Renee L. Torres
Mortuary Science Student at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois
As a Funeral Director in my community I would continually strive to work together with other professionals who provide support and services to families before, during and even after their time of need. In order to accomplish forming these teams, I would reach out to members of the community by becoming an active member in community organizations. I feel this would allow me the opportunity to continually provide education for the different organization members and ultimately members of the community on how working together as a team with other allied professions benefits both the family and businesses who provide services to these families. By forming a team who formulates an end of life plan, team members comprised of hospice workers, clergy, nurses, estate planners and other allied professionals, would be able to keep abreast of services the family may require and could adjust their services accordingly. This would also allow for the services performed by community team members to be more efficient and tailored specifically to the families needs. One member of the team could be appointed the families point of contact. This would allow the family the opportunity to only have to contact one person not several.
Families are under great stress when faced with dealing with end of life issues associated with the impending death of a loved one. In today’s society where families live across several states and may have a limited time frame to attend to dying loved ones, the concept of having someone who is within the community and located in close proximity to all the services may be of great comfort. Often time’s siblings are faced with traveling on the weekend to care for an elderly loved one and employ the services of either a nursing home or in-home healthcare worker during the week.
Due to this stress that is placed upon families, an end of life plan could assist with many pre-planning decisions that must be made before the death occurs. It is possible that these decisions could occur while the loved one is still able to participate and express their wants and desires for their own end of life celebration. Also, many families may be unaware of the types of services available to assist them once the death has occurred. For example, at the time of death many families may be unaware of tissue and organ donations and how donating can be a lasting memorial to their loved one but if made aware that such services existed before the actual death, their choice may be different. For families who have experienced an unexpected death which involves several agencies such as the coroner, possibly law enforcement and even a medical examiner, a designated team member could be a pillar of support through the labyrinth of many decisions the family must make.
In conclusion, each family faced with end of life issues will require the services of many allied professionals. By working as a team with one team member as point of contact and a formulated end of life plan, the stresses placed on a family can be greatly reduced.
