Arrangements
STEPS IN
THE ARRANGEMENT PROCESS
WHEN DEATH OCCURS
The majority of deaths occur in a hospital
or long term care facility. When a death occurs in this environment, someone at
the health care facility usually contacts the funeral home of the family's
choice. The health care facility will give the funeral home a contact person's
name and phone number so arrangements can be taken care of. At Mclnerny Funeral Home, we try to get in touch with the
contact person as soon as we can to set up a time convenient with the family to
make the initial funeral arrangements.
If a death occurs at home, most often the person has been ill and has been under the care of a private nursing service or hospice. The call to the funeral home can be made by a family member or someone from the health care agency. In the event that a family member calls about a sudden and unexpected death at home, we would find out the doctor's name who cared for the deceased. He would be contacted to make sure removal is appropriate at this time. If the person had no regular doctor and/or there were no indications death was imminent, the medical examiner may become involved. On rare occasions, the medical examiner may order the remains transferred to a local hospital for a post mortem examination.
MEETING WITH THE FAMILY TO
MAKE FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
The arrangements can be made either at our funeral
home, or if the family prefers, at a private residence. Sometimes
making arrangements at a private residence works better for a family because
they are in a place that is comfortable to them. When arrangements are
made at home and the family needs to select a casket and outer container, that can be done either through catalogs or by
going to the funeral home at a later time.
No two arrangements are the same and the time needed for the arrangement conference can be as short as 1 hour or last over 3 hours. The arrangement conference sets the plan for what will take place in regard to the funeral services over the next several days. The information gathered during the conference can be broken down into categories.
1) statistical information for legal documents.
2) information needed for newspaper notices.
3) discussion about what type of service would meet
the needs of the family.
4) if needed, casket and outer interment receptacle
selection
5) follow up information.
It is McInerny's belief that the arrangement conference is the most important time a funeral director will spend with a family. It is the job of the funeral director to listen carefully to the concerns of the family members making arrangements. It is only in finding out the wants and needs of a family that the funeral director is then in a position to help that family select a service that will be meaningful to them.
TYPES OF FUNERAL SERVICES
There are several types of funeral services to select from to create a
meaningful tribute to the person who has died. With variations on each type of
service, there are literally dozens of service options available. The following
is a breakdown of some of these funeral services:
1) Service with calling hours, funeral and burial. This is, by far, still the most common type of service. This would, most often, mean that the deceased is embalmed and there is an open casket viewing during calling hours. The calling hours are almost always held in the funeral home. Calling hours usually consist of an afternoon and/or evening period. The funeral service usually follows the calling hours. The funeral service can be held directly after the calling hours, but is most often held the next day. If the funeral service is held in the morning or by early afternoon, a procession to the cemetery could follow with graveside committal prayers. If the funeral service is held in the evening, the graveside service would not be held until the next day.
2) Limited service with burial. With this type of service, a family may want a funeral service but no calling hours; they may want calling hours but no funeral service; they may want only a graveside committal service; they may want only burial with no service of any kind.
3) Service with calling hours, funeral and cremation. The difference between this service and the service described in #1 is that the final disposition is cremation as opposed to burial. After the funeral service, there is no trip to the cemetery. The deceased is instead taken to a crematory. After the cremation process, the ashes can then be buried, entombed, scattered or returned to the family.
4) Limited service with cremation. There are a wide variety of options with this service, In addition to those listed in #2 some other options would be; a memorial be held at either a church or the funeral home; calling hours with an urn present instead of a casket or calling hours without an urn or casket present.
5) Body donation to a medical school. This is a very rare
occurrence in our area. We have only had a handful of people make this choice
in the past. One reason might be because we don't have a medical facility in
our region that would handle this request.