Afternoon Edition: Who’s cleaning your funeral home

September 30, 2020/Afternoon Edition/

There is no doubt that one of the costs that funeral homes have encountered in the past six months of the COVID world we find ourselves living in is cleaning and disinfecting the funeral home real estate. We’ve been told that sometimes it is even hard to find a commercial service that has an opening to do your cleaning and disinfecting unless you had a prior pre-COVID arrangement with them.

If you find yourself in that latter situation maybe this news story and video out of WDJT CBS-TV in Milwaukee can be of some help to you. The story deals with the company, Pest to Rest Pest Control, that has now turned their business to cleaning buildings including funeral homes in the Milwaukee area.

We also bring you short articles which include the executive directors of funeral associations giving their comments on, what one calls the “Unnoticed Responders” or the “Invisible Responders” in our industry. The other talks about the gathering rules in his state.

Finally, from the apt-named town of Bury, located in Greater Manchester, England, we bring you the story of Rachel Carline. Rachel is the Northwest Chair of the British Institute of Embalmers and works for Co-op Funeralcare in Bury. The article relates as to her recently being named “Colleague of the Year” by her colleagues at Co-op Funeralcare. From the article, you will probably agree with me that she is a credit to our profession.

Related — As happens a lot with this search and publish mission that I am on, a story I read or work on many times brings back memories to me. And, just so you know, my friends tell me that I have a somewhat strange sense of humor. In any regard, the pest control story brought two memories out of me.

First, not so long ago, my wife and I heard noise in the ceiling above my office. We didn’t know what it was but after hearing it for a couple of days we thought we had a squirrel or bats up there. We called a “Certified Pest Detective”. After an inspection, he found a small crack in the side of our home and realized we had a woodpecker inhabiting the space between the first and second floors. Being “Certified” he was able to get the bird out and seal up the crack. . . . .so I guess we now have one less dependent to claim on our income tax return!!

Secondly, when I was a young adult I was a fan of Saturday Night Live and actors Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Here’s a short scene from the movie, Fletch Lives, where Chase escapes a police officer by pretending to be a pest detective and gets the policeman so worried about the pests that he doesn’t notice Chase leaving the premises. I thought of this clip right away when I read the Milwaukee pest control story. Maybe it will bring out a memory for you.

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