Running out of room for state’s COVID dead
Majority of Arizona funeral homes, crematories say they are 90% or more full of human remains
When Jeri Whooley’s mother, Geraldine Immediato, died in 2014, the family was able to hold a funeral service within two days at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery and Funeral Home in Avondale.
This year, when her father, Lou, passed away on Jan. 1, she was unable to schedule his burial service for two weeks.
“That’s incredible to have to wait that long to start putting everything to rest,” she said.
The burial delay comes as large numbers of COVID-19 deaths are putting pressure and stress on Arizona funeral homes. Across the state, beginning in December, COVID-19 deaths have spiked to far higher than summer’s peak
“Death is hard enough. When people are isolated and separated, it’s a real challenge.”
The Rev. John Muir
Pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church
rates.
As those deaths continue, funeral directors are working long hours, shuffling staff and vehicles to the busiest locations and dealing with staff shortages when employees become sick with COVID-19. Doctors, who are overwhelmed by the pandemic, aren’t signing death certificates promptly in some cases, which results in further delays.
Several funeral directors in the Phoenix area told The Arizona Republic they are serving 30% to 50% more families than the same time last year.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, which operates Holy Cross, declined to comment out of respect for the family’s privacy but acknowledged in a statement that its cemeteries and funeral homes are busy, and “the Catholic burial rite with a funeral Mass can take more time than other options.”
“There are many funeral homes that are working crazy hours, 24/7, just being worn out,” said Judith Stapley, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, the state agency that regulates funeral directors and funeral homes.
In a recent survey by state regulators, 80 percent of Arizona funeral homes and crematories that responded said their coolers were 90 percent or more full of human remains and that they were having “a difficult time,” Stapley said. Many have added temporary or permanent refrigeration space.
Stapley said she is fielding calls, seeking advice on how to properly store additional bodies as they await cremation or burial.
No funeral director wants to turn down a family’s request for service, she said. But she tells them they must follow state law and funeral board rules that govern properly caring for human remains.
If they cannot do that because of space issues, “you simply have to deny the call,” she tells them.
Funeral director: ‘This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it’
Ethan Bueler is a third-generation funeral director. He and his brother, Sam, operate the family-owned Wyman Cremation & Burial Chapel in Mesa.
He is in regular contact with colleagues as president of the Arizona Funeral, Cemetery, and Cremation Association, a nonprofit group that advocates and provides training.
January and February are usually busy months for Arizona funeral homes in a normal year as winter visitors flock to the Southwest. But this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, “This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” Bueler said.
“Hospitals are calling us and saying, ‘Our morgue is full, how soon can you be here?’ ”
He is averaging 12- to 14-hour days and has worked months without a full day off. Sam Bueler, who is also chairman of the state funeral board, recently told board members that one of his days ended at 3 a.m. He was back in the office at 6:30 a.m.
At one point, two employees came down with COVID-19 and were off work for several days, which put stress on the small business, Ethan Bueler said.
The volume of deaths has exacerbated a long-standing problem that can delay burials: Some doctors aren’t signing death certificates within the 72 hours required by law.
Funeral directors need these signatures to get permits from the respective counties in order to cremate a body, bury it or ship it out of state. Without the doctor’s signature, they are essentially in a “holding pattern,” Bueler said.
“We have one (doctor), it’s taken him three weeks to do anything,” Bueler said.
His concerns were echoed by other funeral directors at the state funeral board’s January meeting. One funeral home owner drove four hours from northwestern Arizona to Phoenix so he could tell the board about his frustrations.
John Hassett, owner of Desert Lawn funeral homes in Bullhead City, Mohave
Valley and Parker, said funeral directors are having to wait on the phone and “chase doctors” to sign death certificates.
“Somebody has got to put their foot down,” he said. “Who is putting pressure on the medical offices?” he asked.
The funeral board doesn’t regulate doctors and can’t discipline them; that duty falls to the Arizona Medical Board.
Stapley, the funeral board’s executive director, indicated she is willing to talk with the medical board about delays. But she wants to gather statistics first on how many doctors aren’t signing death certificates within the required time frame.
Messages left for the medical board’s executive director from The Republic were not returned.
Officials with the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Bureau of Vital Records told the board they are working to educate doctors about the law and the importance of signing death certificates promptly.
Catholic church staff: ‘All we are doing is funerals’
COVID-19 has upended the traditional funeral service around the country.
When the pandemic began, many states restricted large gatherings, which included funerals. Nearly a year later, some states have eased those restrictions, but many families are still forgoing large funerals in favor of smaller services. Those who attend must wear masks and remain socially distant. Hugging is discouraged.
“It’s just difficult. We’re just all praying for this thing to run its course so we can walk forward,” said Mark Musgrove, a spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association and a funeral director in Eugene, Oregon.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, a parish of about 5,000 members in Avondale, usually averages three to four funerals a month.
But during the latest wave of COVID-19, funerals have increased to about 10 a month, said the Rev. John Muir, the pastor. The first wave happened in September over a two- to three-week period, when staff remarked to him, “‘Father, all we are doing is funerals.’ ”
The second wave began two weeks before Christmas and has continued into the new year.
“It’s not showing any signs of slowing up,” he said.
COVID-19 has changed the funeral ritual. The traditional Catholic funeral is
three parts: an evening vigil or wake, followed by a funeral Mass and committal service at graveside. But with COVID-19, people are opting for just a funeral or graveside service, Muir said.
Not as many people are traveling to attend funerals. For families who hold services, funeral homes and churches have restrictions on the numbers allowed inside. The Diocese of Phoenix is limiting capacity to 35% in buildings and requiring physical distancing, he said.
Funerals are a powerful experience, Muir said, and people feel a spiritual isolation when they are unable to gather together.
“Death is hard enough,” he said. “When people are isolated and separated, it’s a real challenge.”
Muir said the parish has started livestreaming more funeral services, which allows people unable to travel to view the service.
He pointed to a recent example where 10 people attended in person while dozens more watched over the web from the Philippines.
Record cremations in 2020
Last year, 73,133 people died in Arizona — a 25% increase over the previous year.
It’s not known yet how many of those deaths were related to COVID-19. But the pandemic has clearly taken a heavy toll as deaths in recent years have increased by just 1% to 4%.
Arizona began recording deaths with increasing speeds in January as COVID-19 cases spiked to record levels. The jump from 9,000 to 10,000 deaths happened in only eight days. The state recorded more than 13,000 known deaths by the end of January.
Messinger Mortuaries, with funeral homes in Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Payson, has nearly doubled the number of families being served.
“It’s still manageable,” said Sabrina Messinger-Acevedo, the chief executive officer. “But we’re definitely feeling the weight of COVID-19 and the impact it’s having on the community.”
She estimates one in five deaths is from COVID-19 complications at the Indian School Road location in Scottsdale.
Messinger also operates one of the largest crematories in Arizona and is seeing record cremations.
Messinger had nearly 7,000 cremations in 2020, which was 800 more than the previous year, said Jim Ahearne, chief operating officer. In July, there were a record 753 cremations. That was eclipsed by a record 805 cremations in December.
Service Corporation International, a publicly traded company that operates more than two dozen funeral homes in the Valley under the Dignity Memorial network, has seen a larger demand for services as well.
Dan Salter, general manager of Sunland Memorial Park, Mortuary & Cremation Center in Sun City, which is part of the Dignity network, said the metro Phoenix locations are experiencing 30% to 40% increases in the number of families served compared with the same time last year.
Salter said being part of a larger network is helpful; funeral directors can move vehicles and personnel around to the busiest locations. Staff are working longer hours. But he hasn’t had to turn families away like some funeral homes in states such as California.
“We are busier,” he said. “We seem to be handling it.”