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Who’s Who in the Afterlife Arena: Navigating the Modern Death Industry
9 Plays4 months ago
Main Theme:
This episode explores the intricate world of death planning, emphasizing the necessity for up-to-date records amidst frequent changes in funeral industry personnel. It contrasts traditional perceptions with modern shifts and highlights the increasing demand for diverse services.
Key Topics Covered:
Changing Funeral Industry Dynamics:
Emphasis on the importance of keeping updated records due to high personnel turnover.
The shift from traditional funerals to cremations driven by cost-effectiveness.
Challenges for Funeral Directors:
Balancing professional and personal life amid evolving industry demands.
The need for multitasking and outsourcing due to reduced staff.
Role of Large Corporations:
Many funeral homes are now owned by larger companies, impacting sponsorships and operational practices.
Staffing and Services:
Common reliance on office staff, answering services, dedicated removal teams, and contract embalmers.
Cremation services often managed online, with limited additional offerings.
Pre-Planning Professionals:
Involvement of death doulas, lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, and hospice care providers.
Unexpected Industry Interactions:
Insight into interactions with doctors, hospital staff, emergency services, and crime scene cleanup teams.
Future Industry Trends:
Exploration of new body disposal options, including cryogenics and other alternatives beyond traditional burial and cremation.
Viking Funerals:
Regulatory and environmental challenges associated with traditional Viking-style funerals.
Colorado’s unique position as the only U.S. state allowing legal outdoor funerals.
Humorous Insights and Encouragement:
Light-hearted touches on potential beliefs about death, such as zombification fears.
An invitation to listeners to engage in discussions to destigmatize death.
Additional Resources:
Listeners are encouraged to visit the podcast’s website for more information and resources on the death industry.
Upcoming Discussions:
The episode hints at future topics, including hospice care and innovative body disposal methods, prompting listeners to consider their post-death preferences.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Passing Perspective with Death's Apprentice'
00:00:06
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Thank you for listening to Passing Perspective with Death's Apprentice.
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Being that this is a podcast about death, dying, and grief, some topics discussed may be triggering for some or not suitable for younger listeners, hence the explicit rating.
00:00:24
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Listener discretion is advised.
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Enjoy the show.
Overview of Death Industry Professionals
00:00:40
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Welcome again to Passing Perspective.
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I am your host, Death's Apprentice.
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Back with another exciting episode where we talk about all things death, dying, and grief.
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Last week, we went into death and horror in the media and literature and why people love it and what draws people to it.
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At the end of the episode, I answered the question of who to call when someone dies, whether the death is expected or unexpected.
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This week, we are discussing who is who in the death industry.
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You know who to call in the event of a death, but who are the people you will be interacting with?
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Throughout the planning process, or even after an unplanned death has occurred,
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You're going to come in contact with a lot of different people with a lot of different jobs.
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I always recommend collecting business cards and saving them in your death finders so they will be easier to find later.
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Keep in mind that with fluctuations in employment, the person you may speak to now could quite possibly not work there anymore, even a year from now.
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That's okay.
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Most times there is another person there who will be able to assist you just as well.
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The main thing is to have the right place.
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I spoke in the second episode about updating your death plans frequently.
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Another reason for this is because funeral homes do close and people change jobs.
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So you need to keep up to date with those details.
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It never hurts to check in.
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I'm going to give you a brief overview on how you may interact with each of these professionals in the course of your death journey.
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You may not end up interacting with all of them.
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So get your notebooks ready.
Funeral Home Operations: Changes and Challenges
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Here is the crash course of who you will meet while planning a death or when someone dies.
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Music
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When you think of death, one of the first things you think of is a funeral home or an undertaker.
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You imagine a tall, grim guy lurking around a cemetery, not smiling, or even, based on experiences, a grim man who lives in a funeral home with his family, essentially doing all of the things.
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Six feet under anyone?
00:03:29
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That show was pretty true to form regarding the funeral industry and even the changes it was starting to face in the last few decades.
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The face of the funeral industry is changing.
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Along with it, the images we conjure of a funeral home and a funeral director.
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With the amount of death faced a day with an ever-increasing population, it is no longer practical for a funeral home to be a one-man show or even a small family affair.
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Now, those may still exist in some small towns scattered throughout the country, but even then,
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it is not actually a 24-hour venture.
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Like, man, even the funeral director needs a life outside of their work, right?
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With the decline in traditional funerals and a rise in the cheaper alternative of cremation, the industry is undergoing massive changes.
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Funeral homes are keeping less staff on payroll.
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The funeral director may do everything themselves or they may hire out for some services.
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You may deal with a bigger funeral home or one that is being managed by a bigger company complete with casket company sponsorships.
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Either way, the industry is struggling to keep up with the changes.
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There have been a few news stories lately about funeral homes found with lots of bodies improperly handled.
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I think there's been two in the last six months I've seen.
Roles and Services in Funeral Homes
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And it's usually due to debt or an inability to pay.
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Actually, I'm thinking I'm going to do a whole episode about that.
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About that.
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when things go wrong in the death industry.
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But for now, there may be a lot of people you come in contact with based on how things are changing in the future and now.
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In the funeral home itself, you may find an office person.
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Many hats and names, but this is your phone and paperwork person.
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The one who keeps the business side of things running in the background and interacts with the public the most.
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This is the person you speak with first or you see first.
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Because even though funeral homes advertise as being open 24 hours a day, that is mainly in a death sense.
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Operations are barely covering business hours at this point, and very few funeral homes can operate staff at those hours.
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That being said, outside of normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, you are likely to get an answering service when you call.
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Generally, someone will be on call, but the answering service is there to ensure that they aren't waking up all night to calls about death certificates, but are waking up for the death calls.
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Which brings me to the next person, the removal team.
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These are sometimes employees, but lately more and more removal services are popping up that are strictly for removing and delivering bodies for funeral homes or the death industry.
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It is like a whole
Cremation Services: Logistics and Options
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industry in and of itself.
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Some places it may be the funeral director that comes out, but those days are dying fast.
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Pun completely intended.
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You may or may not come in contact with the embalmer.
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These days, this is becoming more and more like contract work because while it is an art, with more people opting for cheaper alternatives or more natural alternatives, the traditional is becoming less and less and they're finding less and less work just for embalming.
00:07:17
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along with the staff i mentioned there will also be apprentices funeral assistants maybe many other positions in the funeral home itself sometimes you may not go the route of the funeral home there are so many companies dealing strictly with cremation now and that is all they do sometimes they contract with funeral homes since the cost of cremation equipment is a huge investment
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As well as regulations on locations and space locally, not every funeral home has a crematory on site.
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So generally the funeral home you go to for cremation basically ships you off to one that does.
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Generally at a rate lower than what you paid them and at a rate about the same as if you went to the crematory directly.
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You didn't hear that from me.
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Although, always do your homework.
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You may or may not meet the crematory operator.
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This depends on the place and regulations.
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Some places will let you view your loved one's cremation, but don't count on that.
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These cremation companies, some even being strictly online companies, basically allow you to arrange everything
Pre-Planning and End-of-Life Care
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online and through email and even pay online and will include things with an overall price or package deal.
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Most of the time, though, this is strictly cremation and no other services are provided.
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This can also be the case with donation, whether you sign contracts in advance or after your loved one passes.
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They will cover a cremation and transportation.
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Sometimes you may only meet donation places when someone passes, and trust me, they will find you.
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Aside from inside the funeral home or crematory, there are also others you may or may not have contact with depending on the services you choose.
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If you're going a traditional route,
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You will be in contact with a cemetery or other final resting place.
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Generally, plots, niches, etc.
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are pre-purchased.
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You also need to secure clergy in this, and cemetery plots can be difficult to secure after death.
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Just like with weddings, clergy may only do services for members of their congregations.
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Same with cemeteries, and some cemeteries have other restrictions as well, so it's important to really look into those when deciding.
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Last in this category is a florist.
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This is not so much a pre-planning thing, but it is a consideration when someone passes.
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The next group of people you may come in contact with are in relation to pre-planning.
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I've touched on some of these already in the second episode.
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A death doula is someone you can go to for basically end-of-life planning and advocacy for your death.
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They will assist through the end of life and after with grief as well, depending on their focus.
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Some focus more on some aspects of death while others may focus on a different one.
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And
Handling Unexpected Deaths
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it's usually based on the dual's background and interest as death is so encompassing.
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There's so many aspects to it.
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Along with your pre-planning route, I mentioned lawyers, accountants, financial planners, estate planners, insurance people, and some of those
00:10:14
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you will interact with when someone passes as well.
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Along with those, you meet with pre-planning and other professional you may have contact with, whether for yourself or a loved one is hospice.
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I am planning a whole episode about hospice soon, but they are essentially end-of-life care when it is imminent.
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This is the option when there is no more medical intervention or life-saving and it has moved to comfort measures.
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This is not something you plan until you have to.
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but something to keep in mind that is available.
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With unexpected deaths, and I'll also touch on this more in an upcoming episode, but there are a few others you may interact with.
00:10:53
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And I mentioned a lot of them in the question at the end of last week's episode about who you call when someone dies or who may call you.
00:11:01
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You may interact with doctors or staff at the hospital who may or may not be doctors or nurses like security or decedent affairs.
00:11:10
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You may interact with 911 dispatchers, police, or even EMS.
00:11:14
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Depending on the type of death you've encountered, you may also interact with a coroner, medical examiner, or in Texas, a justice of the peace.
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The last professional is one that hopefully you may never need to use, crime scene cleanup.
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There are companies that specialize in that deep cleaning needed after a death has occurred.
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If you find yourself in this situation, rest assured there is a company that does that.
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so you don't have to.
Legal Body Disposal Methods in the U.S.
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And ending on that gruesome note, I hope you are at least a little prepared for the inevitable and have a general idea of who is who in the death industry.
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And now for the question of the week.
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For this week, the question of the week is, what is the most interesting method of legal body disposal in the United States?
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In my death journey, I explored so many of these options and I feel like there is a new option coming up constantly.
00:12:48
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No more is it just cremation or traditional burial with the church and casket and vault and embalming, but so many more things that you can do.
00:12:59
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Growing up, the big talk was being cryogenically frozen.
00:13:04
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I think it hit the news like possibly in the 80s.
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I'm not positive.
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I was a kid.
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I don't remember a lot.
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But it was about somebody doing it or some kind of scientific breakthrough.
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And in the end, it became like a whole urban legend about
Encouragement for Open Discussions on Death
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how Walt Disney was frozen.
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And then I heard it was just his head.
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And then there was this whole Futurama premise about cryogenics.
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It was kind of a big deal.
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But as I got older...
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and internet became a thing.
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I don't believe that it is yet possible to be revived after being frozen.
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I'll have to look that one up, because I'm really not sure.
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But it is a nice, comforting concept.
00:13:49
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But that definitely falls into the live forever category of death beliefs, which will come later.
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Back to current reality, there is no shortage of ways to dispose of a body that are legit.
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And not just that, there is a whole lot of things to do with cremains once a loved one is cremated.
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I will touch on a lot of these in the next episode and go into some, a lot more detail later for now, just to get you thinking about possibilities.
00:14:22
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I talk to a lot of people.
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And I'm a weirdo, so generally the conversation will steer to death.
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And the topic of body disposal generally comes up.
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It's an innocuous... So what do you want to happen to your body when you die?
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It's not surprisingly one I hear quite frequently.
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And this is kind of just to get you thinking about possibilities, because I have definitely looked into this one.
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The one thing I hear a lot of people talk about is a Viking funeral.
00:14:56
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A funeral pirate.
00:14:58
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As you can imagine, a Viking funeral would present a lot of red tape and environmental concerns, open flames and all that.
00:15:08
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There is also the consideration that crematory retorts operate at substantially higher temperatures than a regular open funeral pyre.
00:15:18
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Therefore, the whole process is probably not for the faint of heart.
00:15:22
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Based on some of these conditions and regulations and restrictions and the whole belief that death is unsanitary and that you can, like, become a zombie if you breathe in the air near where someone's dead body was burned or buried, didn't you know that is actually how the zombie apocalypse starts?
00:15:40
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But regardless, one place was not afraid of all of that.
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and actually has, from what I've looked into, very little oversight on the death industry in general.
00:15:52
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I'm going to give you a moment to guess which U.S. state has the only legally operating outdoor funeral pyre in the whole country.
00:16:05
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If you guessed Colorado, you are correct.
00:16:09
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You can get your Viking funeral in Colorado.
00:16:13
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If you're looking for more information, you can check out CrestinEndofLifeProject.org and under their services option, you can check out Open Air Cremation site.
00:16:25
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You can find all of the details there and I hope to maybe get an interview with them later.
00:16:31
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But for now, that is my take on one of the more interesting legal ways to dispose of a body.
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And now a quote.
Episode Wrap-Up and Listener Engagement
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Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
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Unknown author.
00:17:22
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Thank you for listening to this episode of Passing Perspective, where we discussed all the things for who's who in the death industry.
00:17:32
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I hope you learned more than you ever dreamed about death and dying.
00:17:37
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My dreams are that you take this information and go out and start working on your own death plans and thinking about your own demise.
00:17:46
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I want you to go out and discuss death with your friends and family and complete strangers and engage in the dialogue that really matters.
00:17:54
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The only way to remove the stigma is to talk about it.
00:17:59
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I welcome your stories and questions and any input on the show.
00:18:02
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And you can find me at www.passingperspective.com where you can find show notes and links, a blog, and you can find me on Facebook at Passing Perspectives.
00:18:14
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and on Instagram at Passing Perspective Podcast.
00:18:19
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As always,
Credits and Acknowledgments
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Passing Perspective with Desa Apprentice can be found on all of your favorite streaming services.
00:18:26
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Kindest regards, Desa Apprentice.
00:18:49
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Thank you for listening to this episode of Passing Perspective with Des Apprentice.
00:18:55
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All episodes are written, hosted, and produced by Des Apprentice.
00:19:00
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Music is a calm hellfire by The Wayward Hearts.
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Licensing by Upbeat.
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Tune in for next week.
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See you then.
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The End