12 Ways Funeral Directors Can Support Home Funeral Families
By Lee Webster
The most important thing funeral directors can provide home funeral families is the compassionate understanding that this is something families feel called to do for their loved one and themselves, their friends, and community. Home funeral families by and large are looking for simplicity, self-reliance, personal responsibility, and a shared, intimate experience that only they can conceive of and conduct. This doesn’t mean that home funeral families never need or want funeral directors to be involved. In some instances, it may be impractical to try to tend to all the details without assistance. Weather, family locations and travel plans, weekend paperwork filing, autopsy, organ donation, or any number of other factors can contribute to the decision to hire professional help. Families are looking for choice in what goods and services fit their particular circumstances and needs.
Here’s how funeral directors can help:
The most important thing funeral directors can provide home funeral families is the compassionate understanding that this is something families feel called to do for their loved one and themselves, their friends, and community. Home funeral families by and large are looking for simplicity, self-reliance, personal responsibility, and a shared, intimate experience that only they can conceive of and conduct. This doesn’t mean that home funeral families never need or want funeral directors to be involved. In some instances, it may be impractical to try to tend to all the details without assistance. Weather, family locations and travel plans, weekend paperwork filing, autopsy, organ donation, or any number of other factors can contribute to the decision to hire professional help. Families are looking for choice in what goods and services fit their particular circumstances and needs.
Here’s how funeral directors can help:
- Provide information
- Aid in completing the death certificate
- Aid in procuring the transport/burial permit
- Provide removal to the home
- Assist with body preparation if desired
- Organize vault delivery
- Locate a cemetery or crematory
- File death notices
- Rent the prep room for body care with supervision
- Deliver a casket, alternate container, shroud or other item to the home
- Transport to gatherings or church, final disposition
- Provide a checklist and assistance for military services
Copyright © 2016 by Lee Webster · Excerpt from How Funeral Directors Can Support Home Funeral Families · www.nhfuneral.org
