(Portsmouth, Ohio) The restrictions on funeral services during COVID in Ohio and around the country are ‘heartbreaking’ for a Portsmouth funeral director. Dawn Scott said it’s painful to see families deprived of their traditional outlets for grief. “It’s heartbreaking because we want to help people. Part of what we do is bring people together, and we can’t do it.”
Grief expert Amy Szatanek agreed. “These times have been difficult for patients and families for sure. Historically, people have utilized funerals and services as a way to formally say goodbye to a loved one. I do believe that all of these changes have affected people’s ability to process their grief, especially if they were not able to be with their loved ones when they died.”
Dawn Scott, vice president of the Ralph F. Scott Funeral Home, said it was especially difficult at the beginning of the pandemic. Many grieving families chose to postpone memorial services. “They had a family ceremony or they just came in for a few minutes and went to the cemetery. They put it in the paper that they’d have a memorial service at a later date.”
She said there were some cases where people were afraid to even go to the cemetery. Scott said it happened more often during the pandemic than in her entire 30 plus years as a funeral director. “When I do that, I take pictures of the internment, so they can see what happened. I don’t want them to have questions down the road.”
Extra Safety Measures
Scott said that while funerals were exempted from COVID crowd restrictions, many families aren’t comfortable with larger groups and some mourners hesitate to show up. “We’re having more traditional services now. It just depends on the family and their comfort level. They are very conscious of asking what we are requiring and allowing.”
As required by state law, all employees of the funeral home wear masks and there is plenty of hand sanitizer available. “We took out a lot of the chairs and moved them farther apart,” Scott said they clean often. “I know have an industrial-sized sprayer that every chair and every surface is cleaned.”
One change is the way guest books are handled. At first, not many mourners were attending services, so the skipped the keepsake due to concerns handling the pen could spread the virus. Now, a staff member signs in guests.
More families have requested Facebook live streams. “I think in the future we’re going to see more of it. We had people from Australia and California watching funerals. I went around to all of the people who were there and had them say hello to the families and watched all of the streaming comments.”
The extra safety measures don’t bother Scott. ” It’s not that it’s so difficult. It just hurts that these families aren’t getting the support that they need. I like to personalize funeral services. Thinking outside the box is kind of what I enjoy. This is a profession where you have to make split-second decisions. I enjoy knowing that I’m making these funerals as safe and as healing as possible.”
