Editorâs Note: Cronkite News photographer Alberto Mariani spent several months documenting the work at Peace Chapel Funeral Home. This story contains images that some may find graphic.
PHOENIX â At 10 p.m. no words are spoken, but a loud buzz reverberates throughout Peace Chapel Funeral Home. Itâs the rhythmic beat of an embalming machine pumping a mix of chemicals into a woman in her 50s.
Standing next to the body â working late again â is funeral director Ron Thornson.
Since March 2020, Thornson and his staff have routinely worked 14 to 16 hours a day, without much pause to reflect on the historic events swirling around them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Advertisement: “You are almost taught not to break when you are to serve a family,” he said, explaining that revealing too much could transfer more pain onto those already suffering. “A lot of people don’t understand that as a funeral service worker, you have a big task,” he added. “You are not just picking the body up, cleaning it, putting makeup on and placing it in a casket. You’re expected) to coach the family, to be a financial adviser and to be a psychologist” during one of the toughest moments in life. And in a year when death became an excruciating daily experience for most Americans, even these men and women have been touched by it.
Make Time to Mourn
Though the pandemic has posed obstacles to funerals, delaying memorial services has also opened up unexpected opportunities for reflection and creativity.
Credit.Rose Wong
May 14, 2021, 2:33 p.m. ET
After the death of a loved one, the grief of each survivor is often different but the ritual of holding a funeral is shared.
“One of the big things that a memorial service does is it’s a collective acknowledgment,” said Megan Devine, a therapist specializing in grief and the author of the book “It’s OK That You’re Not OK.” “Acknowledgment really is one of the only medicines we have for grief.”
Reembolsarán hasta $9 mil en funerales por Covid diario.mx - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from diario.mx Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
U.S. to launch massive funeral assistance program for covid-19 victims
Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, The Washington Post
April 6, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
Ken Hammond, a funeral associate in Hagerstown, Md., holds flowers for the family of a man in his 50s who died of covid-19 in January 2021.Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration next week will launch a funeral assistance program that will give up to $9,000 to cover the burial costs of each American who died of covid-19 - the largest program of its type ever offered by the federal government.
The program is open to families, regardless of their income, as long as they show documentation and have not already gotten similar benefits through another program.