Almost 5 months after I started my work experience placement, I finally got to visit the museum in person! Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, my placement was completely online, which I was sceptical about at first, but it was absolutely fantastic. I absolutely loved doing research for the museum, which made it even more exciting when I was finally able to go and visit. If you’re interested in seeing what I got up to during my placement, you can have a read of my earlier blog posts!
I was finally able to travel to Worcester to visit the museum, under COVID safety precautions, of course! My nan also came with me to visit, and she absolutely loved the experience. She saw a lot of things that she remembered from when she was younger, and it was interesting for both her and me to see how things have changed. The museum curator, Louise Price, gave us a tour of the museum, showing us all of the different medical objects and what they were used for. Having studied medicine throughout history as part of my GCSEs, it was really fascinating for me to be able to visualise some of the things that I had remembered, like the work of Edward Jenner in developing vaccines, something that is especially relevant at the moment.
The most exciting part for me, however, was getting to see how my research for the museum had been displayed! During my placement, I was tasked with researching patients from Powick Asylum, to try and learn about their lives outside of the asylum, to come up with something that could be included in the museum’s mental health display. Catherine Batchelor was a patient who had been treated for Melancholia at Powick Asylum, and a summary of her life, as well as her patient case notes, are currently on display. I feel as though I got to know these patients really well during my research, and it’s exciting to know that other people will be able to learn about them too!
The George Marshall Medical Museum is now open for visitors, and I 100% recommend that you visit if you can, so you can see all of Louise and the volunteers’ hard work (and, most importantly, to have a look at the mental health display!). You can also have a look at all of the patient case notes for yourself, which can all be found on the online database on the Worcester Medical Museums website.
I’m looking forward to when I can next go to the museum, and, in the meantime, will be telling everyone I know to go and visit as soon as they can!