In a major metropolitan city I’m guessing that funeral directors don’t get called to accident scenes very often to clear the scene.  By “clearing the scene” I mean removing deceased victims from the scene so that eventually the roadway or other location can get back to normal.  In major cities they have “coroner” personal to handle that detail.

If you are in a town of about 30,000 people like I am, we don’t have the luxury of having paid “coroner” staff for those situations.  So, in those situations the local funeral director is asked to come to the scene with his gurney to load up the deceased and bring them to the local hospital morgue until next of kin can be notified.  I’m trying to guess — and any number is too many — but I would bet that I have been called to those scenes, in our interstate highway community, maybe 75 times in a 35 year career.

Three or four of those scenes come to mind every time I think of it.  I can remember being called from my Christmas eve family dinner on a -20 degree night to remove a person who’s car was loaded with Christmas presents.  It was so cold that the plastic body bag cracked into pieces.  I can remember a couple of times helping a State Trooper try to figure out who the minor child was when there was no identification on the body and realizing that within an hour some mom and dad were going to receive the worst news of their lives.

In any case, if those accidents could have been avoided life would have been easier for many people.  In 2012 the National Funeral Directors Association and Federated Insurance teamed up to offer programs on Distracted Driving that is meant to save lives.  However, if we as funeral directors in our communities don’t promote the programs they do little good.

New Hampshire Public Radio just did a recent interview and news article with funeral director Mark Cournoyer who is promoting the program to attempt to save lives in New Hampshire.  You can read the article and hear the interview here.  In my opinion, Mr. Cournoyer is doing a valuable service to his community.

I look at this as not only a chance to save lives but also a way small, community funeral homes can advance their image and brand awareness in their community.  Have you thought about going to your local high school and asking if you can give the presentation to students on high school orientation day?  Many times the students and their parents will be in the audience and you will be providing a valuable service and possibly making some public relations points as well.  Building brand awareness. . . and saving lives are a good thing.

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