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week, including holidays. They will guide Restoration in embalming focuses on the
according to your individual situation. physical presentation of the deceased,
and aims to recreate a naturalness of
Can your funeral home conduct a form and colors. Restoration is often
funeral service in another location? referred to as the artistic element of the
Yes. Many funeral homes will allow embalming process.
another funeral director access to their
facilities for the convenience of serving Is embalming required by law?
the family. Embalming is not required by law. It is,
however, generally required to allow long
What if a death occurs in another state/ delays between death and the funeral. A
town? funeral home may require embalming for
Upon notification of the death, call open casket viewing during the funeral
your local funeral home of choice. Your process. It effectively protects funeral
funeral director will be able to make the workers, family members and friends alike
necessary arrangements to transfer the from a wide range of potential hazards,
deceased from the place of death to the and removes the unpleasant changes
local funeral home’s care. This relieves caused to the body by death. Embalming
the family of the stress and financial is required when final disposition is
burden of dealing with multiple funeral in another country. Funeral directors
homes. Your funeral director can and will must adhere to the requirements of the
coordinate everything for you. receiving country, and will obtain such
requirements from the nearest local
Why are public viewings important? embassy of that country.
Viewing the deceased allows family
and friends to begin the process of What options are available besides
acceptance. Seeing the deceased does ground burial?
not increase the pain, on the contrary, Besides in ground burial, a family
in most cases it actually minimizes the may choose to have an entombment,
disbelief, fantasies and often distorted placing of the casket in an above ground
images that are present when death enclosure, or cremation.
occurs. Grief counselors recognize
the importance of the funeral and the Can I still have a funeral service with
viewing of the deceased in facilitating the body present if I chose cremation?
the acceptance of a death. In the opinion Yes, cremation, as in burial or entombment
of many grief professionals, families is a form of final disposition. Cremation
that are deprived of the opportunity to is very much a part of the traditional
memorialize and visualize the deceased funeral process. There may or may not
have more of a difficult time with grief be a wake, a funeral service is either in a
and the grieving process. place of worship or at the funeral home.
Following the service, the deceased is
What is embalming? taken to the place of final disposition, the
It is the process of chemically treating crematory. Some families will accompany
the deceased human body, using the deceased to the crematory for a final
the circulatory system. This is done committal, much as it is performed in a
in order to achieve disinfection, cemetery, while others choose not to.
sanitation, preservation and restoration. The cremated remains become available
It temporarily interrupts organic to the family on average 3 to 5 days
decomposition and restores a physical following cremation.
appearance of natural form and color.
Forrester Maher Funeral Home - Page 27
