June 2020

Page A4 JUNE 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Inside pocket for used gloves or personal items Inside pocket for used gloves or personal items Reversible design and two-way zippers means NO “right way / wrong way” to place pouch on cot! Pillow sleeve Pillow sleeve or plastics, sheet storage The Most User-Friendly First Call Pouch Ever! 1-800-645-8966 www.kanga-woo.com Designed by a Funeral Director to Make Every Removal Easier By Nancy Weil The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every person working in funeral service. Whether you work in a funeral home or a cemetery, this virus has insidiously found its way into your daily routine and habits even if it has not infected your body. For some it has meant being laid off as there are no large funerals, visitations and luncheons. For oth- ers it has meant working longer hours as your case count goes up, even as your profit per case goes down. You struggle with having to say, “no” to a family’s request for you to look the other way as they have more people in attendance at their loved one’s funeral. You wonder how you can hold space for their grief when their loved one died and was memorialized in a way that is foreign to how we normally say, “good-bye.” In my work with OGR I spend time each day speaking to funeral directors around the world. There have been funeral homes in the smallest of towns and the largest of cities handling coronavi- rus related deaths. There have been areas experienc- ing no deaths from the coronavirus. Yet every sin- gle person I talk to has had to change their business model, re-assess their financial situation and fret over if they are doing enough to protect their staff, their loved ones and the families they serve. This pandemic is leaving a trail of misery, heartache, worry and fear in its path. “Back to normal” will be anything but what we used to define as normal. Our psyche has changed as we watched the world shut down in a matter of weeks. The concept of hugging someone as their tears fall onto our shoulder is now tinged with a fear of infection. We look at our inven- tory and make a mental note of what we will order once the suppliers again can fill our requests. Random Musings Yet despite all of the challenges that these changes have created, there have also been some positive shifts that hopefully will last beyond the COVID-19 era. It is as if we all woke up and began to look at our reality a little bit differently. Beyond spacing chairs 6’ apart and holding drive-by visitations and keeping witness- es to the burial by the road instead of at the grave- side. All of those are external changes that had to be made in response to safety mandates. These are inter- nal pivots that we can draw upon to enhance our re- siliency to any crisis. • Shift away from fear. At first the fear of the un- known gripped our consciousness as we considered the impact this disease would have on all aspects of our lives. Over the course of weeks, we shifted and adjusted as each new piece of information was re- leased. It seemed as if we could hardly remember what life was like pre-COVID as we gradually ac- cepted a new rhythm and pattern in our days. • Slow down. Some have experienced this time as a slowing down, as there were fewer places to go and our calendars were left without all the usual activities that filled our non-working hours. Con- sider if you want to add back in all of the busy-ness that had occupied your life. This pause has created the opportunity to discern how you want to invest your free time. • Now is all we have. Eckhart Tolle spoke truth when he wrote The Power of Now. Suddenly we are unable to make plans. No dinner dates next week, no summer vacations, no idea when we will be able to add future activities to our schedule. We live day by day and moment to moment. CO- VID has brought us all into the present moment of now. • Certainty is an illusion. In our profession we have already known this. People come in to make arrangements for their loved one’s funeral and burial and you tell can that they are trying to figure out why they are with us instead of at work, at the hospital or at home. Death reminds us that plans are made to offer us hope that there will be a tomorrow and a next week, but reality is that there is no promise of that future date, so all we can embrace is this moment, and in what- ever way we safely can, each other. Serving as Member Resources Director at the International Order of the Golden Rule, Nancy Weil brings her years of experience work- ing in the funeral industry to funeral directors across the globe. Her professional experience includes serving as Director of Grief Support and Community Outreach at Veterans Funeral Care in Clearwater, FL and at eleven cemeteries in Western New York. Nancy travels throughout the country offering presentations on how to reduce stress, combat compassion fatigue and offer support for those who are grieving through her company, The Laugh Academy. With certifications as a Grief Services Provider and Grief Manage- ment Specialist, Funeral Celebrant, Soul Injury Ambassador and Laughter Leader, Nancy is uniquely qualified to bring new perspec- tives into how to best meet the needs of the families you serve. For more information on how Nancy can help you and your company grow, visit her website: www.TheLaughAcademy.com or e-mail Nancy@TheLaughAcademy.com. Panic from a Pandemic FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at Solutions for all your Funeral Needs in these Challenging Times NEW! 96 channels Proudly made in the USA A mplivox S ound S ystems Made in the USA Portable Sound Systems for Gravesite/Cemetery Services and Social Distancing Ampli.com • d.roth@ampli.com says Oleg Andelman, founder of ForeverMissed Memori- als. “Families need and deserve a chance to say goodbye, and their loved ones deserve to be celebrated and remembered. We are proud to offer a place where people can come togeth- er to grieve their losses during an unprecedented time in our world when funerals simply aren’t possible.” For more than a decade, ForeverMissed has offered an important outlet for grieving families and communi- ties to gather in commiseration, celebration, and heal- ing. Now more than ever, these virtual tools can offer a way forward for those who lack the closure a funeral typically brings. The company created a new COVID-19 page where thousands of daily visitors have paid collec- tive tribute to the victims of this ongoing pandemic. “Online memorials can’t ever take the place of tradi- tional funerals and memorials services,” says Andelman. “We believe strongly, though, in the value of a virtual community of support and remembrance to help peo- ple navigate a grief process complicated by an uncertain world. Our users often tell us their online memorial pag- es help them cope with deep grief, and we are privileged to offer this service.” As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, the company has plans to roll-out enhanced offerings designed to better serve those in need during this trying time. ForeverMissed.com was designed with the goal of con- necting families separated by distance as they grieved common losses of loved ones. With nearly 150,000 me- morial pages and more than two million posted tributes, ForeverMissed is a trusted source for many people traveling grief journeys. Users can choose public or private memorial pages under a variety of paid service plans, where they can add photographs, memories, mu- sic, and more in a secure and easy-to-use virtual format. For more information, as well as customer testimonials, visit www.forevermissed.com. ForeverMissed Memorials Offers a Virtual Place to Grieve when Funerals are Not Permitted NEW YORK,NY— ForeverMissed Online Memorials recognizes that one of the most painful consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that families are forced to remain apart during especially challenging times of pain and loss. COVID-19 victims, as well as victims of oth- er illnesses and injuries, are dying alone during a global health crisis and are being mourned without traditional funerals. ForeverMissed is proud to offer a community of support where people can collect and share memories of their loved ones who have passed away. These lasting, vir- tual memorial pages can be shared so that the whole fam- ily can collaborate to preserve memories and celebrate lives lost, and families of COVID-19 victims receive a free full site access for one year. COVID-19 INDUSTRY RESPONSE “We all have a basic hu- man need to gather together and express emotions dur- ing times of pain and loss,”