Most Funeral Homes or offices of Funeral Directors are closed over the weekend. It is normal for offices to be staffed only from Monday to Friday only.
However, death is not a weekday activity. Being a funeral director is also a 24/7 business.
FDs will employ staff to be "on call" overnight and over the weekend. Why? Because when a person dies at home or more commonly in a nursing home, the family and/or the nursing home management will want the person who has died to be "taken into care of the funeral home" as soon as possible. Not only is this for health reasons because of the natural decaying process that happens with the body as soon as someone dies, but also it is to be discreet. The most successful funeral directors have agreements with their local nursing homes to "take into care" those people who died at night when there are no visitors on site and other residents are asleep in bed. When was the last time you saw a dead person being removed from a house or nursing home? It is rare because funeral directors are expect at doing this discretely and often during the cover of night.
If people live alone and have died at home, it is also very common for these people to only get found by friends, relatives or neighbours at the weekend even though they may have died mid-week. Consequently, this also increases the call to FDs sometimes by families (sometimes by the Police) on the weekend so that the deceased can be swiftly collected.
The exception to this is when people die in hospital or it is a "sudden death". In these cases, the people who have died will be taken at first to the hospital mortuary or the local coroner's mortuary. Eventually, the deceased's body will be released to the family's chosen funeral director. This FD would normally collect the person from the mortuary midweek when they are less busy.
So in summary, Monday is when most Funeral Directors and Arrangers have to sift through their "new arrivals", gather information and make contact with families to arrange their initial meeting.
However, death is not a weekday activity. Being a funeral director is also a 24/7 business.
FDs will employ staff to be "on call" overnight and over the weekend. Why? Because when a person dies at home or more commonly in a nursing home, the family and/or the nursing home management will want the person who has died to be "taken into care of the funeral home" as soon as possible. Not only is this for health reasons because of the natural decaying process that happens with the body as soon as someone dies, but also it is to be discreet. The most successful funeral directors have agreements with their local nursing homes to "take into care" those people who died at night when there are no visitors on site and other residents are asleep in bed. When was the last time you saw a dead person being removed from a house or nursing home? It is rare because funeral directors are expect at doing this discretely and often during the cover of night.
If people live alone and have died at home, it is also very common for these people to only get found by friends, relatives or neighbours at the weekend even though they may have died mid-week. Consequently, this also increases the call to FDs sometimes by families (sometimes by the Police) on the weekend so that the deceased can be swiftly collected.
The exception to this is when people die in hospital or it is a "sudden death". In these cases, the people who have died will be taken at first to the hospital mortuary or the local coroner's mortuary. Eventually, the deceased's body will be released to the family's chosen funeral director. This FD would normally collect the person from the mortuary midweek when they are less busy.
So in summary, Monday is when most Funeral Directors and Arrangers have to sift through their "new arrivals", gather information and make contact with families to arrange their initial meeting.
What does this mean for funeral celebrants?
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