Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science is the first funeral service school in the United States to provide students with hands-on training in its state-of-the-art Educational Cremation Center (ECC), which was dedicated late last year. “Today, the national cremation rate is over 60% – it only makes sense that a mortuary science program should include hands-on cremation training,” said President Jack E. Lechner Jr.
“The ECC allows us to take training from theory to practice,” he continued. “We deliver the American Board of Funeral Service Education (ABFSE) curriculum, which sources the National Board Examination (NBE), during the first three of four semesters. At the end of our third semester, students take the exam. “I believe our first-time pass rates for the NBE in 2023 (Arts 85%/Science 77%; national average: Arts 78%/Science 69%) speaks to the quality of our faculty and program. Students embalm more than 500 remains per year in our seven-station embalming lab on campus. They are embalming starting the second week of the program.”
Students enter with 60 credits and then spend only 16 months at CCMS earning a regionally and professionally accredited bachelor of mortuary science degree. “A large number of people who enter the deathcare profession decide to leave early in their career, so having a regionally accredited bachelor’s degree is a great safety net,” said Lechner.
The fourth semester is packed with hands-on training that takes place in the ECC. “We have the best and safest cremation equipment in the world,” stated Lechner. The FT-III can cremate in as little as 75 minutes, requires no repositioning, and the cremulator processes cremated remains in three minutes. All cremation equipment was donated by FT-USA.
Students cremate remains in the class, process the paperwork, reestablish the identity, work the chain of custody, process the cremated remains and produce the cremation certificate. “Students didn’t just see PowerPoint slides, they actually perform cremations,” he said.
The ECC includes a witness room for cremation, allowing a family to see the alternative container or casket loaded into the cremation chamber. They can elect to push the start button conveniently located alongside the witness window. Some Hindu families have already taken advantage of this opportunity.
A slumber bed provides an exceptional experience for a family that selected cremation without embalming and want an opportunity to say goodbye in a comfortable and safe setting. It also allows confirmation of the identity of the deceased.
While alkaline hydrolysis is legal in 28 states, it is not legal in Ohio, so the center provides alkaline hydrolysis hands-on training in conjunction with its pet loss course.
Certified celebrant training has been incorporated into the fourth semester, and students learn how to create a personalized service based on the life of the deceased. CCMS teaches the fundamentals of hospitality training so that students are ready to add value to any hospitality program.
Also in the fourth semester, students can elect to take the gross anatomy course, during which they are able to dissect a human body, training that is not offered in other mortuary programs. Learn more at ccms.edu/ecc.