What happens at a funeral home?

Who is involved in arranging a funeral?

"The funeral arranger and funeral director are the two main colleagues involved in arranging a funeral. All correspondence between the funeral home and the family will be managed by these two people. In most cases, the first point of contact will be with the funeral director, and the funeral arranger will plan the funeral. But this will depend on how many funeral homes they manage and the set-up of each funeral home."

How involved will these people be on the day on the funeral?

"The funeral director would be the person who manages the funeral service on the day. They would direct the back of house staff, like the drivers and coffin bearers, informing them about the person that has died and running through the timings of the day, which colleague needs to do which task and how things will unfold.

The funeral arranger wouldn’t necessarily be involved on the day of the funeral. They’re more involved in the administration side of things before and after the actual service."

How are the people in our care transported to funeral homes?

"They’re transported in a private ambulance – and this is the same whether someone dies at home or in hospital. If someone has died at home, two of our funeral service crew will go out to meet the family, answering questions about where their loved one will be transported to and making a note of the next of kin’s details. They’ll explain the next steps to the family, things like when they will be contacted and by who."

What happens to the belongings of the person that has died?

"Clothing items are placed into a secure bag and labelled until we receive further instructions from the family. Jewellery is slightly different.

If the person died in hospital, the hospital would confirm with the family what they would like to happen to it. If we were to collect someone from hospital with jewellery, we would mark it on our system. Then we check with the family what they would like to happen with the jewellery – whether they’d like it to be returned or to stay with the person that’s died. If the person died at home, we would ask the next of kin or whichever family members are present when we arrive what they would like us to do with the jewellery."

What happens once a person is taken into a funeral home?

"Once someone is brought into our care, we remove their clothing, wash their body and place them into a fresh gown. We then place them in the TCU (temperature-controlled unit). A member of our team will record their height and this information will be recorded on our system. We will then cover the body with a sheet and place them in the TCU in a dignified way."

Can families visit the person that has died in a funeral home? If so, how does that work?

"Anybody can visit their loved ones, unless they have chosen a direct cremation that does not allow for any visits. But in general, we would never stop anyone from visiting, the only thing we would do is advise.

For example, we would advise that the person is prepared and placed in a coffin before visiting, so that they’re looking their best. If a family wanted to visit before this has happened this would usually take place in a mortuary setting. But if we feel like a visit before the body has been prepared wouldn’t be a positive experience, we will strongly advise the family against this."

What does a funeral home do to prepare the body for a viewing?

"When preparing the body for a visit, we’ll assign two members of our team to ensure all checks are followed correctly. They will check to see whether the person should be dressed in their own clothes or a gown that we provide, whether they should be freshly shaved or how they may want they hair brushing, and whether the family has chosen for them to be embalmed."

How much contact do funeral directors have with families?

"From the start we make it clear that we can provide updates to the family every day. But every family is different, and some may not want this, so we let each family decide how much communication they would like from us. But whenever a decision is made, be it the choice of music on the day or the coffin selection, we will speak with the family to confirm this.

Once all the funeral arrangements have been made, we will send out a confirmation email or letter, depending on what has been requested by the family. This would include everything from the time of the service and who the officiant will be, to how they would like their loved one to be dressed on the day.

The family will then have the chance to check through the confirmations and highlight anything that they’re not quite happy with."

How do funeral homes ensure people in their care are treated with respect?

"Everything we do is done in a dignified and respectful way, following the expressed wishes of a loved one’s family. We ensure we’re as gentle as possible when transporting someone from hospital or their home into our care at one of our mortuaries. Throughout every stage of our process, we’re constantly checking IDs and cross referencing this with our system, ensuring each family’s wishes are adhered to and there is a clear audit trail detailing who has been responsible for caring for someone at each stage.

As I mentioned earlier, when someone is brought into our care, they are fully washed and placed into a fresh robe and gown. To ensure cleanliness, they're then placed in our temperature-controlled environment.

Every morning and afternoon, the funeral service crew who are working in the mortuary, completing care checks which are then recorded on our system. This ensures a proper audited trail is established that is signed off each day by a member of our team. If there are any issues, we can look back on that audit trail and see who the last person was to check them and when that was and if any issues have been raised."

What happens on the day of the funeral?

"On the day of the funeral, the funeral service crew will arrive at the funeral home with the fleet, which could be a hearse and a limousine, for example. Then the funeral director would go through a pre-funeral chat with all the team, confirming times, instructions for flowers, instructions for service sheets and details of where the service will take place.

It’s at this point we would go through the ‘pause for thought’ chat as well, where we speak about the person that has died and share information with the other colleagues working on the funeral who may not have been involved up until now. Then we would go into the chapel of rest, where the funeral director and a funeral service crew would go through the final checks on the system, cross referencing the ID.

Any instructions from the family on things like personal possessions, jewellery and photographs in the coffin will be confirmed on our system and then we would close the coffin together as a team. Then we would place the coffin into the hearse.

We’ll then make our way to the family's home and onto the funeral service. After the service is when the funeral director and the limousine driver would take the family back to where they would wish to go, whether that be back home or to the wake."

What do funeral directors do after the service?

"The next day there would be a post-funeral call made by the funeral director. Initially, just to double check everything was OK on the day, making sure that the family were satisfied with everything or if they had any questions about what happened on the day.

There might be questions about ashes, and we would usually advise that this is done approximately 7 days after the funeral. It’s at this stage that we might discuss any memorial items that the family might want, too. If they do, there might be a call a week or so later to update them on this."

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