things, especially if the person who passed away handled those responsibilities. Aftercare also offers opportunities through the year to remember the loved one by having holiday programs and online memorials. In the past, the relationship with the Aftercare and its beginnings In his 2015 article “Aftercare and Outreach: Completing the Service,” Dan Isgard states: In 1900, of the total deaths 60 percent were under 25; 20 percent were between 21 and 65; and 20 percent were over 65. By 2010 those numbers had changed dramatically; of the total deaths, 20 percent were under 21; 3 percent were between 21 and 65; and 77 percent were over age 65. The deaths under 65 are down dramatically. The deaths that have the most crying are the minority of services now. The majority of deaths are those over age 65. These are lives that have been actualized. . . . We are not dealing with a child who has not experienced life. We are not dealing with the death of someone who has dependents, or was taken from us during their prime. We are dealing with someone who lived a full life. The role of the funeral home is now to facilitate a dialogue with the mourners. It is to help the dependents of the deceased learn to survive without the deceased. See chart below.
funeral home ended with the interment of the deceased. Today, aftercare offers an opportunity for the funeral home to be an active part of the family long after the funeral.
handled before, such as managing the finances or maintaining repairs on the house or car. Connie Haymes, writing for the Order of the Golden Rule, gives five reasons providing aftercare services is important (2022). The first is that in a time of grieving, families need support. Aftercare programs are uniquely designed to provide ongoing assistance to families struggling with the grieving process. These programs can encompass many different types of support programs—get creative! In her article, Haymes suggests funeral homes can hold cooking classes, educational workshops, community clean-ups, butterfly releases, and events for holidays such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Funeral professionals can tailor their aftercare program to suit their community’s unique needs. Second, aftercare programs provide a space to bring the community together during nonstressful events. Funeral professionals know that so much of their job is caring for the living who have been left behind. Aftercare programs give your funeral home the chance to care for families year-round. Third, aftercare programs give funeral professionals the opportunity to interact with the wider community. Programs impact more than just the grieving family. A wide variety of groups may want to be involved in the aftercare process, including schools, local business owners, civic leaders, veteran groups, and churches. Fourth, aftercare programs provide your community with the chance to talk about life. As the life expectancy for most groups in the U.S. has increased over the past 100 years, people are generally living longer, fuller lives. The general tone of memorial services is shifting from that of mourning to celebrating a life well lived. Aftercare gives people the chance to come together and talk about their lives and share memories. This better equips them to be prepared to handle grief. And finally, aftercare programs differentiate your funeral home from other businesses. Having a successful program sets you and your business apart, especially if you advertise well in newspapers, through social media, and via other marketing opportunities. connecting with families after the service is over to remind them that you still care. People do not grieve just between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. One way to accommodate this process is to provide interactive aftercare . Posting videos about grieving and overcoming loss on your website can help families when they are struggling with grief at any time of the day. This also gives individuals the chance to access these materials from the privacy of their own homes. After all the activity of a funeral, the silence of an empty home can sometimes be the hardest thing to deal with. Having the support and guidance of an interactive aftercare program can make all the difference. Aftercare programs can also be a great way to share grief resources . Families often look to the funeral provider to aid them in finding resources to help them through the stressful event of death. While funeral providers themselves aren’t grief counselors, they can be a facilitator between families and the various grief support services that are out there. For example, the funeral home can list times and dates for support groups and workshops that are available to the community on their website for easy access. The funeral home can also provide lists of grief specialists in the area, as well as reading lists with information on books that deal with grief. Families will appreciate having so many resources consolidated in one place.
77%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
60%
50%
1900 1950 2010
40%
20%
20%
20%
10%
3%
<21
21 to 65
>65
AGE OF DEATH
The above statistics show people now live longer, fuller lives. Aftercare comes into play now because often when a person dies, they may have held a role in the family that no one else has Types of aftercare Funeral homes can reach out in many ways via aftercare. The book Understanding Dying, Death, and Bereavement (2015) states: The funeral industry has always known that 80 percent of its business is with families they served in the past. However, aftercare is one method to increase the likelihood of getting repeat business. The newest trend in funeral service is to provide extensive aftercare services and products for widows and widowers. Among these services and products are grief therapy, bereavement support groups, video tributes, and even greeting cards sent to survivors to mark the anniversary of death or the deceased’s birthday. There are many ways to reach out and provide effective aftercare. A simple Internet search will bring up many possibilities (Funeral One, 2012; Sympathy Brands, 2021). A few of these possibilities are summarized below. The first is to send frequent email affirmations. This is a simple way to uplift families of the deceased, and at the same time, it keeps the name of your funeral home first on their mind. As any funeral professional understands, product awareness helps to build loyalty. These emails can be as simple as a quote of the day. For religious customers, consider sending a scripture or religious verse a day. Email affirmations are a simple way of
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