COVID-19 pandemic stretches funeral homes to the limit
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As COVID-19 continues to spread through the Ohio Valley and with it, concerns about overall public health, area funeral homes have been adapting to new conditions and needs for funeral arrangements.
Many area funeral directors said they have been working extra hours and often seven days a week to keep up with arrangements for a larger number of families.
"We have been very, very busy. It's a challenge," said Don Clarke of Clarke Funeral Home of Toronto. "We've handled several COVID situations and deaths in the last few months."
"If you look at the obituaries (in the newspaper), there are two pages now," Clarke said.
Jay Foster of J.E. Foster Funeral Home said, "There's just a tremendous increase in the deaths."
Foster said in the spring he rarely saw COVID-19 on a death certificate and then, it might be identified as a contributing factor, while it now often is listed as the primary cause.
"It's a stark difference from what we were seeing in the spring," he said, adding, "In the spring, we were watching it unfold on TV. Now it's here."
"I don't think there's a funeral home in this area that hasn't been slammed," said Doug Finton, funeral director at Steel & Wolfe Funeral Home of Weirton.
Finton said survivors of the deceased are scaling back arrangements to avoid large gatherings.
Many services are private and visitations, when scheduled, are limited to a few hours, he noted.
Foster said he believes it's out of concern for family members who are more at risk, which can include the immediate survivors themselves.
"They don't want to worry about, did I expose someone? They're trying to limit the risk to everyone," he said.
Foster said there are other reasons services may be postponed.
He said services have been delayed because an immediate family member was instructed to self-quarantine.
Foster said a higher demand for caskets and grave vaults in much of the country also has slowed funeral arrangements at times.
"Everything takes triple planning just to make sure all of the pieces fall into place," he said.
In recent years local funeral homes have offered to videotape or livestream services so they could be seen by family members who live out of the area and who are unable to travel there because because of their health or work.
Finton said since the pandemic, he's received more requests for them, partly out of concern for relatives who are more at risk.
Such funeral homes have taken various measures to preserve the ceremony's dignity, from focusing the camera on those delivering the eulogies to posting it in a balcony overlooking the funeral parlor.
Clarke said concerns about exposure to the coronavirus have led more people to choosing cremations or planning later memorial services.
"It's changed the whole dynamic of funerals, basically," he said.
Clarke said funeral home staff have been overlooked by public officials eyeing at-risk professionals for the first rounds of vaccinations.
"We're the forgotten ones on the frontline," he said, while adding he and his staff take measures to ensure they don't contract and spread the virus.
Clarke said as in other public places, visitors to his funeral home are required to wear masks and follow the recommendations of public officials and the state board of funeral directors and embalmers.
From placing hand sanitizers in easy reach to regularly disinfecting common areas, funeral directors said they have stepped up their usual protocols for cleanliness.
Some have taken innovative approaches to allow people to gather safely. They have included using speakers so eulogies can be heard in separate rooms by mourners to creating a large window through which they may view the deceased from outside.
The latter was employed by Jeffery Schuetz, owner of Schuetz Funeral Home of Mingo Junction, who added he also checks the temperature of each visitor.
Schuetz said despite the pandemic, many of those he serves prefer the familiar trappings of final arrangements.
"Most people want the traditional service," he said, though he added attendance for visiting hours and funeral services often is less because many, particularly the elderly, are avoiding contact with a large number of people.
Foster said he advises survivors they may not see as many people during visitations and funerals.
Clarke said while many express their sympathy through online condolences posted on funeral homes' websites, a large number yearn for a more direct approach.
Foster said family and friends have a strong need to personally say farewell to their loved ones. He noted those with parents and other relatives in nursing homes often haven't seen them in months while the facilities were locked down to prevent spread of the coronavirus.
Clarke said coping with a loss under such conditions is difficult, but area residents have demonstrated their resiliency.
"The people in this area are tough. They handle it because they have to handle it," he said."
(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)