Regulations

Canada’s Ontario province pulls out the stops to help funeral home staff shortages

By Funeral Director Daily / January 19, 2022 /

This article and video news story from CTV Canada explains that because of a chronic shortage of death care workers coupled with an increased number of deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO) “is calling retirees into service to fill out vacancies and for the first time, it’s allowing college…

Funeral directors, employee shortages, and death care license requirements

By Funeral Director Daily / January 12, 2022 /

Today we bring you this interesting article from the Iowa Capital Dispatch concerning a potential funeral director who believed he needed a waiver to receive his Iowa Funeral Directors License.  One of the requirements for licensure by the Iowa Board of Mortuary Science is that the applicant has completed 60 college credit hours and maintained…

Are we ready for a “Craft” funeral industry?

By Funeral Director Daily / December 30, 2021 /

I can remember going to my first couple of craft breweries.  It was in the mid-1990’s and one I went to was in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, prior to attending a basketball game at their downtown civic arena.  Then later, I was in Hawaii with my wife and going for dinner found us at the…

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

By Funeral Director Daily / December 24, 2021 /

It’s been an unusual two years to say the least.  Covid-19, mandates, vaccinations, lockdowns, a presidential election where one candidate stayed at home and didn’t campaign,  hospitals filled to the brim. . . . . .any way you look at it, it has been a couple of years like no others in my lifetime.  And,…

Happy Thanksgiving. . . .a day of Gratitude

By Funeral Director Daily / November 25, 2021 /

Maybe it is just because I’m getting older. . . maybe its because as I get older I see younger and younger people stepping forward to do some of the things I used to do. . . . maybe it is because as you get older you recognize that as much as you may have…

58 years ago today – The Kennedy assassination. . .and the story of the Kennedy casket

By Funeral Director Daily / November 22, 2021 /

Imagine it is lunch time at the funeral home you work at when you get a call from the hospital two miles away that you need to immediately bring the best casket you have to the hospital.  And, by the way, it is for the President of the United States. That’s the call that Vernon…

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — The history behind this “Soul of America” Memorial

By Funeral Director Daily / November 12, 2021 /

The numbers 11-11-11 have always been significant when I think of November 11.  Yesterday was that day that we now refer to as Veteran’s Day in America or is referred to as Remembrance Day in Canada.  Those numbers, 11-11-11, refer to the day and time that the cease fire that ended World War I in…

Time to regulate the anatomical bequest business

By Funeral Director Daily / November 9, 2021 /

As a funeral director every so often I was asked by a person or family to help with an anatomical bequest of a person who wanted to donate their body for medical research.  I’m located between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the medical schools for those respective states are located.  There was…

NFL’s Steelers not amused by end zone cremation scattering

By Funeral Director Daily / October 21, 2021 /

If you have been a funeral director for any length of time a family member of a cremation disposition has approached you about their idea of scattering the cremated remains at a certain location.  Most of the time the question has been asked in relation to a public park, a church yard, a lake, or…

Challenges managing thru constant change

By Funeral Director Daily / October 18, 2021 /

I’ve told you before that I get a lot of ideas for articles simply by seeing what is going on in “current events” and then trying to hypothesize how those current events will affect the death care industry.  I’m writing this column on Thursday, October 14, and during my workout this morning with the television…