WATSONVILLE—As the world adjusts to the spread of COVID-19, big changes are underway at area mortuaries and funeral homes as well.
Gone are the days—for now—of large gatherings, whether at a football game, concert, theater or at funerals and graveside services. That puts congregating to properly say goodbye to the deceased on a new keel.
“We are struggling to keep the value of funerals integrated into the community,” said Amanda Calzadias, a licensed funeral director and trade embalmer who has been working at Mehl’s Colonial Chapel in Watsonville for three years. “We just want to get our families on board with the changes that are taking place.”
Some of those changes include limiting gatherings to 10 people and making sure those people are adhering to the six-foot social distance rule.
For larger crowds, Calzadias said, this can mean people waiting outdoors and then coming into the service in organized groups.
“We’re also trying to set up a virtual live streaming device with a camera on a tripod,” Calzadias said. “We want to educate people to the idea that you don’t have to have an expensive funeral; this is a family-owned business and we’re just trying to catch up with all the many changes.
Claudia Mehl, managing partner and funeral director added, “As soon as we can decide on the best way to reach the most people, we’ll get plugged in.”
Another option is for people to have a funeral and viewing at home. Calzadias said that practice is the way funerals were run in the past. Arrangements are in place to allow an establishment like Mehl’s to station a body at people’s homes.
“If some folks want to do this at home, we can help them with this,” Calzadias said. “As long as the body has been embalmed they can have the body at the home a few days. I love that California is allowing people to have that kind of viewing. In some ways, it makes it more personal and more comfortable. Our whole industry started at home when it was common to set up in the parlor.”
Local mortuaries are also exploring more options involving cremations to provide a more personal and meaningful experience, instead of picking up an urn with someone’s ashes in it and heading home.
“This whole coronavirus thing is getting in the way of people trying to grieve,” Calzadias said. “And so much red tape at times can make it is hard to deal with. Even if someone is coming in to pick up an urn, we have a separate room and have a special space for them to be with those remains. We are trying to make cremation choices feel valuable. There are options; now families are catching on to that.”
As long as the person did not die of a contagious disease there are many options of how a family wants to deal with final rites.
Calzadias said photography at viewings has also taken on new gravity as people explore more meaningful ways of recording a farewell.
