Pandemic toll weighs heavy on UK funeral directors

In Britain, where the devastating death toll tied to the coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed 115,000, funeral directors face a surge in demand for their services. They also face added restrictions which limit gatherings and physical contact, making their jobs much more difficult. It is a profession which deals with death for a living, but many are exhausted by the sheer amount of mortality they have faced.

Ben Blunt, senior funeral director at Heritage and Sons funeral directors in Aylesbury, northwest of London, sees his job as a vocation but admits things have been "really tough". The father of three says he is grateful that he can go home to his family at night. "When we do go home to our own family we're able to focus on squeezing them a little bit tighter," said Blunt.

CPJ Field, which owns a group of funeral homes including Heritage and Sons, said phone enquiries for funerals are up 120% on this time last year and they are providing 50% more funerals than last February.

For Blunt, the worst has been the bans on large funeral gatherings, which are restricted to 30 people.

During the first lockdown last March it was only 15.

"It was quite heartbreaking that on many occasions they weren't even able to have the very nearest and dearest at those ceremonies," Blunt said.

According to the National Association of Funeral Directors, funeral staff, who often regard their profession as a calling, can be reluctant to seek help.

But awareness is changing.

The association's pandemic guide was updated in October with a greater emphasis on providing emotional support for employees.

Staff who are struggling can call Our Frontline, a charity-funded service that offers mental health support around the clock to medics and other key workers.

The pandemic has left undertakers, embalmers and others who are used to supporting families in distress realising they have to focus on their own mental health and wellbeing.

Emma Symons, an embalmer for Heritage and Sons in Bletchley, northwest of London, says her workload has tripled, with more bodies to prepare and more disinfection needed because of the virus.

Symons said with funerals for the young, she has to detach, "because if you didn't you really would be a complete wreck."

On a recent day at work, Hasina Zaman helped a family say goodbye to a young man in his 30s who had died of COVID-19, while also planning the funeral of a husband and wife, both lost to the virus.

Since the pandemic struck, the London funeral director's phone has rarely stopped ringing with bereaved people seeking help that she is not always able to provide.

"Every week I think I don't have what it takes," said Zaman, whose company Compassionate Funerals prides itself on giving a personalised service to a multicultural, multi-faith community in the city's east end. The small firm normally arranges about five funerals a week, but COVID-19 has on occasion driven the number as high as 20.

"I feel sad with the work that we do and elements of it is very very sad. But then I also feel that what we are doing is what we have assigned ourselves to do," she said. With numbers of COVID-19 cases now starting to fall, people in this industry are hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Image: AP