Funeral Director Brian Van Heck explained what it is like to manage memorial services in the midst of a pandemic.
“About a year ago right now is when things really started ramping up and being impacted in terms of COVID increase in the United States as a whole,” Van Heck said. “And so, we worked closely with our state and national funeral directors’ associations to start implementing, not only what we needed to do to keep our staff safe, but also the families that we serve and the church communities.”
A lot of people are involved in providing funeral services. Beyond the deceased person’s family and loved ones, in-church services provided an increased risk of spread of the COVID-19 virus throughout congregations.
Posey Funeral Directors, 1307 Georgia Ave., North Augusta, S.C., sits close to the Georgia state line. That meant Van Heck needed to keep abreast of both states’ COVID-related mandates. Initially, South Carolina tended to be stricter about the number of allowed attendees, limiting guests to 10 at outside services. The two states were not always congruent.
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“So, we had to be mindful of that,” Van Heck said.
Today, signs around Posey reminding people to social distance hang throughout the building. Masks and hand sanitizer are set up in the main lobby. Every morning and every evening, a cleaning and sanitizing process takes place. The chapel, which typically seats 200 people, has been minimized to a capacity of 50.
For a business that tends to people in distressed emotional states, often needing comforting, the parameters were emotionally difficult to put in place.
“We are a service profession, a high level of service to families,” Van Heck said. “So, for us to put limitations on families was difficult for us, but even more so for the families.”
Public visitations became small gatherings of immediate family members. Outdoor graveside services became the new norm. The pandemic required that Posey staff rose to the occasion, thinking beyond typical practices.
Travel bans increased the need for recorded funeral services. Perhaps by divine intervention, Posey had just completed an upgrade of its audio and visual capabilities before COVID-19 hit. The funeral director was prepared to offer an array of digital funeral services.
“When the regulations came out, we were able to offer that,” he said. “We saw a huge increase in people taking advantage of that service, for which we do not charge an additional fee.”
Posey purchased equipment that enabled them to live-stream via portable webcasting. The equipment enabled loved ones to watch outside services online. Posey improvised and developed a digital magazine on its website that explains the arrangement process to people who have just lost a loved one. Planning relied on virtual conferences via Zoom.
“Still hands-on, in terms of gathering, but the gathering changed and certainly the size of the gathering changed,” Van Heck said of funerals during the pandemic. “A traditional funeral still happens. It just looks a little different because we are having private family viewings and graveside services versus visitation the night before and then funeral in the chapel or in the church with dozens, if not hundreds of people.”
COVID-19 changed the transfer process of the loved ones from hospitals and nursing homes into Posey’s care. Staff must get their temperature taken before entering through doors specified for transport.
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Personal protective equipment used in preparing the bodies for services was mandated prior to the pandemic. However, obtaining those supplies became more challenging as items such as masks, gloves and gowns became harder to find.
“In some arenas, we got put in the grouping of first responders,” Van Heck said. “Our state and national associations helped provide some resources in getting certain things. Face shields were a big thing. Some of our vendors and national alliances were able to get those things for us.”
Even as the number of COVID-19 cases decreases, the availability of caskets and urns has become limited as manufacturers struggle to keep up with the demand.
“When we meet with a family now and they select a casket, we have to call and make sure that particular casket is available to us,” Van Heck said and added that the company Posey works with makes a tremendous effort to provide a casket that is similar when one is not available.
South Carolina considered funeral directors to be part of its Phase 1A when it came to COVID-19 vaccination distribution.
“All of our employees were able to get vaccines,” Van Heck said.
During the height of the pandemic, delays occurred “two-fold” because of an increased number of deaths. From a logistical and scheduling standpoint, funerals needed to be postponed to accommodate everyone. Additionally, services were delayed because family members who wished to attend were quarantined with the virus. The funeral home had to tackle scheduling services around 2-week quarantine-related delays and the on-going need for funerals.
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Posey saw a 20% increase in requested services in December, 2020. It experienced a 30% increase in January, 2021.
“We seemed quite protected for a while, but it was the last quarter where we saw a real increase in the CSRA with COVID,” Van Heck said.
The grief element was another challenge COVID-19 created. As people died alone in hospitals that did not allow visitors, loved ones missed out on human interaction.
“From an emotional standpoint, people were dying alone,” Van Heck said. “But families were feeling very removed from their loved ones for days, weeks and even months.”
While nationally there was an increase in the cremation rate, locally Posey saw an increase in the request for traditional services.
“People wanted to be able to see, touch, spend time with their loved one and have that time,” Van Heck said. “Having a traditional funeral with a viewing and private family time is very powerful and meaningful, especially when you haven’t been able to see a loved one for three months.”
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Shellie Smitley is a staff writer for The Augusta Press. Reach her at shellie@theaugustapress.com
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