With just her children, a cousin and a close friend at her side, Franklin resident Jennifer Mitchell had a modest funeral for her beloved mother over the weekend.
Many loved her mother, but only a few could gather to mourn her loss as COVID-19 has forced limits on gatherings and changed how funeral homes operate.
Still, Mitchell was grateful to have any service in the midst of the growing public health emergency. At Jessen Funeral Home, she was able to invite up to nine other family members and have a shortened service. She would have liked to have a bigger and better service for her mom, but understands why that was not possible, Mitchell said.
“I am grateful,” Mitchell said. “It could have come down to, if someone dies in your family it’s put on hold. I am grateful just to have the hour.”
Not just Jessen, funeral homes across the state and nation have made changes to the length and type of services they can offer to families in response to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and funeral home associations.
According to the CDC, there is “no known risk” of being near someone who has died of COVID-19 because the virus is primarily spread through respiratory droplets of an infected individual.
Though some states such as Washington and Kansas have banned funerals during the public health emergency, Gov. Eric Holcomb, so far, is allowing funerals to go forward with services capped at 10 attendees.
Funeral directors are following CDC guidelines, though it is personally difficult for them to offer less to families, they said.
“Here, we are dedicated to making sure they have some sort of service until we are told to do otherwise,” said Joey Martin, funeral home manager for Jessen and Franklin and Whiteland. “We go above and beyond to honor family wishes so it pains us to not be able to.”
These sentiments are shared by other grieving families during the public health emergency, local funeral directors said.
“Every family we have been working with has been great,” said D.W. Kelley, general manager at Forest Lawn Memory Gardens and Funeral Home of Greenwood. “The community is really rallying around each other. None of our families have been mad, they have been grateful.”
They are doing the best they can for families while balancing public health, funeral directors say. Each funeral home caps attendance at 10, limits service options, aggressively cleans between services and has come up with ways to limit employee exposure to the virus.
At Forest Lawn, funeral services are not being held at the funeral home, but can still be offered at the mausoleum or gravesite, Kelley said.
“We are not taking it lightly. We are looking at every angle to make sure families get the support they need,” Kelley said. “But we also have to keep people safe.”
Forest Lawn has started doing temperature checks and asking health questions of employees and visitors each day in an effort to keep the virus at bay, Kelley said.
Although services right now have to be modest, Swartz is giving families the option to hold a celebration of life service later this year when fears of the virus subside, said Scott Swartz, funeral director and co-owner of Swartz Family Community Memorial Center. The funeral home is also continuing its usual practice of recording the service and uploading it to its website so family members who aren’t able to attend in person can view it.
“We are wrapping our arms around families so they can do whatever needs to be done in that regard,” Swartz said.
Swartz has just three employees, including himself and his wife, Mary, report to work each day, while the remaining employees work from home, he said.
Funeral directors say they are handling decedents with the same care and respect as they usually would, but are more mindful of disinfecting work areas and tools.
Though there is no clear evidence that COVID-19 can spread after death, the CDC recommends not touching a body that might have been infected as a precaution. As a result, funeral directors are advising families not to touch or kiss their loved ones, Martin said.
Funeral directors are also using more caution in terms of handling, just in case the decedent had the virus without having tested positive or showing any symptoms before death, Swartz said.
Handling the aftermath of a death in the family is harder now with other COVID-19 setbacks, Mitchell said. When her mom suddenly fell ill with advanced-stage leukemia last week, Mitchell was unable to visit her at the hospital due to visitor restrictions.
“I didn’t, but I can understand how people would feel alone in this,” Mitchell said, adding that Jessen employees and her loved ones gave her so much support.
In addition, the state-mandated restaurant dining room closures put her out of work. Although she is laid off, Mitchell still received help from the Buffalo Wild Wings Employee Assistance Fund to help cover some of the funeral costs.
“We are in a struggle right now. My husband is fighting cancer, now this,” Mitchell said. “I’m not working right now… I can’t take that risk of working with the public and bringing it home.”
