Sombre undertaking in a time of crisis
Maeve Sheehan talks to the first embalmers in the country to deal with a Covid-19 fatality. Photo essay by David Conachy
THE first death from coronavirus in Ireland was announced by the authorities on March 12. The funeral director phoned the mortuary in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Athy, Co Kildare.
Cyril Gantley and Susan Moran, embalmers and business partners, had not expected to be the first embalmers in the country to deal with a Covid-19 fatality — but they were prepared.
They travelled to Naas General Hospital the following morning, donned in full personal protective equipment to collect the deceased’s remains, an older woman who left behind a loving family.
The ritual they followed, Cyril says, went against everything they had trained for as embalmers.
“Normally we will embalm the deceased, get them prepared and ready for their families. There will often be a big family wake,” said Cyril. On this occasion, the deceased was sealed in a sterile plastic body bag before being placed in the coffin. Covid-19 does not allow for a last touch or lingering goodbye.
“We brought the coffin out and we placed it into the hearse,” said Susan. As with all Covid-19 deaths that have followed since, the deceased went straight to burial or cremation. Susan would like people to know, however, that “their loved ones are respected, and they are taken care of.
“Doctors care for the living, we care for the deceased,” she said. “That is the hardest part, not being able to prepare the deceased people so that their family can see them.”
Cyril Gantley and Susan Moran are working through one of the most difficult and busiest periods in the history of their business, Mortuary Science Ireland.
The death toll from Covid-19 has gone from that first fatality on March 12 to more than 1,000 this weekend.
Since that first case, they have probably cared for more than two dozen people whose deaths were linked to the virus. “We have not stopped,” said Cyril.
As embalmers, they deal directly with the dead and rarely engage with the families of the deceased people they care for.
In the past, funeral directors would sometimes relay messages of appreciation from families for how their loved ones had been looked after, but now there is little or no engagement.
“When we go into nursing homes, hospitals and even to a private house, we have to wear full personal protective equipment. This is something we would never have dreamed of doing a couple of months ago,” said Cyril.
Their traditional role includes physically tending to deceased people, restoring their appearance and making them presentable to their families. This is done over several hours in the mortuary, before the deceased’s remains are returned to their families.
However, that role has changed for those who have died of Covid-19, to collecting the deceased, ensuring their remains are properly bagged and sealed and placed in a coffin prior to burial or cremation.
They are mindful that families cannot say goodbye to loved ones. “You try to be as respectful as you can. You try to say goodbye to them on behalf of the family,” said Cyril. Funeral directors will sometimes pass them notes, photographs or other mementos from families to be placed in the coffins with the deceased.
Cyril managed funeral homes for several years and became interested in the clinical side of the business. “I just took to it, and loved it, and I’ve loved it ever since,” he said.
Susan said she nurtured her ambition to work with the dead from the age of 17. “The human body just fascinates me, how it works, how it didn’t work, what happened when people passed away,” she said. She ditched a regular job to study mortuary science in Ireland and the UK, where she met Cyril.
Their job satisfaction is in making a meaningful contribution to one of life’s profound moments — a family’s goodbye to a loved one.
Cyril gives the example of a family who are resigned, for whatever reason, to their loved one being in a closed coffin. “If we can send that person back to their family, so that they can keep the coffin open, the rewards in that itself are just brilliant because, you know, you’ve just given somebody the chance to say goodbye properly to their loved one.”
Susan likes to pay special attention to the deceased, particularly if they are women. On this occasion, her interaction was restricted. They have women who help.
“I remember we got a call from a family in a nursing home, an older woman and her family were still with her,” she said. “She was so delighted to see these ladies coming to pick up her mother. She said: ‘I can go home now happy and content that two ladies are going to take care of her’.”
Respect for the dead is the cornerstone of their work. “We have certain rules that we hold to in the mortuary and they are all around respecting the deceased,” said Cyril.
“When you’re in the room with the deceased, the deceased is at all times your responsibility. If you walk out of the room, the deceased has to be covered, and has to be covered with a white sheet.”
The deceased will always be covered with a modesty cloth.
Music, if it is played, is unintrusive. “If you are working on a cranial reconstruction case, you could be working eight or nine hours on just one person. Sometimes a bit of music in the background helps keep your head straight,” said Cyril.
“I would like people to know that their loved ones are taken care of. They are respected and they are taken care of,” said Susan.
The human impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is most bluntly evident in mortuaries and funeral homes. A pathology briefing to coroners on the pandemic last month indicated the scale of deaths that experts were expecting.
It outlined the work of a Covid-19 co-ordination group mandated by the Taoiseach, saying: “It is understood by all parties that there will be a massive increase in the number of deaths. It is understood that present customs and practice in relation to funerals will be altered and present post-mortem practices will be temporarily changed. It is understood that there will be delays in bodies waiting for swab results. In addition to the present mortuary spaces, there will be refrigerated units throughout the country and two large mortuary facilities created.”
It later emerged that temporary morgue facilities were erected at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin and in the grounds of Cork University Hospital and at a barracks in Limerick, which thus far have thankfully not had to be requisitioned into use.
Cyril and Susan do not seem fazed by the scale of death they are now dealing with, nor do they express concerns for their own safety.
“We deal with infections all the time in non-Covid times. We have always got a ready stock of personal protective equipment and we check it four or five times a year. Infection is something that we always have to prepare for,” said Cyril.
“What is hard is that you cannot send deceased people home to their families. It’s tough that families can’t say goodbye to them.”
‘You try to say goodbye to the deceased on behalf of the family’