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FEBRUARY 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
2013 Production is Filling Quickly – Do Not Delay
By Kristan Dean
In 2000 Kristan Dean began working with her family to bring
Merry Christmas From Heaven
®
to all who need the gifts’ mes-
sage of Comfort, Love, and Faith. Today she is the Vice President
of Marketing and one of the primary members of her family’s
Bereavement Ministry.
Thanks, in great part, to the thousands of funeral directors and
retailers nationwide who make Merry Christmas From Heaven
®
a
part of their communities, countless numbers of families reach out
to their family every year. Their bereavement ministry helps families
realize that those in Heaven live forever in our hearts. Their love is
with us always.
Prior to Mooney TunCo, Inc. Kristan worked with companies nation-
wide helping them build revenues by creating greater sales opportuni-
ties through the use of sales intelligence and marketing alignment.
As much as I want to be writing about Valentine’s Day
and how Spring is right around the corner I find that
my heart is where so many of yours are today. Writing
this column just after Christmas my thoughts continue
to be with the families of Newtown. No longer focusing
on the terror one man brought to Sandy Hook Elemen-
tary School. I find that Newtown’s newspaper, the
New-
town Bee
, is now reporting about those subtle changes
that happen after the funeral is over.
Newtown is on a journey, taking the steps in their grief
that will slowly move them toward recovery, much like
the steps all families take after a funeral. Much like the
families you serve, Newtown is taking time to focus on
the kindness and compassion others have given to them
during their hour of need while they take solace with
those closest to them. They are reaching out to resourc-
es that can help them: take a moment to smile, give
them a way to acknowledge their pain, and assist them
in finding their path to healing. They are also taking
steps to create a memorial that will honor those that
have been killed.
as “this particular situation was…for all of the direc-
tors involved,” Dan and his fellow funeral directors were
able to help 11 families express their love for their sons
and daughters because funeral directors do not wall
themselves off from their emotions. Instead, “…funer-
al directors learn to put up a ‘drape’ that can easily be
dropped when an embrace is needed,” allowing funeral
directors to support each other in a way no one else can.
I hope that Dan realizes how grateful his fellow Con-
necticut funeral directors are to him for giving them a
way to share their kindness, compassion, and exper-
tise with the 11 families Honan Funeral Home allowed
them to serve. We also hope that Dan and his fellow
funeral directors will accept our family’s overwhelming
“thank you” for helping us quietly give to the families of
Newtown and I pray that the outpouring of people who
want to be of comfort to Newtown helps inspire you to
do more to reach out to the families you serve and your
fellow funeral directors.
Let’s
Chat
Through it all the
Newtown Bee
continues to inform: re-
porting on how the nation is reaching out to Newtown;
helping to deliver their community’s messages of thanks;
letting their readers know about the steps Newtown is tak-
ing to create a memorial to honor the 20 children and 6
adults that were killed and telling readers about the re-
sources that are available to help them.
The newspaper ran an article about one of the first peo-
ple the families of Newtown turned to: their funeral di-
rector
Dan Honan
, owner of
Honan Funeral Home
, in
Newtown, and how he wasn’t alone. Thanks to
Nancy K.
Crevier’s
December 27 article “Funeral Directors There
For Families And Each Other” I am able to share that
Pasquale Folino
, president of the
Connecticut Funeral Di-
rectors Association
, was in his car driving to Newtown with-
in one day of the Sandy Hook shooting to be with Dan
and ask Dan if he would accept the help of the funeral di-
rectors. Dan’s acceptance gave many of the 160 Connecti-
cut funeral directors that volunteered their time to help the
families of Newtown the honor of assisting the 11 families
Honan Funeral Home had the honor of serving.
Thanks to Nancy, I am able to share how beyond grate-
ful Dan is that every person “who helped with all 11 funer-
als…from opening doors to driving the hearses, was a li-
censed director.” According to Dan, “there is no other way
I could have handled this in a timely fashion for the fami-
lies,” without the help of fellow directors. Their abilities
allowed Dan to meet with each family initially and then
trust the “other funeral directors to take over, in some cas-
es…making arrangements for the families, coordinating
the funerals with the clergy, and preparations,” according
to
Laura Soll
, communications director for the Connecti-
cut Funeral Directors Association.
Thanks to funeral directors knowing how to be there for
each other, Honan Funeral Home was able to be there
for their community. As Mr. Folino explains, as difficult
DENVER,CO—
Death and traumatic injury are events
that few people ever plan to experience firsthand. Unfor-
tunately, these circumstances are a reality and the unpleas-
ant events can be difficult for people to cope with. Most
people never think about what will happen after such an
event, but one such company has made it its business to
specialize in the cleaning and remediation of such occur-
rences.
Crime Scene Cleaners, Inc
. was formed in 2003
in order to be Colorado’s only company specializing spe-
cifically in cleaning such trauma scenes.
The trauma scene cleaning industry is a relatively new
one, coming about just within the last couple decades. A
couple main reasons for the necessity and support of such
companies are:
1. Advances in science and health have shown a light
on how dangerous blood borne pathogens and bodi-
ly fluid can be in the spreading of disease. Certain
deadly viruses are now known to live in blood and
other bodily fluid even after the person has passed
on. If not cleaned properly with the appropriate pre-
cautions taken, the risk of cross contamination is
very real with grave consequences.
2. Next of kin should never have to experience their last
memory of a loved one to be that of cleaning up af-
ter their death. Simply seeing or being near a trag-
The Crime Scene Cleaner
By Chaz Remington
Nick Hodgdon
ic death can be quite
traumatic for anyone,
regardless how close
they may have been to
the deceased. No fami-
ly or non- trained per-
son should be forced
to endure the emo-
tional stress that one
can experience through
the involvement of
such scenes. Trauma
scenes should always be
cleaned by a profession-
ally trained, third party
individual in order to
dramatically decrease
the chance of traumatic
stress as well as making
sure the job is done cor-
rectly, not leaving pro-
teins behind to generate
further odors or, possi-
bly, fly larvae.
After the initial intrigue
into the fact that a com-
pany such as Crime Scene
Cleaners exists, the next
natural question is, “How
does someone get into this line of work?” says Colora-
do founder
Nick Hodgdon
. Mr. Hodgdon’s story is as
unique as the business itself; a farm boy from Kansas, ed-
ucated at the University of Arizona, he traveled the world
as a foreign correspondent before moving back to find a
place to settle down in the U.S. After a couple days in
Denver, Hodgdon knew he had found home. “I stayed
for the weather and knew right away I had to start some-
thing on my own. I guess I was born with that entrepre-
neurial spirit that drove the other pioneers west to create
new industries. I found that niche when my brother told
me about this rising field in the cleaning and remediation
of crime and trauma scenes. I looked into it, got my cer-
tifications and training and a week later, I bought a truck
and chemicals. I was a crime scene cleaner. I saw a need
for someone to be able to not only clean these scenes
properly but to do them professionally and with dignity.”
Hodgdon now has expanded his company into the
cleaning and remediation of methamphetamine labo-
ratories, garbage houses (aka hoarders) and bed bugs.
What keeps Crime Scene Cleaners busy on a day to day
basis is the cleaning and decontamination of squad cars
and holding cells. “Whenever a detainee urinates, vom-
its, bleeds in the back of a squad car, we get called out to
remediate the situation so there is no risk of contamina-
tion for the officer.”
On call and ready to respond 24/7 365 days a year
throughout Colorado and surrounding states, Crime
Scene Cleaners separates itself from any other possible
competitors by being the only company to specialize in
cleaning the scene, unlike other restoration companies
that will try to tear down all four walls and replace the
entire house with a new coat of paint, CSC gets the job
done quickly, discretely and professionally. As Hodgdon
likes to quip, “I hope you never have to call me, but my
number is a good one to have around, just in case.”
For more information please visit our website at www.
r call us toll free at 877-
337-7103.