The right way to do a nursinghome removal

040905 002, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Already in my young career as a budding mortician I have been called upon to remove a deceased from a nursinghome. I'm still surprised that not much thought was put into getting a dead person out of these facilities in a discreet and dignified manner.

It is an unfortunate fact that often times I am required to wheel a deceased on a mortuary cost, covered appropriately with a quilt, through public areas past living residents hanging out in the lounge, lobby or hallway. What must these residents think when they see the funeral director take one of their own?

Today I did a removal at a facility that knows how to do it right. Even though at this nursinghome the body still has to be wheeled out through the lobby it is done with a twist. I usually wouldn't reveal the name of such a place I think it is appropriate to say that the Missouri Veterans' Home in North St. Louis County cares when it comes to sendng its departed to the funeral home.

This morning an Old Soldier died there. Several nurses and aids assisted me in transfering the Old Soldier from his bed to our mortuary cot. I covered him with our blanked and then I was handed a pall made of star pattern material which was put over the blanket. A U.S. Flag was unfurled and placed over the pall. I guided the cot out of the Old Soldier's room and down the hallway with his family following along with some of the staff.

We walked down a long corridor to the lobby where a contingent of residents was waiting by the door. The procession paused in the lobby and I stood off to the side as a few words were said. Two residents lifted the flag off the Old Soldiers body and folded it with military precision and presented it to his widow. With a nod from one of the flag folders I was told it was time to take the Old Soldier away. I walked out of the Missouri Veterans' Home with a lump in my throat.. That's the way to send them off.