
I would love to train under mr smith he is a grear teacher his video are very informative aswell keep up the great work matt...
@@KaritheMortician i love your videos great work...
Everybody gangsta before someone find a body in the trunk 😂😂
lol
Great video. He’s right. In the south, most of the embalmers own the funeral home. It would be rare in my experience to have an “embalmer” to not own the funeral home..
Great video! I love Matt Smith. You are so lucky to know him. His podcasts are wonderful. As a recovering heroin addict, the podcast dealing with the opiate crisis brought me to tears. We should start a campaign to have Mr. Smith have Kari as his next podcast guest. That would be an episode I would be very excited for.
I have been clean from heroin and. Pills since May 13 2017..very hard to get clean but as u know lofe changing! Congrats on ur recovery
“And if I’m in a pinch, I can use windshield wiper fluid instead of formaldehyde”. Lol
:)
I love the outro music! We went from embalming supplies to party dance music 😂👌🏼 thanks Kari! Another great video :)
Awww you remembered me! Yeah I had no idea I could change it! Lol 8 years and I thought it couldn’t be changed. I kinda wanna go back. Creature of habit 😂 I had my fun.
I just started watching your videos Kari and I always wanted to do the kind of work you do. I got a question Do you ever get emotional when you do a nice case and it is a toddler that you have to work on or anything dealing with children?
The baby lotion made me smile! I went to a viewing for a 2 month old and the overwhelming smell of chemicals was astonishing! Even my husband noticed it. She was in the hospital for her entire life so no decomp.
:)
Awesome video! The second fella was so informative!
Very interesting video, Thank you all for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it
This IS a great career to have LOVE seeing what are the different types of instruments you use 😍😍
I'm glad I found these videos. My daughter (a high school senior) wants to study mortuary science. I actually mentioned to her she could contract herself out as an embalmer only if she chooses.
Thanks a lot. I'll let her know.
Very interesting . Kati Thank as always you have very good videos .
Thanks for watching!
I love that the last gentleman saves the webril tubes. I'm gonna suggest that in lab next semester when we learn how to embalm autopsy cases. Thank you Kari!
Thank u Kari for another great video.
You are welcome!
Kari
you are an outstanding person....I learned so much watching your videos....will keep doing so as long you keep posting them
Great video, Kari! I'm curious about the wax used in times of reconstruction of the face. Is there a way you could demonstrate what it does to rebuild?
So glad!
This was fascinating to me. I didn't realize that embalmers aren't necessarily funeral home employed! I always thought embalmers were a funeral home staff. Have you ever done a home embalming, or is it legal? I have much to discover! Thanks for broadening my knowledge and enriching my thoughts. 👍🏻
Not legal
I did not know myself that they freelance embalmers either
Very interesting and educational video Kari!
Most people don't know that my state, California, is the third largest state. This means we have huge rural regions that some mortuaries cover. We are mostly not a municipal state. In my work as a mortician, there were times when we had no local pathologist for autopsies. So, similar to these very mobile embalmers, we had mobile pathologists. Many is the time we had to arrange to meet these fellows wherever they were going. Often hours away. So we have used prep rooms in many mortuaries, some quite distant.
Otherwise, our autopsies were frequently done at the facility of a neighboring county, the nearest one being about 90 miles away.
It was good work. It just seemed odd to be in the death care industry, yet for weeks I lived pretty much on the road.
Here in the San Francisco Area, most homes have the embalmer on staff. The embalmer is somewhat like a physician in "reverse"...heal the body from "falling apart" in death.
Great video. How do u all sterilize all the instruments. Do u use a machine.? If so, do the funeral homes have them??
Thank u for showing me the importance of embalming in certain situations. But we are running out of real estate to bury people. But natural burial has a lot more places right now. I’m so conflicted.
Chris is such a caring man. All of u are the amazing good guys in the industry. Thank u.
Yes we sterilize. You can transfer a lot between bodies that does matter.
Speaking of smells, do some families request that a person is scented with their favorite perfume or aftershave?
Love your channel
This was a very interesting and informative video! (But why do so many comments seem to have disappeared?)
What do you mean?
I've heard they cut the clothes up the back when they are dressing the deceased but their clothes look normal when they are being viewed..do they stitch them back on?? What's with the shoeless feet??
@@KaritheMortician Most people are buried in a suit, you tuck all that in?
@@KaritheMorticianIn my neck of the woods in Pa., a lot of caskets are full open. Shoes are needed. Also, the family blankets the loved one before the casket is closed, a gesture of love and goodbye.
@@josephkrizauskas1052 That's a good gesture of having a blanket around the loved one. Native Americans do that also and bury them in new moccasins to travel to the spirit world.
There is also burial clothing available that have tie up strings in the back and those also work very well.
Lord I want mr.matt and ms.kari to be my teachers ! Guess I'll be coming to Michigan 🤷🏾♀️
So in Michigan, all the funeral homes hire a traveling embalmer? I come from small towns in west Michigan and I always thought our funeral home owners did the embalming. A couple of funeral homes my family has used for years, the owners with to mortuary school, so I assumed they also did the embalming.
Do you have an e-mail address as I don't like to give my location for privacy purposes. Thanks!
Snow in September?? I’m so jealous.
:)
Awesome video. I really enjoyed watching and learning
I have gone out in the snow barefoot before 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Ouch!
Amazing to me- Thank you Kari.
" I've burned over 17,000 bodies"...eek! Hey, someone has to do it! I did my grandmother's makeup for her funeral. It actually helped me. I've always wanted to help with that part of the job. The makeup, dressing, I wouldn't mind making videos for the fam. There's lots of things that wouldn't bother me, BUT the cremation part is sort of eerie to me. I don't think the embalming would bother me as much. Just something about the burning, doesn't set well with me. However, my grandmother was embalmed after a viewing. It was her wishes, her ashes along with my grandfather's are in the Atlantic Ocean.
that was a great clip thanks for sharing sis.
Here in Grand Rapids/Belding area we don’t have snow yet! Holy cow! Is this up north?
Where do Matt and Chris keep their combs? Lol, sorry for my humor! Well organized people!
Kari, I stumbled upon one of your vids last weekend, & to my surprise after watching it, I subbed! When I was in 5th grade, each student had to choose a career and then go spend a day with that practitioner to see what the "day to day" business was all about. I chose to be a "Mortician" (the term we used back in 1968!). Unfortunately, we were not able to get the "Mortuary" in the area to have me over for a day, so I ended up choosing another career path (both then & later in life). Thank you so much for providing an avenue for me to begin exploring the career that I missed!
Kari Northey , I pursued Architecture and ended up focusing on historic preservation and adaptive reuse of old buildings. My real passion however, was the design of Christian Houses of worship. I now create Christian iconography for Greek, Russian, & Ethiopian Orthodox Churches. As a interesting side note, traditional Orthodox Churches don't allow embalming of the faithful departed, so usually the same "faithful" get buried pretty quick!!!
+Kari Northey Wow, I learned so much! First, I never even knew that someone other than the funeral home did this work. What is the pay like? Do you get paid per job? Or does a funeral home give them a salary? I would hope a job this important woud make 6 figures. I was so fascinated to see what they carry and what's in their bag. Thanks so much for educating me
@ Kari Northey, wow I didn't think you were going to see my question and I looked through all the comments first to make sure no one else responded and you answered them lol, thanks! I really learned a lot from this one. But you know how us Wolverines do, we are always thirsty to learn ;) Go Blue!
Kari Northey that was amazing 56!!!! So proud of them
For the average person that doesn’t experience death every day, I’m so shocked that you guys have so many bodies to tend to a day. I always thought it’d be like a few bodies a month lol.
I put the word, embalmer,in quotes because I never heard that term referring to a person until your videos.
Hi Kari! A couple of things. First, please don’t forget to do a 2 minute video on purging 😊 Second, I know this is weird but sometime in the future would you consider showing us the embalming process on a life size dummy? Lastly, can you please talk about the rigidity in the skin when embalming and why does that happen? Thanks so much!! I really love all of this information you share with us.
Very good video Kari
Very interesting! Thanks!
When he mentioned baby lotion, my heart sank.😔 no child or infant should have to die in the dawn of their lives. It's really hurtful.
Yes its sad
baby lotion 😮. After a baby is embalmed, and the parents want to hold the baby, will they feel a significant weight change or will their child feel like normal weight?
@@KaritheMortician man.... that's heartbreaking.
Does anyone remember the answer to this question? I'm curious!
Matt is so awesome 🖤🖤🖤 I loved this video Kari ❤️
🖤🖤🖤 I would love to see that video
do the embalmers ever meet with the family ? the trade embalmer is an agent of the funeral home -- have you ever heard of a family want someone they select ? Did i misunderstand ... some high volume trade embalmers have their own facility ? So is the person brought there embalmed casket-ed and dressed ... or are they only tehre for embalming and nothing else ?
@@KaritheMortician My goodness Kari - its christmas eve and here you are answering questions ! Talk about dedication .... Thank you so much. I hope you have had the time to get all your shopping done and wrapped. My two grandsons no longer have the desire to know what will Santa bring, Now its hey Pappy I would like .........(they love video games ) so this has been great as a gift card works well and they can pick thier own. No wrapping, no wondering if its the right kind ect ect They seem happy and I no longer have to deal with the crowds and clowns at walmart lol
I truly wish you and your family a wonderful holiday . Marc
ps i am still working on that list of questions....maybe i will have Santa deliver it after the holiday. take care and thank you for your knowledge and sharing your passion and love of your profession.
PS how do I get to hear his pod cast ?
So interesting! Thank you!! :)
Is a trade embalmer less expensive than staff? Kinda confused.
Yes if you dont use them often
Very informative. Have you ever spoken to someone who has been pulled over and had their things seen by a police officer?
I thought of that also
The guy in the video mentioned embalming shoes are they just regular shoes slip resistant shoes?
I think also because of all the splashing of fluids
This video was great! Thanks alot
wow you have on a jacket and we are burning up here in MD
So organized! 😯
Interesting Kari :) Can't imagine 17,000 bodies ! He's got to be one of the best.....bless you guys for being able to do it....
Wait Im sorry can someone explain the Epson Salt? and what is the best respirator cartridge filter now to use during this pandemic for embalming
Epsom salt is used to dehydrate the tissue when the deceased has edema.
@@KaritheMortician is the epson salt mixed with what’s inside the porti-boy?
It's already snowing where you're from?! Omg
@@KaritheMortician okay lol I thought maybe it was old
How do they sterilize their instruments?
You should play the intro music at a funeral and or burial..
Wow that was fascinating thanks
Kari, i just want to make sure i understand correctly.. In Michigan you guys are "guns for hire" and funeral homes dont have their own in-house embalmers? Is this correct?
@@KaritheMortician thats very interesting, ive never heard of that. But it does make sense. When you have your smaller, family-owned funeral homes w/ little to no staff compared to the large, corporate-owned homes that have an army of embalmers at their disposal. I have a few friends in the industry, all female, btw, that are "mom and pop" based as they all left sci years ago. Side Note: i never realized just how many females were in the trade. Not that its a bad thing, they just have more compassion than i do, i guess. And arent creeped out as i am :)
The first gentleman said what I wear for “my difficult cases?” What is deemed difficult?
Leaks
It’s already snowing in Michigan ?????
She said in another reply that the first clip was from March lol
razrv3lc oh ok ;)
@@KaritheMortician yeah cause I watched the Aretha Franklin funeral and it wasn't snowing...looks cold! :)
i guess its the fact that i live in a bad area of town but where i live u wouldnt want people to know u carry needles in ur car
Amazing.
your car is NOT dirty 😊😊
Where in Michigan. I’m interested
Me too
Kari Northey no but im looking into it
What’s the epsom salt for as a treatment for edema?
Yes
You guys already have snow on the ground? So jealous.
Jon Campos I know right ?!!!
I'm jealous because I'm lucky if we even get snow from year to year lol
They have baby Cologne johnson and johnson makes it its at cvs or walmart under $5 and looks like baby oil but isnt..i know it sounds morbid to say about a baby.. but it smells like a baby anytime i have a friend that uses it it reminds me of when my 13 yr old was little
Does everyone who gets embalmed have to have that bum plug? Id rather not have that. Ughhhh
@@KaritheMortician lol thank goodness. Thank you dear
What's in your purse!? 😋
Jimmy Hoffa
:)
He needed gloves on when he touched the utensils.
Maybe not if dealing with a body that is already dead
Why bring your own instruments? Are embalmers 'funny' about your tools?