“If anyone ever scraped their knee I was always there with a Band-Aid,” says Las Vegas native Martha Montes. So, it seems quite fitting that she works as a medical docent at Bodies … The Exhibition at Luxor.
“I even started my pre-med journey all the way back in middle school,” she says. “I’d attend after school programs, like young surgeons where we would practice dissecting. I’m still working on my undergrad, and still figuring out what field I want to do.”
As the medical docent at the attraction that takes a deep dive into human anatomy, Montes “walks around and answers questions for people about the body,” she says. “I try and give as much insight as I can. People like to come in with their aches and pains and medical history and we try and break down as much information as we can and show them as much as we can.”
She even gets some pretty off-the-wall questions like, “I was explaining one of the displays of the brain and someone asked where I thought ‘the soul was going to be located inside the brain?’ And my answer was, ‘Who’s to say that it’s in the brain?’” Montes says.
But even though she might have some unique questions, or ones that might stump her—that might be her favorite part of the job— helping answer people’s questions. Montes says that all the medical docents, when asked a question, aren’t allowed to say, “I don’t know.” She says they’re given enough information, manuals, textbooks and study guides that teach everything about the body—and working at Bodies has helped with her studies and nudged her towards possibly pursuing a position in the medical research field.
“I’ve worked here three years and when I first started, I was going to school and thinking about being a surgeon, but now, all this information has opened my eyes to researching the body.”
Merchandise
“There’s nothing bloody or gory about the exhibit but they still show the organs, bodies, diseases for what they are,” Montes says. “When it comes to relating—we all have a body, but we don’t come with manuals, so it’s nice to come on through to see what your insides look like.” If the exhibit prompts you to want to learn more, or if you just want to take a piece of the experience home with you, stop by the gift shop.
Benefit
Take a look at the back of the full-body specimen in the nervous system room to see how all the nerves connect from the brain to the tips of the toes.
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