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July 28th, 2010
Less than 40 years ago, only 5% of funeral directors in the United States were women, and today that number hovers around 43%. The ratio of male to female students in mortuary science schools has rapidly shifted as well, from 35% in 1995 to a current rate of around 60%.
Interestingly enough, women historically played a large part in traditional death care practices. In ancient Greece, women were responsible for dressing, washing and anointing the body. In the ancient Hebrew traditions, washing and dressing the dead was considered unclean work and thus the task was delegated to women.
Colonial women were also responsible for preparing the dead for burial as it was considered to be a household task, but this tradition shifted around the time of the Civil War, when Northern soldiers were dying on Southern soil, and needed preservation in order to be sent home to be viewed by the families. Previously, Americans had no knowledge of embalming practices so this practice spread rapidly as families arranged to have their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons shipped home from the battlefields of the South.
This shift in funeral practice marked the emergence of the American funeral industry, and while the funeral industry was one of the few trades that welcomed women, it was primarily dominated by educated white men. However, during the 20th century, a Spanish nurse named Lina D. Odou studied embalming in Switzerland, and in 1899 opened an embalming school for women in the United States, graduating 10 students in her first class.
There were some setbacks to women in the American funeral industry in the 1950’s as women were generally regarded as ‘second-class citizens’ in the business world and were restricted to jobs such as homemaker, nurse or teacher, unless of course the woman was raised in a family-owned funeral home.
Like all industries, the feminist movement in the 1970’s and 1980’s had an impact on the American funeral industry, providing opportunities as women campaigned against cultural and political inequities, breaking the ‘glass ceiling’ that held back previous generations.
Today, the Funeral Science program at Milwaukee Technical College notes that nearly 75% of their students are female. At Phaneuf Funeral Homes, we are proud to have three female funeral directors and one female funeral apprentice on our staff.
Posted in Funeral Trends | No Comments »
July 15th, 2010
Set to launch in Sweden next year and in Korea the following year, promession is an eco-friendly method of disposal for human remains based on freeze drying. It was invented (and patented) in 1999 by Susanne Wiigh Mäsak. The word ‘promession’ is derived from the Italian word for ‘promise’ (promessa).
Promession takes place in 7 steps:
1. The body is frozen to -18 degrees Celsius (normally this occurs between 24 to 48 hours) and then put into a sealed unit called a Promator.
2. The body is weighed to determine how much liquid nitrogen is needed to freeze the body to -196 degrees Celsius; 1kg of liquid nitrogen is required for 1kg of body weight. This process takes approximately two hours, and the liquid nitrogen evaporates into the atmosphere as nitrogen gas.
3. The frozen body is then moved onto a belt that gives off small (5mm) vibrations. This takes approximatey 60 seconds and reduces the body to particles.
4. The particles are then transferred into a vacuum chamber where water is evaporated and released into the atmosphere as steam.
5. The dry powder is then passed through electrical currents and magnets that extract any existing metals.
6. The existing residue, which is approximately a third of the original body weight, is placed into a biodegradable coffin, which can be lined with an iron net which will rust away.
7. The coffin is buried at a depth of about half a meter, and in approximately 6 to 12 months, the remains, the coffin, and the net will become part of the soil nutrients.
While the volume of remains left by promession is up to twenty times that left by cremation, heavy metals (for example, mercury from dental fillings) are filtered out instead of released into the atmosphere as pollutants so the procedure meets the requirements of the new European Union Industrial Emissions Directive, which imposes strict limits on air, soil, and water pollution.
The first ‘promatorium’ will open in Sweden and will process approximately 1,500 bodies per year and South Korea is building memorial parks to support the process as well. “This is going to be the future solution for Korea. Traditional burials as they are today may not be allowed in future, as most graveyards in the country are now running out of space… It’s really a good chance for the planet I think,” stated Wiigh-Masak at a recent funeral expo.
Currently, promession is not available in the United States, so Phaneuf Funeral Homes is unable to provide this service.
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July 7th, 2010
On June 10, 2010, Secretary of the Army John McHugh announced the results of an Army investigation prompted by a series of articles published on salon.com citing employee misconduct at Arlington National Cemetery. “I deeply apologize to the families of the honored fallen resting in that hallowed ground who may now question the care afforded to their loved ones.” he told a Pentagon news conference.
The investigation, headed by Lt. Gen Steven Whitcomb, found cemetery mismanagement, improper contracting, and an outdated, paper-based record keeping system that had been largely neglected. Said Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) in a conference call with reporters on June 24, “We are one fire, or one flood, or one spilled Starbucks coffee away from some of those records being lost or spoiled.” Additionally, many of the issues uncovered in a 1997 inspection report were never addressed by cemetery staff.
Lt. Whitcomb said that at least 211 remains were identified as potentially mislabeled or misplaced and that there could be more. He told reporters “We found nothing that was intentional, criminal intent or intended sloppiness that caused this. … But of all the things in the world, we see this as a zero defect operation.” In addition to the mishandling of remains, the investigation found several headstones in a nearby stream, 117 grave sites without headstones, 94 grave sites marked as unoccupied that had headstones, four urns that were disinterred and dumped in an area reserved for removed grave dirt, and the Army said it is still not certain it has uncovered all the mistakes.
In response to the findings of the investigation, Arlington’s superintendent, John Metzler Jr., and his deputy, Thurman Higginbotham were removed from their posts. John Metzler had been there for 19 years and his father was also superintendent at one point as well. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee said that he is “downright angry,” and is demanding that the Army check all 300,000+ grave sites for accuracy. “I am afraid that the 200 irregularities associated with the gravesites may be only a fraction of the problem,” he said, “We must be prepared that a 100% survey of the cemetery and all of its operations, … will yield a large number of problems that must be addressed.”
More than 300,000 people are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, with an average of about 30 funerals are conducted there each day. Two presidents, many generals and admirals, and men and women who served in the US military, their spouses, and children are buried there. Since 1990, burials at Arlington have increased exponentially to 100,000, while the cemetery staff has decreased from 140 to 97.
While we have not had anyone contact us directly yet, as experts in Veterans arrangements, we are happy to help New Hampshire families who have loved ones interred at Arlington cemetery by connecting them to the right resources to make sure there are no problems.
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June 30th, 2010
Recently I was interviewed by Bart Miller for an article in The Bulletin of Selected Independent Funeral Homes regarding our use of technology. We have seen more change in the last five years than in the previous fifty and we have always been early adopters in terms of technology because once you fall behind, it can be very difficult to catch up. Soon after 1995, when we started our cremation society, we used traditional advertising and direct mail, and as the internet became more popular, we stepped up to the plate by posting our prices online and setting up an economical ecommerce business. This allowed us to service families across New Hampshire.
Over the years, we have found that not only are people willing to make online arrangements, in many cases, they prefer it. People patronize cremation societies for all kinds of reasons, and some appreciate the convenience of making arrangements in their own home without outside pressure. (We still make arrangements the traditional way, of course.)
Regularly, I get calls from funeral directors who see our website, our advanced ecommerce capability, and our solid social media presence, all working together in powerful symbiosis. They are overwhelmed and say they couldn’t do what we’ve done, and I explain that our site has been evolving over 15 years.
The vast majority of funeral home websites do not display price lists, so it would be a significant undertaking to enable ecommerce. It is critical to adopt the mindset that the website is an extension of the arrangement office: everything provided in the office should be online. Once the directors have this mindset, they don’t fear that their competition can see their prices. In all truth, the competition already knows your prices, so if you can’t maintain transparency in your pricing and you are unable to explain it to your customers, you have a serious problem. When I think of my online activity, if I am shopping and I see ‘call for pricing’, it makes me suspicious and I am uncomfortable with this lack of transparency. Online consumers shopping for funeral or cremation services are no different than any other.
More and more of our business is becoming technologically embedded and automated and we are excited about this convergence. For example, we have a new funeral home software package which replaced ten stand-alone programs. Now that everything is in one place, transactions are much smoother and quicker, functioning efficiently with less staff and significantly reducing the potential for human error.
We recently hired a director of social media and business development, who, in addition to traditional marketing, maintains our website, social media presence, search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. With the power of the internet, people are searching for terms like ‘low cost cremation’ and ‘green burials’ and it is critical that we maintain a presence there. I am asked frequently why we have a social media presence, and one example that came up the other day was that we had an estate attorney present a seminar on preplanning. Shortly before the seminar, we posted on Facebook and Twitter that we had a few seats available and sure enough, some of our followers called us to sign up. Had we not been using social media, we would have missed these folks.
Posted in Funeral Trends | No Comments »
June 23rd, 2010
On September 25, 2009, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) proposed a bill known as The Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights Act of 2009. The purpose of the bill was to set new national standards to protect funeral and cemetery consumers. The bill seeks to expand and fortify the current FTC’s Funeral Rule, which at this time applies to funeral homes and not to cemeteries, crematoria, or sellers of funeral merchandise that are not associated with a funeral home.
The main points of the bill are to:
- Require providers of funeral goods and services to provide accurate prices to consumers before the transaction
- Require providers to ‘unbundle’ services so that consumers can buy only the services and merchandise they want from the cemetery and are free to make purchases from retail vendors.
- Require providers to disclose consumer rights, rules and regulations before the transaction.
- Require providers to keep detailed records of all burial transactions and locations, and to make the records available to regulators upon request.
- Require providers to be truthful about laws and regulations
This bill was introduced after an investigation at a Chicago cemetery, Burr Oak, revealed that several hundred graves may have been dug up and resold. The executive director of the Funeral Consumers’ Alliance, Joshua Slocum testified before legislators that while the Funeral Rule of 1984 has certainly helped consumers make educated choices when dealing with a funeral home, more and more grieving families are making funeral arrangements without the services of a funeral home and are in need of protections for the whole funeral process.
The state of Chicago has been very proactive in its response to the Burr Oak incident, passing the Cemetery Oversight Act, which provides a Consumer Bill of Rights for cemetery customers. The act was signed into law January 17 and took effect March 1 and includes a toll-free hotline for any consumer wishing to file a complaint against a cemetery. Much like the bill proposed by Rep. Rush, it provides a rigorous regulatory structure for cemeteries and providers of funeral services under the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations.
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June 15th, 2010
More and more families are choosing to make funeral arrangements online for their loved ones, and individuals are choosing to preplan their own funerals online. The reasons for this increase are numerous, including convenience, saving time, privacy, and flexibility.
Funeral Planning Online is Easy
Literally, your Grandmother can do it. Human hosts guide visitors through each step in selecting funeral packages, and drop down charts make comparing the features and pricing of the packages easy. As the family progresses through making the arrangements, they are guided by visual cues as to how far along they are in the process. Along the way, the hosts periodically make recommendations for goods and services that support the package selected by the family. Some examples are listed below:
- Flowers
- Caskets
- Burial Vaults
- Cards and Gifts
- Upgraded Obituaries (Tributes)
- Urns, Urn Vaults and Keepsakes
- Memorial Card, Candles, Bookmarks
- Veterans Flag Cases
- Access To Genealogical Records
- Cremations
- Traditional Funerals
Online Planning is Convenient and Saves Time
Using web technologies, families can make arrangements online from the privacy of their homes, without the need for an in-house visit to a funeral home. Further, families are free to move ahead with the planning process at their own pace, and can walk away and return as they are comfortable. The online host allows complete flexibility in moving backward to modify selections at any time during the process, as well.
Online Pre-planning
Individuals frequently take charge of their own funeral arrangements, relieving loved ones who are left behind from making difficult decisions in times of tremendous grief. Online funeral planning makes the task of planning arrangements much easier, without the need to visit a funeral home.
Online Funeral Planning After a Death
There are few things in life more traumatic than the death of a family member, and the ease, convenience, and privacy of online planning can ease some of the tremendous burden, particularly for family members who may have difficulty with transportation and/or mobility. The Cremation Society of New Hampshire, an affiliated of Phaneuf Funeral Homes and Crematorium, was the first funeral and cremation firm in the country to begin offering complete on-line arrangements in 2000. Since then, well over 1000 families have made their arrangements on-line with the Society. In fact, last year, 60% of families served used the their website to finalize their cremation arrangements. To learn more, go to www.csnh.com
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June 9th, 2010
What is resomation?
Resomation is an alternative process for the disposal of human remains using alkaline hydrolysis. The process was first proposed as a method of disposing of cows infected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) because the end product is a sterile, genetically-free green-brown liquid, containing ash, chemical components (amino acids, peptides, sugars, salts), and porous bone fragments. The creators, the British firm Resomation Limited, claim the process is much more ecologically friendly than cremation.
The body is placed into a silk bag within a metal frame, then lowered into the resomation chamber. The chamber is filled with a high-temperature (160 degrees Celsius) mixture of water and potassium hydroxide which is pressurized to prevent boiling, and the process takes approximately three hours. The bone ash is generally processed in a cremulator and can be scattered just like cremated remains, and the liquid recycled back into the ecosystem.
What are the Benefits?
Unlike cremation, resomation sterilizes rather than destroying bone implants, leaving them potentially recyclable, and it doesn’t vaporize the toxic mercury found in dental fillings. While some proponents of resomation argue it is better for the environment because the process uses less energy and produces less carbon dioxide than cremation, there is still a significant energy draw to heat and pressurize the water in the resomation chamber.
Does Phaneuf Funeral Home Practice Resomation?
While I have been interviewed on WMUR and have been quoted in the Union Leader and Concord Monitor that I do support the right of the individual to choose resomation, it is not legal in the State of New Hampshire, so Phaneuf is currently unable to offer this service.
Where is Resomation Legal?
Currently, resomation is legal in Minnesota and in Florida and is currently being used on cadavers for funeral practices and for research purposes. In New Hampshire, the process was legalized in 2006, but this decision was reversed in 2007 because it was introduced into legislation that was created to regulate cremation, and the actual resomation process bears very little resemblance to cremation. Similar legislation is currently proposed in a bill headed for an Assembly vote in California that seeks to broaden the definition of cremation to include the use of either fire or water.
Tags: alkaline hyrdrolysis, Cremation, Resomation
Posted in Cremation | 3 Comments »
June 2nd, 2010
What is a green burial?
A green burial is done with the goal of returning the body to the earth so that it can be naturally recycled through uninhibited decomposition; green burials are intended as economically sustainable alternatives to traditional funeral practices. In most cases, the body is not embalmed and is placed in a biodegradable container (for example, willow), then interred directly in a grave without a concrete liner.
The first green cemetery, Ramsey Creek, was opened in 1998 by Billy Campbell in South Carolina. Since then, an emerging new movement for simpler, more environmentally friendly has resulted in a variety of alternatives to traditional funeral practices.
Cremation is also considered a type of green burial, because although energy is consumed to burn the body, its footprint is so small and its byproducts so marginal that it is generally accepted as a green burial practice.
Why a green burial?
There are over 22,000 cemeteries in the United States alone, and each year we bury the following with our traditional funeral practices:
Caskets – 30 million feet of hardwood, 90,272 tons of steel, and 2,700 tons of copper/bronze.
Vaults – 14,000 tons of steel and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete
Embalming fluid – 827,060 gallons
Clearly, over time these practices will prove to be unsustainable as more and more land is consumed to create cemeteries and more and more of material resources, such as woods and metals are buried in the ground along with our dead.
Cost is also a factor, considering the average cost for a traditional funeral is approximately $6500 to $8000. Green burials cost substantially less, especially if the body is to be cremated and the family decides spreads the ashes spread instead of interring the body. We have the only green burial offering in the state of New Hampshire that approved by the Green Burial Council.
Are There Green Alternatives to Interment?
In addition to simple interment or cremation, there are a number of creative alternatives for cremated remains as well. For example, one company, Celestis, can send a lipstick-sized container of cremated remains into space. They offer several choices for the containers, including orbit with return, release into the orbit, lunar release, or release into deep space.
Eternal Reefs incorporates cremated remains into an environmentally safe cement mixture, using the mixture to create artificial reef formations that support new marine habitats for fish and other sea creatures. They have placed over 300 memorial reefs throughout the east coast and expect them to last approximately 500 years.
The Future of Green Burials
As the green burial movement continues to gain popularity, there are more and more green cemeteries appearing in the United States. Since 1998, the number of green cemeteries has gone from 1 to 12, operating in 10 states with 4 more are under development. We have seen an exponential increase over the last few years in green burials at our facilities, so it is certainly clear to us that the green burial movement is here to stay.
Tags: green burials, green cemeteries
Posted in Funeral Planning, Funeral Trends | 1 Comment »
May 27th, 2010
The baby boomer generation has caused a seismic shift in the funeral industry in the last decade. Overall, there has been a large decrease in emphasis on body-centric activities and a resulting shift in focus towards memorial services that honor the life of the deceased person instead. Personalization of the funeral services to reflect the preferences and hobbies of the person is pervasive: instead of ‘amazing grace’ and ‘swing low sweet chariot’ playing in the funeral home, attendees at a baby boomer funeral would be more likely to hear ‘stairway to heaven’, ‘imagine’ or ‘into the mystic’. And instead of a black hearse, the procession could just as easily be led by a motorcycle, a team of horses, or a covered wagon.
The baby boomer generation includes people who were born from1946 to 1965, approximately 78 million Americans and roughly 28% of our total current population. Exactly as they challenged, rejected, and reshaped their parents’ traditional roles in their own lives with regards to self-identity, gender, sex, marriage, parenting and retirement, they are doing exactly the same in their deaths. As a result, we are seeing less and less formulaic, traditional funerals and finding ourselves in roles that are more grounded in facilitating, event planning and organization, and above all, providing hospitality and comfort. Currently, it is estimated that only 20% of modern funerals are about body disposition and the remaining 80% of the funeral is to provide a healing experience for the surviving family.
Baby boomers also have a lot more options available to them for their funerals, mostly as a result of 1984 legislation which required funeral directors to unbundle their services and provide price lists, allowing for completely customized funerals. Some of the more popular personalization trends include video tributes, slideshows, and displaying personal memorabilia such as musical instruments, sports equipment, etc. In a recent service we did, the family brought their loved one’s Harley Davidson motorcycle right into our funeral chapel, which brought fond memories to those who remembered him as an avid motorcyclist.
For the actual disposition of the body, cremation seems to be by far the most popular choice among baby boomers and families often scatter the ashes in the person’s favorite spot, for example at sea. However, many baby boomers are choosing non-traditional and unusual destinations for their cremated ashes, such as being made into jewelry, or sent into space. Non-traditional, green burials are also gaining popularity among baby boomers, with such choices as no-embalming techniques, eco-friendly cemeteries, underwater reef memorials, and caskets and shrouds made out of fully biodegradable materials.
At the end of the day, exactly as the baby boomers were a defining, rule-changing generation in life, so are they in their deaths; as a result, we are seeing this clearly reflected by the significant changes in our industry.
Tags: burial options, funeral options, memorial services
Posted in Funeral Trends | No Comments »
December 18th, 2009
In October, Wal-Mart began selling caskets on its website (see fox new story at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570111,00.html). What this will mean for family-owned funeral homes long term is unknown. But my sense is that most grieving families will not turn to Wal-Mart for their casket needs. While retail outlets selling caskets in lieu of local funeral homes sounds like big news, it’s really nothing new. Costco has been selling caskets in a number of its stores for years. In addition, numerous “casket stores” have opened (and closed) over the last ten years throughout the country with the hopes of getting a piece of the traditional funeral pie. On-line stores are also marketing caskets using names like “Best Price Casket”, “Casket Gallery” and “Casket Express”. Industry experts estimate that the number of caskets purchased outside of traditional funerals homes is less than 3% of all caskets sold per year.
So why is the Wal-Mart play into the caskets market making such headlines in the media and in funeral service circles? Simply because of the size of Wal-Mart and its influence on the buying patters of middle America. Looking at Wal-Mart’s casket pricing, there is definitely some savings to the consumer; generally a few hundred dollars or so. I am not trying to minimize the savings, especially for families who have limited funds, but to delay the wake or service for several days waiting for Federal Express (yes, that’s how they get delivered) to bring the casket to the funeral home in many cases will not justify the savings.
If Wal-Mart caskets catch on, the funeral industry will simply lower its price on caskets and raise its service charge, mitigating the casket store advantage. While this may sound underhanded, it’s an economic reality of business. Funeral homes charge for two basic categories for a funeral. The first is the service of the funeral home to do things like pick up the deceased, embalm, renting the funeral home for the visitation, use of the hearse and involvement in the ceremony. The second category is merchandise – the casket, cemetery vault, printed items such as memorial cards and sign in books. Let’s say a typical funeral home charges $4,000 for all the components of their service for a full traditional funeral. And the funeral homes sells 20 caskets ranging from $900 to $5,000 with an average sale of $2,000. So on average, the funeral home will generate $6,000 in revenue (not profit) from the average traditional funeral. Funeral homes set their prices for both services and merchandise based on their cost of doing business so they can cover personnel fees, building expenses, taxes and other expenses, and factoring in a profit margin – hopefully around 10%. If a funeral home starts loosing its caskets sales to outside companies like Wal-Mart, then the firm will simply adjust it’s pricing. In our example above, the firm may bump its service charge to $4,500 and lower its caskets by $500 with the new average sales being $1,500. At the end of the day, the funeral is still $6,000 to the consumer. The thing that makes the Wal-Mart decision bad for funeral service, is that if funeral homes raise their service charges, consumers will have to pay it. Allowing funeral homes to move some of its profit onto the casket provides consumers the ability to still purchase caskets in a a wide range of prices. But if firms have to recoup most of its profits from their services, funeral prices nationwide will increase, which is not in the best interest of consumers or the industry.
Tags: Caskets, discount caskets, Funeral Home caskets, Wal-Mart and Caskets
Posted in Funeral Planning, Funeral Trends | No Comments »
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