Funeral home adapts to pandemic with safety

A Vermilion funeral home, among many other businesses, has found ways to adapt to an ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic by utilizing outdoor and virtual services.

Riddle Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 5345 South St. in Vermilion, has become known over the past few months for its drive-thru visitation services, allowing the community to pay respects to their loved ones without putting themselves at high risk.

Funeral director and owner Mark Riddle said now that once stringent regulations for funeral homes are lifted, services and visitations have been limited by the business to about 20 to 30 people in the building at any given time.

The funeral home’s building is large enough to provide adequate social distancing to allow that number of people, with masks also required to enter, Riddle said.

“Like many businesses, it’s changed in the sense of how we handle the people in our business, with social distancing the main thing,” he said.

That includes recommending that physical touch remain off limits for the funeral home’s guests.

“It’s very difficult because it’s such a personal time,” Riddle said. “To give someone a hug is one of the nicest ways to show you care.”

For the drive-thru visitation option, the open casket is set outside the entrance of the funeral home, and cars are free to pull up and pay their last respect.

Live-streaming services also have been a successful way to keep family members involved for those hesitant to be around groups of people at this time, Riddle said.

“Some families just don’t feel comfortable,” he said. “Being around anybody

is nerve wracking at this time.”

As for increases or decreases in business over

the past eight months, Riddle said the need for services already ebbs and flows throughout the year, and serving the community during a pandemic makes that no different this year.

He said there are families that have shared that they otherwise would have had services for their loved ones that chose not to due to the pandemic.

“There has been a noticeable amount of people who are concerned about it that haven’t had services,” Riddle said.

While funeral most likely have declined, Riddle said visitations have increased and appear to be more important than ever.

“Being in this business, I feel that funeral services are important, and like so many things this pandemic has taken away, what we’re seeing is families that haven’t been able to visit because of regulations in nursing homes,” Riddle said. “That visitation has become even more important, because they haven’t seen or spent time with someone.”

COURTESY Riddle Funeral Home and Cremation Services staff have adapted the way customers use their services during the pandemic at 5345 South St. in Vermilion.