Sudbury Funeral home busy with 'catch up' after services delayed during pandemic

Losing a loved one is never easy, but it's been especially hard these last 16 monthswith tight restrictions of just ten people for a funeral service.

Those regulations forced a lot of families to delay services until things returned to normal.

Restrictions were lifted last week in Ontario,allowing more people to attend memorial ceremonies.

"Everybody can not only just celebrate a life, but perhaps what has frustrated most people, they haven't been able to mourn the death," said Gerry Lougheed, president of Lougheed Funeral Homes in Greater Sudbury.

The increase for attendance and the delay in services means funeral homes could be busier than ever.

"In the last 48 hours, we've arranged six funerals for people that had died previous to last September," Lougheed said."There is kind of a pent up need of emotional closure and certainly that whole issue of support systems."

Delaying mourning 'horrible,' 'brutal'

Lougheed calls having to delay or postpone a funeral for a loved one 'horrible.'

"In fact, I would use the word 'brutal' when it was ten people and for a lot of families they couldn't even have the grandchildren attend any gatherings," he said. Many families made the decision to delay or postpone a service so extended family members would be able to attend.

"Last Friday, it's like, okay, now we can have the grandchildren, the great grandchildren, the neighbours, the friends, the work colleagues, everybody can come and celebrate that life and help us with emotional closure."

Lougheed estimates the funeral home has about 50 to 60 individuals whose families have been waiting to hold memorial services.

"I think there's a bit of a catch up here."

'Hug is a powerful thing'

Larger gatherings and loosened restrictions now allow for hugs and handshakes at funeral services; two things Lougheed says are needed to help those who are grieving.

"I don't think we ever appreciated the value of a hug," he said.

"You really can't say something to a bereaved person that's going to rationalize that death, but, boy, that hug is a powerful thing."

Meanwhile some changes made during the pandemic may be sticking around when it comes to funeral services, like the use of livestreams. The connection allows people to view a funeral service online if they can't make it in person, whether due to distance, weather or other reasons.

"The livestream at least allows people to see and then they can email back or text back and say, 'Oh, that was a great eulogy', or 'You played your mother's favourite song,' Laugheed said.

"Those are very important references."

COVID-19 health and safety protocols are still in place for funeral services, like standing two metres away for physical distance, wearing face masks, and records for contact tracing purposes.