A word about funeral costs

Funeral Directors are like any other professional or businessperson…those who charge the least intend to do the least, they cannot afford to do otherwise.

It is positive that we see more and more service providers being transparent with their pricing. Being transparent with pricing is of little value if the provider is not also transparent with their process or offering.

I generally do not provide my insights on other service providers, yet in the age of technology it is so easy to hide behind attractive prices and comforting words on a website or social media. The experience around saying goodbye to a loved one will impact you negatively or positively for the rest of your life. Therefore, who you choose to assist you in a time of grief is critically important. I respect every family’s right to choose and sincerely offer my honest counsel gained over 39 years in funeral service.

A national online cremation provider boasts about not having any form of facility, mortuary, transfer vehicle or personal contact. Every task associated with your loved one’s transfer and cremation is outsourced to third parties. I am therefore skeptical when such an offering speaks of the loved one being ’transferred into our care’ and ‘our highly experienced team carry out a simple cremation’. Such a provider is in no way invested in the process just invested in the online sale.

The Burstows offering to the family choosing unattended cremation

Our unattended cremation choice is as important as any offering we provide. We have put in place a sequence of services that our experience, and the very best grief experts believe are best practice in providing the necessary long-term benefits for those who grieve.

• We will provide personal guidance to ensure you understand your options, provide our offering proposal without obligation, and should we earn your trust, arrange, and plan the cremation including the preparation and lodging of all necessary documentation and applying for a certified copy of the death certificate.
• We will transfer your loved one into our care at any hour of any day. This is an important duty that we do not contract out unless significant distance would require that consideration, in which case you our client family would be consulted.
• We will assist with the wording and placing of death notices if required.
• We will provide a simple MDF board coffin, fully lined. Other coffin choices are available.
• We will provide the necessary preparation, care and safe keeping of the deceased for the requested duration, in our purpose-built Mortuary Care Centre. It is important to us that we know how and where a loved one will be cared for and kept prior to cremation. We hope this is important to you also.
• We will provide an opportunity for a private viewing at the funeral home. Initially you may not want this, but as time unfolds leading to the cremation, you or other family members may decide they need this. Our service understands the changing needs of those who grieve, and we will respond to those needs.
• We will attend to the cremation in Burstows Cremation Facility.
• We will prepare a Photographic Memorial Book. This is a very helpful resource that encourages ongoing reflection and remembering.
• We will prepare a Photographic Tribute. 30 of your favourite photos set to music. This is a beautiful centre piece to a memorial gathering you may be planning or a treasured keepsake. The combination of photos, music and motion powerfully moves us in remembering the past.

Leading therapist and author Dr. Alan Wolfelt says “remembering the past is the very thing that eventually makes hoping for the future possible. Mourners’ lives will open to renewed hope, love and joy only to the extent that they first embrace the past.”

• Grief Centre support. A non-intrusive professional support service that seeks to see how you are doing. The support team is available to keep in touch over the coming year as much or as little as feels right for you.

Spending money is never a measure of one’s love. We are committed to help people find the choices that are right for them be they beautifully simple and uncomplicated or an occasion that requires significant planning and direction. Choices that will embrace reality and remembrance, honouring and celebration. An experience that will help you begin a healthy journey of healing grief.

Sincerely,

Don Burstow