This post is part of the series “COVID Recollections.” The series features stories, dispatches, and reflections from the COVID-19 American History Project, a Congressionally funded initiative to create an archive of Americans’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, Gran Enterprises received a contract from the American Folklife Center to interview funeral service professionals (e.g. funeral home owners, embalmers, morticians), as part of the COVID-19 American History Project. Anita Grant and Joél Maldonado, members of Gran Enterprises LLC, were uniquely positioned for this work, as they are licensed funeral service professionals and the primary interviewers for the project.
In this post, Anita Grant and Joél Maldonado talk about their project, their findings, and what they’d like to be asked about the COVID-19 pandemic.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
What inspired you to propose this project?
Anita Grant: When I saw the announcement for the COVID-19 oral history project, as a nurse and as a licensed funeral service professional, I struggled with which lens I would propose the project. Ultimately, and obviously, I decided that, to bring a unique perspective and to be a little different in the proposal process, that I would suggest that I interview, or we interview, funeral service licensees.
We think that it is important to capture, for the purposes of history, the experiences of our colleagues across the country. There is no way that we can reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and not have the stories of these professionals. We know that what we do impacts public health, but it was so, so very evident during that time.
What themes have arisen from your interviews?
Joél Maldonado: I think the biggest thing is mental health. Interviewees consistently told us that, we, death care professionals, get into funeral services because it is about service, not so much about having an assembly line. During COVID, it was almost like, “where we’re just doing what we can as fast as we can as many times as we can.” That created a disconnect, or that feeling of disconnection, from the service component of our work that was very heavy.
The people we interviewed also said that being responsible for several roles—not only having to be the funeral director, but the counselor, the clergy, and still being a human being—while trying to navigate death in a way that we’ve never seen before was very challenging.
Another theme in our interviews was that funeral service workers felt that they were being treated or looked down upon as second-class citizens compared to medical professionals. It’s a fact that not everyone who got COVID went to the hospital but everyone who passed away went to a funeral home. And that, to us, spoke volumes, not only because it’s true, but because it really made us think. Medical professionals were celebrated and looked at as heroes throughout the COVID pandemic. But funeral directors weren’t really talked about, last responders weren’t really talked about.
The technological implications for our industry was another consistent theme in our interviews. Prior to COVID, virtual funerals, at least in certain demographic communities, were not a thing. However, now they are the expectation.
Another theme was that people don’t travel, or did not travel, to attend funerals because of the regulations from state and county authorities about how many people could attend a service. That has sent a shockwave forward where people don’t come to funerals now, they don’t travel to funerals anymore, they instead attend virtually.
Anita, were there any themes that you have identified in your interviews?
Anita: There were. Throughout the interviews, [people talked about] supplies, you know, supplies in terms of mortuary specific supplies from our vendors and their availability to meet the requests and the demands of the individual funeral home or crematory.
And, just broadly speaking, the need for more licensed funeral professionals, right? Just like in health care, there are so few clinicians, and clinicians were being affected by COVID, or their immediate family members. Therefore, they were out of pocket to care for that loved one at home, the same being true of our colleagues across the country.
We’ve known that we were in a deficit in terms of the numbers of funeral directors and morticians prior to COVID. But, the pandemic just highlighted that deficit and the need for more bodies with licenses. And then, of course, when those individuals who were at the ready and who were actively working got sick, or unfortunately died, that put a terrible strain on others.
The other thing that I would add is the idea that many funeral homes, and this was consistent throughout all interviews that we conducted today, just felt like they were seeing the same families. So, when we think about that, the ability to process, the ability to support in a meaningful way, the same family through one, two, three, or multiple deaths over a fairly short period of time was just very different. There are occasions when a horrific event in the community happens, or something that might be a natural disaster, but to the level that we had it during those years of the active COVID-19 pandemic was just – it was never heard of before.
Joél, have you found other themes repeatedly mentioned by interviewees?
Joél: Definitely. Another thing that came up among interviewees was the difficulty of being a professional and being a griever. It was hard to navigate grief and fear, especially initially, in not really knowing exactly what was to come. We heard several of our interviewees say that they leaned strongly into the science and showed up with the science as far as embalming was concerned and approached cases that way. On the other hand, we heard people say, you know, “I just didn’t know what to do.”
It also seemed like there was a split between older, or more seasoned professionals, that said “We saw this before with the AIDS pandemic and it wasn’t as overwhelming because I’ve been here before.” Whereas newer professionals, like me, said, “I’ve never seen anything like this and didn’t even know that this was possible.” So those were two consistent, yet different, themes that showed up in the interviews.
Returning to the theme of technology, what did your interviewees say with respect to technology, and what have you seen in your own work about the role of technology and funeral homes during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Joél: Technology was a consistent theme in our interviews. I would say that our industry was a good 20 to 30 years behind the technological ball. I don’t understand why we weren’t taking advantage of Docusign and video streaming prior to COVID. Families’ expectations have shifted. Families have said “I don’t really need to travel there to make arrangements, do I?” Families are now requesting the digital component from a pre-planning perspective; people don’t want to come into the funeral home to talk about pre-need anymore. Families now want you to come to their homes and show them things digitally.
Did your interviewees mention themes related to technology, Anita?
Anita: From a licensed funeral worker’s perspective, I think that there’s always been a desire, especially by millennials and those closer to that age, to incorporate [technology that] we’ve seen in other industries [to] move us ahead and bring us into this decade. But it was very much resisted. Of course, in the pandemic, [technology] was a must. It was absolutely the perfect storm. If we can find something good [from the pandemic], that would certainly be one highlight. That was the perfect storm, the perfect setting to say, “well, we sort of have to [embrace technology], right?” We know those resources are there, they’ve been used by those outside the industry for years and years. And so, I think that that’s a win, that’s a positive.
Joél: There’s been a boom of technology companies that have been created since 2020 [to assist funeral professionals]. One thing that comes to mind for me is the little bar codes that you now see on grave sites and benches and different parts of cemetery parks. A lot of that is tied to people’s desire to feel like they were at the service when they visit cemeteries, maybe when they weren’t [actually at the service].
Many professionals also utilized photography at grave sites, as well as in the funeral home, during the pandemic. Prior to 2020, we can remember putting up signs in the funeral home asking people to put their cell phones away or leave them in the car. Families would request that there be no videotaping at the funeral. So, funeral homes posting photos and videos—done for the family to say, ‘Hey, this work was done. I want you to have video evidence of it or be able to feel like you were there,’—on social media at the family’s request, was a little mind blowing. Just prior to this time, we were asking people not to take videos at the funeral home. So, there was a shift.
Your project is unique in that you’re interviewing funeral professionals, and you also work as funeral professionals. If you were to be interviewed for this project, what questions would you like to be asked and how would you respond?
Joél: The question that I would like to be asked is, “How has your career changed because of COVID? Or how has your role as a professional changed?” And, for me, that answer would be that my career shifted from being in the funeral home, you know, working with families embalming, doing pre-need, making removals, those things, to actually teaching. [Editor’s note: see this link for some of Joél Maldonado’s teaching resources] I was teaching about cultural competency specifically because the pandemic erased a lot of the segregation that existed, particularly in the South, where white people go to white funeral homes, Black people go to Black funeral homes. When the funeral homes are segregated, you don’t necessarily have to know how to care for one another because it’s not something you’re required to do consistently. During the pandemic, people were literally calling around, trying to get their loved one taken into the care of anyone that could accommodate them because of the backup and because of the sheer numbers. So, that’s one question.
The other question that I would ask is how have you changed as a person since the pandemic? And to that, the response is: I’m still trying to figure that part out.
Anita: The question that I would like to have been asked is, “So, now what?” Now that we’ve had this experience [of the pandemic] as professionals, how do we position ourselves so that we, as an industry—the things that we control, the things that we know, the things we have experienced and lived through and provided care at a level that is consistent with our ethics and our licensure—what do we do when the next “fill in the blank” thing comes? There’s always going to be a next thing. How do we ready ourselves beyond just, ‘we’ll have more supplies on hand’? Are we, as an industry, really sitting down and thinking through that in a meaningful way and an impactful way?
We’ve not seen that. We’ve not been privy to that. But I think those conversations are certainly happening in health care, right? They’re thinking that way, public health is thinking that way, community public health is thinking that way. I think it would be a wise thing for us as an industry to ask: having lived through the pandemic, and all of those experiences, how are we positioning ourselves so that we will be able to provide services, and keep ourselves safe, well, and healthy, when the next thing happens?
Joél: I think a big part of your question, Anita, is also how do we educate our communities about alternate disposition methods, like cremation? The problem with traditional disposition methods is–you can’t buy but so much embalming fluid. It’s a fire hazard, it’s an explosive.
We heard a lot about religious connotations or beliefs about cremation in our interviews. Churches had conversations with patrons about the option of cremation, which, historically, has not happened in Black or other communities of color. So, I think educating our consumers about alternate disposition methods—whether they be aquamation, organic reduction, cremation, or whatever—is a form of preparation for the next thing.
Can you help us understand how caring for the dead, as funeral professionals do, is a public health service?
Anita: Funeral service professionals are essential in keeping communities healthy. Care of the dead, just fundamentally in the environment of living persons, ensures that communities remain healthy. In our work, we are properly performing whatever the desired disposition decision is for that individual, by way of their pre-determined arrangements or the arrangements from their authorized agent or legal next of kin. With our presence and using our education, we follow through with what we know professionally to do with that deceased human body or dead human body. That work, in and of itself, provides an environment that remains safe and clean and free of additional disease in the immediate environment. Our work, during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensured that there wasn’t further spread of other diseases and illnesses.
We also educate our family members and those who come into our environment. We were sanitizing, offering hand sanitizer, encouraging mask wearing, offering masks, limited the number [of people] based on our local departments of public health—all of our actions were educating the public on COVID-19.
Joél: It is important to mention that the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association’s Former President, Dr. Henry Close, was called upon by the President’s administration to advise. That’s huge, especially considering their recognition of our role as a public health service. We were not only practitioners, but advisers. In communities of color, there’s a disconnect or mistrust for the news and even for medical professionals. A lot of times, especially during the pandemic, our communities depended on us, as educated professionals with training in microbiology, anatomy, and physiology. There was just a level of trust there. Because, in the Black community in particular, the funeral home is just as sacred as the church. And so, us being able to communicate and educate our communities, despite the mistrust, confirmed what was being said on the news for our communities. I think their trust in our expertise not only saved lives but was a huge public health component.
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