Page A20 January 2023 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A 1-888-792-9315 • mymortuarycooler.com Scan QR for our website Cots not included MODEL # TR3 Triple Cot Roll-In Mortuary Cooler AMC N W FAST SHIPPING AVAILABLE ON SELECT PRODUCTS AMRA INSTRUMENTS Researched, Developed and Patented by Funeral Directors Research,Inc. visit www.amrainstruments.com for links to our Supply Chain Partners ™ ® each step through until you have something that really feels right for you. You will find the process itself is therapeutic. This can help calm the troubled waters you experience during early grieving. What is My Purpose Now? When I turned 30 years of age, I went through a life crisis. I hated my job, had no clear goals, and did not know what I wanted to do. Consequently, I was drinking too much and was probably not much fun to be around for my wife and kids. One day after a particularly bad night I was driven to take a hard look at myself and where I was going. It was not a pretty picture. After some deep thought and prayer, I came up with a clear purpose statement to guide me going forward: “I will strive to be the best possible expression of God’s man that I can be.” Our non-religious brothers might say: “I will strive to be the best possible man that I can be.” This simple statement became my daily mantra. Over time, I became a better person, husband, and father and found many new opportunities opening up to me including better jobs, places to live, and future prospects. This led me to add specific and clear purpose statements to my mission. The most important one was to be a great father and husband. So, how does this relate to us as widowers? It relates because so many of us feel lost and abandoned after our wives pass away. Our sense of purpose is often taken from us, and we feel like a rudderless power boat spinning aimlessly on the ocean of life. It is scary, and for many of us, there do not appear to be any answers. As a 40+ years nonprofit executive and consultant, I can tell you that any organization that does not have a clear mission or purpose will fail, and often By Fred Colby Working With Widowers Fred Colby has served as a director, board member and consultant for nonprofit organizations in California and Colorado. After his wife, Theresa, died in 2015 Fred shifted his focus to writing and leadership roles to help his fellow widowers heal and re-engage with life. He co-founded the Pathways Hospice Men’s Grief Group and an online grief group. He resides in Ft. Collins, Colorado. For more information go to: www.fredcolby.com. Fred Colby’s new 2nd edition blends his own story with research, observations, and experiences during the first year of grieving the loss of his wife, plus what he learned after his first edition was printed. The book is in part a result of his frustration with the lack of other in-depth or quality materials available to help fellow widowers. His search for anWidower to Widower Surviving the End of Your Most Important Relationship New Second Edition To see what others are saying about Widower to Widower go to https://www.fredcolby.com/media Special Offer — 5 Books for $49.99 https://www.fredcolby.com/buy-books/order-5-pack-for-groups www . Fr e dCo l b y. c o m swers took him to group meetings, individual counseling sessions, writings by fellow widowers, and discussions resulting from happenstance meetings with fellow travelers on the grief journey. dramatically so. Even a poorly thought-out mission is better than no mission. WELL, the same holds true for us. We need a clear purpose to escape the deep grieving we find ourselves in after our wife’s death. As we struggle to regain our sense of purpose, we might consider a personal mission statement. Develop your Purpose first, some Goals second, and possibly some objectives third. Your mission/purpose statement might be something like: • To come out of this stronger than I was before, • To honor my wife by continuing the good work that we did during her life, or • To continue working to be the man that my wife knew I could be. And we might back that up with some goals needed to accomplish our mission, such as: • I will survive this grieving process, • I will re-engage with life again in a meaningful way, and • I will enjoy life again. And then we might develop specific objectives to help accomplish our goals, such as: • Reach out to old friends and family to maintain relationships that are important to me • Join new activities (e.g. hiking, biking, dancing, etc.) • Make new friends • Join at least one volunteer activity to help serve my community Each of the steps identified above can help you to heal and feel whole again. Take your time and think Burial Cradle CasketsSM Bay Memorials Zerbel’s Proportionally sized for Miscarried, Stillborn, & Newborn Babies Available in 10”, 20”, 30” allowing you to tastefully care for even the smallest baby with all the compassion every parent desires for as low as $48.00 Appropriate For Viewing Available in 10”, 20”, 30” Flannel Lined Unisex Juvenile Pattern White Corrugated Cardboard Beginning at $20.00 321 S. 15th St. • Escanaba, MI 49829 • 906-786-2609 • Fax 906-786-2692 • www.baymemorialsbabycaskets.com Infant Cremation Containers How The Right Funeral Management System Can Prevent Burnout By Chase Downs Chase Downs In this post-COVID era, more than half of the respondents in Indeed’s in-depth survey revealed that they’re feeling burned out. That is not an exception for last responders and funeral professionals. Burnout is real. Compassion fatigue is real. They’re both valid experiences that many professionals in the funeral and deathcare space go through on a weekly basis. Work schedule and the work environment are some of the biggest culprits – but the situation is not all dire. This is something that we can work on if we commit to it. On one end, it’s important for us to take care of ourselves and our mental health when we can. We also believe one factor in particular can have a positive impact on work-life balance for deathcare professionals: finding a simplified, efficient funeral management system. Learn about some of the ways that the right funeral management system can help prevent burnout for both you and your employees. You Can Save Time on Tedious Tasks. There are many required tasks that both you and your families must complete in order to properly plan an arrangement or service. Let’s be honest – task management is tedious within itself. One report from Smartsheet found that nearly 60% of workers surveyed estimate that they could save 6 hours per week if their tedious and monotonous work tasks were automated. Instead of mapping out tasks that need to be completed every time a new case opens up, you can automate that process with the right funeral management system. Some funeral management system options allow you to create a template of action items (both standard and after-care) that automatically generate for every unique case, such as: Scheduling the arrangement conference; Specifying and recording service details; Collecting photos of the decedent for the service and slideshow; Helping the family complete the obituary; Collecting signatures for required documentation. By saving time on these normally tedious tasks, you can: Prevent tasks from being missed or forgotten; Allow your team to spend more time on higher-value projects for the business and Reduce stress and headaches related to ensuring that your team is completing required tasks. You Can Better Separate Yourself from The Workplace. You may be hearing the buzzword “cloud-based softContinued on page A24 ware” more and more nowadays. But you may also be wondering – what does that even mean? There are essentially two types of funeral management software available to businesses: On-Premise Software, popular for several decades, is locally installed on your computer, tablet, and phone. On-premise software is usually only allowed to be installed on a limited number of devices, and info@NomisPublications.com fax 1-800-321-9040 PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S e nd u s you r n ews ! We Welcome Industry News from YOU!
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