June 2020

Page A12 JUNE 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A May. So, the decedents sit in his funeral home without re- frigerated facilities. “We have no choice but to place the bodies outside. It is safe. We have an eight foot fence and a gate and we lock it.” This not the first time Restivo and English Brothers has been in the news. In 2005, Michael Mastromarino, a dental surgeon who lost his license for drug abuse, started an organ donation business, Biomedical Tissue Services. Donations were done without consent, tissue was not collected in time and not tested for contagious or infectious disease. English Brothers was investigated and named in at least one lawsuit for sup- plying a deceased for illegal tissue donation. The New York Post reported: “Once again the English Brothers funeral home is at the center of an outrageous oc- currence,” said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, who filed civ- il suits on behalf of relatives of people whose dead bodies were picked apart for profit, as well as the irate recipients of diseased tissue and organs from the corpses.” But almost every funeral home working in the “hot spot” areas of the country are doing so courageously and endlessly. The real victims are the families. They cannot hold their loved one’s hand, comfort them, tell them how much they are loved or kiss them goodbye. It is the funeral director, exhausted but cannot show it, who must console the survivors and give them unique ways to remember their lost one. Though this is a novel virus, that care has never changed. “And once the storm is over, you will not remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You will not even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you will not be the same person who walked in. That is what this storm’s all about.” –Haruki Murakami Observations and Condemnations “For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.” –Millard Fuller New York has always been notable due to its population and its popularity. It has been the scene of America’s early success, its artis- tic and cultural developments, and some of its worst trag- edies, from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 that claimed 146 lives, to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center that claimed 2,973 lives. The Coronavirus has claimed over 18,000 New York state residents as of this writing. The geographically small state of New Jersey has lost almost 7,000 residents. Detroit, Seattle and New Orleans are among the other cit- ies hard hit. Stephen Kemp , owner of Kemp Funeral Home in the Detroit area, explains the raw grief that families feel. “What compounds the grief, is that they cannot see themwhen they are ill. And after they die, they can’t have a meaningful ser- vice — and now they can’t even go to the cemetery to see their loved one buried.” In the Seattle area, Char Carpenter Barrett , owner and funeral director of A Sacred Moment funeral home in Ev- erett, told patch.com , “working during the outbreak has felt fulfilling, but also frustrating — amid the much-deserved praise being given to medical workers and first responders,” she said her own profession is rarely mentioned, despite the risk it entails. “Never do I hear funeral directors included — that we are on the front line!” she said. “If a funeral worker contracts the virus, she is unsure whether it would inspire any new calls for safety protections.” Crematories in New York State have been given permission to cremate in later hours to help accommodate the increased requests. There are only forty-eight crematories in the state and only five in New York City. Volunteer funeral service employees have come on their own or have been recruited by organizations such as the National Funeral Directors Association . Dave Penepent , an associate professor of Funeral Services By Steven Palmer Administration at State University of New York at Canton , created a volunteer group named “Hands with a Heart”. He and four students transport decedents to crematories out of the area, tak- ing the load off of local businesses. The New York Times reported: “It’s a godsend,” said Joe Neufeld Sr ., the owner of the Gerard J. Neufeld Funeral Home in Queens, which is just blocks fromElmhurst Hospital Center in one of the hardest hit areas in the country. “He came out of nowhere to save us.” Funeral homes in the New York City area are beyond their ca- pacity and are forced to tell families that they are unable to serve them. When families do not make arrangements to have their spe- cial person taken to a funeral home within eight days, the city makes the decision for them. Funeral directors that prepared for the surge during 9/11 said it was slow to happen as fatalities were released at a measured pace. This situation is different with so many families calling and so many decedents to be brought into their care. Pat Marmo , owner of the Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home , crowded with decedents, told TIME , “Every person there – they’re not a body, they are a father, mother, grand- mother. They are not bodies. They are people.” Some funeral homes are turning visitation rooms into their morgues with air conditioning. Jewish funeral homes are adapting as burials cannot always occur according to custom. Chevra Kadisha, the organizations which cleanse and prepare a body for burial, is challenged by the number of requests, too few PPEs and reluctant volunteers. Shivas are being held virtually. The Andover Sub-Acute and Rehabilitation Center in north- ern Sussex County was investigated by the police when it was reported there was a deceased person placed in an outside stor- age unit. The deceased was not there when police responded, but they did discover seventeen decedents in the facility, which was above the number they could handle. 100 of the residents of the 699-capacity facility tested positive for the virus. The Attorney General is investigating. Neighbors began to complain about the English Brothers Funeral Home in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. One local resident complained that there were 20 bodies vis- ible outside. The resident told the New York Post, “Kids walking by can see them, I was so disgusted that I snuck all the way in one day and saw bodies in bags on gurneys with- out covers.” Funeral home owner Frank Restivo readily admitted the problem. “I know, we just have no room inside.” Restivo said the crematory told him they were backed up to the middle of Pandemic Commendations Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors graduate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences. He has been licensed on both coasts, he owned the Westcott Funeral Homes of Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ, where he remains ac- tive in operations. Steve offers his observations on current funeral ser- vice issues. He may be reached by mail at PO Box 352, Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-9566, by fax at (928)634-5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuneralhome.com or through his website at www.westcottfuneralhome.com or on Facebook. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at BOONEVILLE, KY - (L) Michael Harvey of Booneville Funeral Home is shown taking delivery of their privately owned and newly converted 2018 Yukon. This 1st Call vehicle includes a coach roller floor, partition, stainless steel ramp, vinyl back window and 1st call cover. Built and sold by (R) John Muster of Muster Coaches. bOONEVILLE fUNERAL hOME Muster Coaches 1-800-274-3619 Calhoun, KY COVID-19 INDUSTRY RESPONSE helping to install and pro- vide live services to replace traditional funeral services. “We think we have the solution!” Jeff has proudly announced, “We have cre- ated a complete ‘start–to– FuneralScreen Steps Up LiveStream Support for Funeral Homes Nationwide SENECA,IL— FuneralScreen , a Greene Valley Media company, and owners Jeff and Sue McCauley, recipi- ents of the NFDA Innovation Award, have been working for nearly twenty years to support funeral homes to bet- ter adapt to digital technology. Recent COVID-19 social distancing restrictions have been outlined by the CDC to limit and even stop entirely funeral services. These restric- tions have made it impossible to provide traditional fu- neral services. Funeral homes across the nation are grasp- ing to upgrade their services to provide virtual streaming of funerals. Funeral directors are suddenly unprepared be- cause requirements to use streaming technology; stream- ing services, video obituary pages, service recordings, ac- cess to cameras and hardware, in addition to the technical knowledge required providing a service has become over- whelming to many. Recognizing this crisis, owners Jeff and Sue McCauley have been working diligently to help provide funeral homes these vital revenue generating ser- vices. The company is very pleased to announce its latest service to guide the industry into the digital future of fu- nerals. It is now providing digital streaming technology and complete technical support with LiveStream by Fu- neralScreen. Current CDC guidelines for the funeral industry limit funerals to no more than 10 of the decedent’s immediate family members, not including funeral home staff, cler- gy, or cemetery staff. As the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis continues social gathering guidelines for funerals and memorials may be fully restricted for memorials, fu- nerals and graveside attendance. In response to the CO- VID-19 health crisis, FuneralScreen is providing a new private streaming services and complete support that is designed to guide funeral homes. The company is now finish’ service for every funeral home in the United States. As owners we know the funeral industry. We’ve consid- ered every step, from streaming installation to video trib- ute pages, to help funeral directors get up to speed- fast.” “Call me now for help!” LiveStream by FuneralScreen will provide families pri- vate access to online streaming services as well as the abil- ity to pay respects for loved ones being laid to rest. The service will offer customer support for installation, me- morial, funeral and graveside streaming service, individu- al custom online streaming obituary pages, tribute videos and pages, support with hardware and local installation. LiveStream Services include: one streaming account per service (Additional bundles are available upon request); custom branded website page for each obituary listing and service; embedded video for live streaming with stream- ing service for individual live feeds and group streaming; recorded video of service; custom designed tribute page with memorial video pages for one year; customer service and consultation; funeral home support to provide cam- eras, hardware and required equipment; installation ser- vices for cameras, equipment, and streaming-technology; and customized funeral home branded website services. To find out more about LiveStream by FuneralScreen and other products, call FuneralScreen at 1-800-270- 1237 or visit https://funeralscreen.com/streaming/. News Funeral Home & Cemetery online www.nomispublications.com