One Funeral Director’s Mission to Save Lives!
    Do you know what one of your fellow funeral directors, Mark MacDonald, of MacDonald Funeral Home in Marshfield, Massachusetts, is doing to save lives? I do. Actually, every person watching Fox 25’s 6 o’clock news the night they broke the story, or the 6 o’clock news on almost every news station on September 4, 2015, or reading any paper that week does. Mark is going into his own pocket to make sure everyone at MacDonald Funeral Home can stop a heroin overdose in its tracks.
    I realize that this topic is controversial. You hear heroin overdose and some might think: they choose to do drugs, they know the risk, and if they die it is their fault. I am not sure they do. Drugs, especially heroin, is something almost no one wants to talk about and that may be part of the problem. We all know our country’s drug epidemic is out of control.
    In Massachusetts alone heroin has taken over 1,200 lives this year and still we do not know what to do. The war on drugs is failing. Drugs, whether they be prescription or from the streets, are killing our communities’ sons, daughters, wives, husbands, and friends. Does Mark have the answer that will stop people from using drugs or end drug addiction? No. He is working to arm everyone at MacDonald’s Funeral Home so that they have the power to prevent one more death and maybe give that one person the opportunity to really live.
    With his own money Mark is arming every member of MacDonald Funeral Home with the lifesaving drug Narcan and providing the training they need so that they will be able to save lives. Thanks to Mark, the training given by Marshfield law enforcement and emergency personnel, and the people of MacDonald Funeral Home, people on the verge of death now have an entire funeral home standing up and able to say: not today!
    Thanks to Mark and the people of MacDonald Funeral Home, one less person may die from a drug that is invading the souls of our communities. I realize that this column is supposed to be about the rabbi, cot, mother-in-law and my dad and someday I will tell you their wisdom, but not today.
    Today I am asking you to please ask yourself: What can I do? How can I help our community find their answer? How do we stop drugs from killing people we love? In the coming months, with Mark’s help, I will be able to tell you more about what he is doing and why. I pray you will share your answers with me too.
    Together we may just find the answer that helps children and adults say no to ruining their lives and hurting those they love most. Please give me a ring at 781-331-5308 or if you prefer email me at Kristan@mooneytunco.com, join the conversation on the Let’s Chat blog at http://www.nomispublications.com/blog.aspx or better yet, come visit me at the Merry Christmas From Heaven® Booth number 1946 at the NFDA convention in Indianapolis!