Regardless of preference for or against embalming and restorative art, there are many new options available for individuals and families faced with decisions concerning funeral services. Some new techniques and practices may be controversial, but funeral decisions should be made according to the last wishes of the deceased with a secondary goal to assist family members through this difficult time. Don’t let these advances just stop in the prep room, but bring them to life in the funeral home and to the grave with you. Show the family the many options they have available to them and what they can do to make a difference in the world. These changes could be the next step to showing a family that you care and want what is the very best for their loved one and the world around them. Don’t climb back into your box and shut the lid, but think outside the normal tradition and start implementing these new practices or enhancing the ones you already have implemented. are a lot of the consistent practices as an embalmer that are the same and really don’t change from person to person or year to year. Raising the vessels is essentially the same with little deviation from what we know and do on a regular basis. We often turn to the right or left common carotid artery to raise and begin our embalming but think, what if I raised the right femoral artery and stayed away from the next completely, especially in a younger person? Would the results and outcome be the same but better because you did not have all the instruments in the way of the viewing side of the body? We can be raising other areas to get the outcomes better than what we have been doing and this may not be anything new, but a good reminder that old habits are not always the best habits to hold onto and to try other ways. Constantly changing the locations will make you more proficient in all areas and the master of the six-point injection at some point as well. Finding all the different ways of embalming is very helpful, but think about the chemicals we are using. Are they as safe for ourselves and the environment as they should be? After all, we are putting those fumes out into the air, and sometimes the chemicals are going in our drainage system into the world; is this safe, and are there other products much better? I challenge you to look at green embalming and consider how it may make your life and the world around you much safer. It’s not going to have the same results as the traditional fluid, but it has properties that will far outshine the destructive makeup of the chemical for the environment and your body. Years and years of breathing these fumes will destroy your body, shortening your career as a whole. Consider the other alternatives and start putting them into practice, learning how to use them appropriately and effectively. The mission of green embalming is to develop environmentally safe embalming practices that preserve the body as part of the green burial process. The objective is to have: ● No toxins in the embalming or burial process. ● No secret or undisclosed ingredients. ● Full disclosure of all chemicals and processes. ● Documented environmental impact of all chemical components. ● Little to no impact on the environment. ● Full disclosure and clean sheet material safety data sheets (MSDS). ● Only biodegradable items will be used in all aspects of the embalming burial process.
2011). In addition, there are minimal restorative measures taken because the physical state of the body is no longer the focus and is secondary to the celebration of the spirit. Proponents of embalming and restorative art emphasize the positive effects of seeing their loved ones, for the last time, looking peaceful and as life-like as possible. Throughout the industry, the objective for the last experience with the deceased is referred to as providing a “positive memory picture.” Embalming and restorative art are critical to achieving this objective in cases where disease or trauma have drastically altered the appearance of the deceased. A skilled embalmer, restorative artist, or funeral cosmetologist (i.e., desairologist) can restore the individual’s appearance and provide a positive, final experience for loved ones. This last visual memory experience can facilitate the grieving process for the family (Seiple, 2016). Modern embalming in an old profession As funeral professionals, we focus our attention on the death call to make that removal and return to our facility to begin the preparation of the body. After all, that is what we have been called to do, and so we start that right away. This has been right and good for so long, but stop just a minute and reflect on how today might be different than 15 years ago when you used to do this. Have you taken the time to allow the family to properly say their goodbyes or even prepare a small memorial right there before you remove the body? This could easily be done by carrying a few items in your removal vehicle and have a process or procedure to be able to support a mass family-only memorial at the house or hospital. The thought of even doing some minor restoration for a few minutes to close the mouth and eyes to give them a little more peace of mind before you do this can go beyond the traditional removal. Yes, it is in the middle of the night, and you are tired, but these little steps could and will set your funeral home apart from many around you—and think of the last impression it will leave the family. Many times, clergy are on call or have the ability to be reached; set up a program with them so that you can call them at any time, and they can meet you at the house to have a prayer or little service before you remove the body. The thought of even the family having a few more minutes to say their goodbyes can be very helpful. In a larger firm and setting, there may be removal services that come in and take care of this for you; train and educate them that the time needs to be spent on the family and making this different in the removal process. It all starts with the little care right from the removal place; plus this allows the family time to collect themselves, giving you more and more items to better know how to prepare the body so that they can be as lifelike as possible. This takes an extra 15-20 minutes to do and can help that family for many years to come. Once the removal has been made, provide every contact possible with the next of kin so they feel that you can be always reached with their loved one and to eliminates the stress and sense of lack of concern on their part. Think about those who want cremation and we remove the body; if they had that extra time and the ability to view in the home or hospital, the burden of immediate disposition would be reduced as they got the time to spend with the deceased. Then if they have every possible way to contact you, they can rest in their own mind that their loved one is in the hands of someone that truly cares. The embalming room is where the magic happens behind the scenes, and we all know that without the proper attention to detail we can easily miss something or become callused to the daily routine of caring for the body. There
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