For many people, funeral homes and funeral directors may seem a bit intimidating. This can be contributed to a culture that avoids association with the death industry at all costs. However, the largely misunderstood industry is filled with individuals who, for the most part, just want to help grieving families by utilizing their unique knowledge base, compassionate nature, and expertise on that part of life. In fact, there are many things that funeral directors do or rules that they implement that only benefit the deceased person and their families. In order to assist people in understanding the funeral industry a little better, we will discuss some interesting practices and customs in the industry.
Education
Funeral directors are required to complete a nationally approved program prior to practicing in the business. This education includes: technical skills to help prepare bodies (such as cosmetics, chemistry, microbiology, and embalming); psychology and grief counseling; funeral service history; business management; and ethics. Funeral directors can only participate in the business after going through a one-to-three-year program and achieving a national certificate.
Roles
Contrary to popular belief, not all funeral directors participate in the same roles. Bigger funeral homes often have directors that specialize in different areas such as administrative work or body preparation, but not always both. However, many funeral directors do work around the clock and are on call 24-7. It is not uncommon for a funeral director to receive a call in the middle of the night to transport a deceased person to the funeral home.
Transportation
Funeral directors do not always drive a hearse when transporting deceased people. A common industry practice is that many directors most often drive a mini-van to the home or facility to transport the body to the funeral home. Hearses are solely used during a ceremony to transport the body with the funeral procession.
Technical Details
Funeral directors ask for details about the deceased person for good reason. One common question that will be asked by a director or crematory worker is if the deceased person had a pace maker. This is specifically asked because the cremation process can make a pace maker explode and cause damage to the machine. As instances like this are not uncommon in the funeral industry, directors ask these types of questions to ensure the safety of their workers and a family’s wallet.
Funeral directors also have specific rules for good reason. One common issue with funeral directors is that families want their loved one to be buried in a specific place or underneath a specific tree they loved. While a director is often more than happy to bury the person next to the tree or under a newly planted tree, they cannot bury a body underneath a grown tree as it can cause damage to the tree’s roots. This concept applies to other rules such as funeral directors requiring certain burial qualifications, as they are doing it for the protection of the body and its surroundings.
Services
A funeral director’s purpose is to serve a family during a difficult time of grief. They will often implement unusual practices to ease the funeral process such as rose-colored lightbulbs during viewings. This small change can significantly improve the appearance of the deceased person by helping add a warm hue to their skin tone. Another unique change that makes a difference in the grieving process of the family is that some funeral directors have therapy dogs on site to offer comfort to grieving families. These therapy dogs can help alleviate grief and anxiety. While this practice may seem unusual, there are many others similar to this because most directors are continually finding new services to offer families.
Additional Services
Some funeral homes offer additional services to families that include grief-coping mechanisms, and no-cost funerals. Many funeral directors want to change cultural stigmas about death, and a family’s involvement in it, by encouraging family members to help wash and dress the bodies, and to even have services in their own homes. Many directors believe that these changes to traditional funeral practices allow the families to process death and develop a comforting connection to the deceased loved one.
Some funeral directors even go beyond offering emotional comfort and support, and offer pro bono funeral services to deceased small children or veterans. These acts of service not only impact the family of the deceased person, but also the entire community in which they reside. Funeral homes and directors do these things as a way to give back to their community and harness their generally compassionate nature to help grieving families in need.
The discussed, unique practices in the funeral industry often go unnoticed by society, but they make a large difference in the ways that the industry runs and serves families. Funeral directors implement specific, unusual practices to better serve families and create a more meaningful service. The industry also has specific rules, regulations, and practices for good reason that the public does not know about or sometimes understand. These small things create a smoother, more meaningful process through which every individual will take part of in their lifetime.