“Gone from our sight, but not from our hearts,” is a clause that’s often on the lips of many when a loved one is lost. It is no doubt that life is like a river; it eventually goes where it must. However, it is the duty of the family who lost a loved one, to prepare a funeral amidst the tears and grieving.

What Is a Funeral Home?

A funeral home is a place where a dead person is prepared to be buried. In the 19th century, Morticians invented funeral homes thereby making it a business establishment with facilities for the preparation of the dead for burial, for the viewing of the body, and for the funeral proper. It is headed by a director who helps in making the funeral arrangements easy, assisted by officers such as protocol, ushers, funeral attendants, etc.

How Can a Funeral Home Assist a Bereaved Family?

With the death of a loved one comes not only pain and grief, but also the anxiety of doing what one may have not done before; planning a funeral. Planning a funeral goes beyond buying a casket or fixing a funeral date.

This is why funeral homes like Silver Dove Funerals are needed to help you plan and implement funeral arrangements since the emotions that come with the loss of a loved one sometimes beclouds sense of reasoning. As such, the bereaved family relies heavily on a funeral home. Nothing short of perfect funeral rites are needed to at least pay last respect to the deceased. A good funeral home would ensure that these rites are carried out properly.

How Can a Funeral Home Assist a Bereaved Family – Before the Funeral

After deciding on a funeral home, it is important to discuss and negotiate business terms for the funeral. As soon as you arrive at the location, you will be welcomed by a staff member. The staff will also offer you some words of comfort before sending you to the director’s office for the proper planning.

Before funeral arrangements are made, you will be given some documents. They include copies of any appropriate price related documents such as the casket price list, general price list, and any other list of payment as approved by the Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule.

After this is settled, you will be required to answer questions or provide information about the deceased; this is called death paperwork. Every question on that list such as the deceased’s full name, Social Security Number (SSN), children’s names, parent’s names, and work history need to be filled out correctly.

Other things that you would want to use to pay your last respect to the deceased such as clothes to bury or cremate them in, desired musical and reading selections, memories, stories, and eulogies will also be needed.

Additionally, a convenient date for the funeral will be fixed. Having fixed the date and made all the arrangements, the funeral home will help you to take full control of events as you want it. You may want to read this article on choosing between burial and cremation.

How Can a Funeral Home Assist a Bereaved Family – During the Funeral

During the funeral, the funeral home is expected to produce adequate parking space as well as control the traffic around the funeral location. Depending on the location too, protocols may be planted at the entrance to maintain order as well as guard the family members.

Ushers are also provided to lead the immediate family members to their seats if they get confused. Most often than not, the rest of the guests remain unseated until the immediate family members are seated. It is also the duty of the funeral home to provide an order-of-service containing the details of the events in the ceremony.

Since funerals are emotional events, it is expected that both immediate family members and guests would be teary. For this reason, the funeral home ensures that packs of tissue are placed in strategic spots during the ceremony.

When the ceremony is over, the guests are dispersed after an orderly fashion. However, those who choose to follow the casket to the cemetery are issued clear directions by staff members of the funeral home on how to go about it.

How Can a Funeral Home Assist a Bereaved Family – After the Funeral

The funeral is not the end of the journey for the bereaved. Each member of the family has to find a way to move on. Most funeral homes offer aftercare services. These services are:

• Referral to local grief counsellors
• Referral to bereavement support groups
• Making personal visits to the home of the bereaved
• Sending cards and notes on significant dates throughout the first year after the death
• Sponsoring informational programs about grieving
• Hosting holiday memorial services such as Mothers’ Day and Christmas
• Provision of brochures about grief and loss

The funeral home will encourage you to practice self-care. Here are tips on how you can care for yourself while mourning the demise of your loved one:

1. Commit to eating healthy food. If you are now alone, you can invite friends and other family members to join you.
2. Exercise daily. Take a walk, do some stretches or Yoga, go for a run, or a bike ride.
3. Try to get enough sleep at night. If you are having trouble with sleeping, speak to your health care provider.
4. Spend time with people. There are various online support groups that can help you through the grieving and healing process.
5. Avoid alcohol.
6. Allow yourself to grief. It’s okay to let out those emotions. Cry if you want to; it will make you feel better.

Additionally, the funeral home will assist you in completing the death paperwork to change the status of the deceased in places of work, insurance companies, etc.

Conclusion

Funeral Homes have had the responsibility of serving bereaved families for years as well as helping them get through the funeral arrangements accurately. Any good funeral home is worth the cost of hiring them because they save you a lot of stress in your trying moments.