Funeral homes provide a setting in which families can say their final goodbyes to loved ones and provide closure to many.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when sickness and death skyrocketed in the area, however, funeral homes had to limit attendance and brace for further restrictions in order to reduce the spread of the virus and keep patrons and employees safe.
“What we saw in March and April were significant limitations to us and the families we served,” said William Lauber, licensed funeral director and licensed crematory operator with Lauber Funeral and Cremation in Milford. “We were telling the families they could only have 10 people at a loved one's funeral and that was difficult to mention that to our families. You had kids that couldn't go to the gravesite and grandchildren that couldn't attend. People had to pick and choose.”
Local directors said they knew Covid-19 was coming, it was just a matter of when.
“The middle of March (2019) is when everything blew up on us,” Brad Perdue of Zabka-Perdue Funeral Home in Seward said.
Jeff Volzke of Volzke Funeral Home in Seward said the families knew the situation.
“Churches and everything shut down,” he said.
Perdue said two services were already scheduled, and they were told only 10 people would be allowed to attend. Staff met with the families to see what they wanted to do. Both went ahead with the services, but people could only go to the graveside service because it was outside and they could maintain social distancing.
While attendance limitations were put into place, Lauber said the funeral home never had to delay services or close its doors to the public. Attendance allowed by the state started at just 10 people and slowly increased to 30 people and eventually hit 50 and 75% of capacity before restrictions were removed altogether.
“We didn't have to delay anything, but scheduling was challenging at times during the periods we were so busy,” he said.
Livestreaming and putting funeral service videos online have become regular occurrences, Volzke said.
Although friends and family members were eventually allowed to gather together for services without crowd restrictions, Lauber said that attendance was down overall because people stayed home, concerned with the conditions of the pandemic. In order to provide a way for those who chose to stay home to still participate, Lauber said that the funeral home did offer virtual services.
“We were proud we could perform those technological things and allow those people out of state that couldn't travel to allow them to Zoom or have Facebook or Youtube or whatever measures available to record those funerals,” he said.
Planning funeral services had to continue. Volzke said he worked with some families over the phone, but most times the families came in to meet in person and simply spread out inside the building.
“We just were not able to serve the families in the capacity we were used to,” he said.
Perdue said there were a couple times Zabka-Perdue had to extend the time before interment.
“We were just waiting for family members to recuperate and get their strength back before we held the funeral service,” he said.
Even after the virus had taken hold, families chose to go ahead with committal services, Volzke said. Perdue said they could always have visitations, just limiting the number of people in the building. Graveside services also continued, he said.
However, with no church options and no gatherings after the funeral services, families had nowhere to go and no opportunity to grieve together with other family and friends.
“In Seward, there were no funeral lunches,” Volzke said. “That has to come back. Families are using other facilities now, so it is coming.”
As traditional funeral services begin to be scheduled, Volzke said they’ve not been as well-attended as they were in the past. People don’t hug, shake hands or fellowship as much as they did before.
Another way the pandemic hampered the services offered by the funeral home, Lauber said, was the limitations for viewing the bodies of deceased loved ones. He said that a family would be allowed to view the body only after embalming occurred. Those with a family member who was to be cremated either had to have the body embalmed first or could only view a picture.
“If they chose cremation and wanted to view their loved one, I had to say no because that person died of a communicable disease,” he said. “They'd be disappointed because they needed to say their goodbyes. It was so unprecedented saying no to someone who wanted to view a body and it was something I hadn't seen in my profession.”
Perdue said the embalming process kills the virus, but they still use precautions.
“Our biggest problem was being able to continue to receive our PPEs (personal protective equipment), but the Four Corners Health Department was wonderful in giving us the proper equipment when we requested it,” Perdue said.
Volzke said he’s added more gear and disinfects more.
“Everything we touch, we spray down,” he said.
He didn’t have trouble with supplies like coffins and grave markers because he keeps a full inventory. Hand sanitizer, on the other hand, was tough to find, he said.
Adjustments put in place as a result of the pandemic may not have been desirable, but they were effective Lauber said.
“I'm not aware of anyone in the State of Nebraska who is a licensed, credentialed funeral home director or embalmer who has died,” he said. “We were pretty lucky that by protecting ourselves, we kept it at bay.”
