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Funeral planning in the age of COVID-19

“It’s an internal level of un-comfort, we sometimes think that if we start talking about our death and planning out our funeral then it’s going to happen soon,” Roots said. “That’s not the case— it just makes you more prepared when the time comes.”
20200526 Funeral 1
Cochrane Country Funeral Home funeral director Allie Van Arnam showcases the shops services area Tuesday (May 26). (Chelsea Kemp/The Cochrane Eagle)

COCHRANE— Helping those grieving the death of a loved one, funeral homes aid families in planning a service to honour those who have passed on.

David Roots general manager of Pierson Funeral Service in Calgary, owner of Cochrane Country Funeral Home, said for many people it is important to do something to commemorate a death in the family, but it is a unique plan for each grieving family.

“It’s an internal level of un-comfort, we sometimes think that if we start talking about our death and planning out our funeral then it’s going to happen soon,” Roots said. “That’s not the case— it just makes you more prepared when the time comes.”

Funerals are typically hosted at-needs which occurs at the time of death, or pre-needs where plans are made before death and allow someone to plan a service for themselves.

Many factors can guide the planning of a funeral, he said, explaining that this can include if it is a burial or cremation and the type of service they wish to host. Other factors can include planning a viewing, or visitation, if it is open to the public or if it is private for family only.

Roots said the COVID-19 pandemic has changed planning for funeral services, explaining that the virus has made people more conscious and aware they should put something in order in the case of their death.

“We’re seeing people more interested in doing pre-arrangements and making sure they do have something in place for when the time comes,” Roots said. “It’s brought the reality of their mortality to mind and made them more comfortable or made funeral planning a bit more forefront in their minds.”

He added that he has seen an increase in making pre-arrange services during the pandemic and that he has seen a transformation in funeral planning as a whole.

It has been a difficult experience for some families being unable to host or having to delay services, he said, and this has changed grieve process— In many ways making it harder.

“So much healing comes in service and ceremony, it's what people do naturally in gathering and coming together,” Roots said.

He added that funeral homes have embraced innovations to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic including hosting services using web-conferencing. Livestreamed videos serve as a way for people to attend from home and open up funerals for people to attend from around the world.

“We held a service recently where there was one person that came to the actual funeral home for the service, but everything else was done through [the video-conferencing app] Zoom,” Roots said. “The officiator was a priest from Ireland and the rest of the participants were spread all over the world.”

It was a neat experiencing hosting a virtual funeral because it was still able to incorporate people at home and the funeral home, Roots said.

The biggest challenge he said is that they are not able to host receptions during the pandemic, an important aspect of the grieving process.

“We’re still learning as to how this is going to change and how this is going to change what we do,” Roots said. “Once we’ve gone a little bit further down the road with the pandemic and were starting to see things opening even more or see what the effects of the current opening we’ll adjust and make plans from there.”

Grief has been complicated by the COVID-19 public health measures, he added, because people are limited in who they can visit their loved ones when they are passing away.

“It just makes that grief experience so much harder for them and so it’s been kind of a unique experience as funeral professional to be able to serve these families and do everything we can to help them through the grieving process,” Roots said. “It’s been a very unique time.”

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