Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) presented ASD – Answering Service for Directors with the 2017 NFDA Innovation Award during the association’s International Convention & Expo, which is being held October 29-November 1 in Boston, Mass. The company was recognized for its Suicide-Telephone Operator Patch (STOP) System.
When someone is feeling hopeless or alone, there is no telling who they might reach out to and, in some cases, they contact a funeral home. ASD created the STOP System to give its staff a way to seamlessly connect a caller with a suicide prevention hotline, ensuring these individuals receive the immediate counseling, guidance and support they need.
Established in 2009, the NFDA Innovation Award recognizes and promotes creativity, innovation and excellence among funeral service suppliers and vendors.
Earlier this year, funeral service vendors and suppliers had an opportunity to submit a product or service that became commercially available after January 1, 2016, for consideration in the 2017 NFDA Innovation Award competition. A distinguished panel of funeral directors evaluated the 26 entries and selected five finalists.
The other finalists for the NFDA Innovation Award were: the “honoring service” church truck drape by Final Embrace LLC; the high gloss enamel customized photo urn by Funeral Home Gifts; BrioHOCL PrP by The Dodge Company; and the Wilbert ClearVault by Wilbert Funeral Services Inc.
For more information about ASD’s STOP System and the products developed by the other finalists, visit nfda.org/voteinnovation.
NFDA thanks its 2017 International Convention & Expo sponsors for their continued support:
- Black Diamond: Funeral Directors Life
- Platinum: FCA-Fiat Chrysler, Federated Insurance
- Gold: Bass-Mollett Publishers, Batesville, Everdays, FrontRunner, Homesteaders Life Company, LendingUSA, Matthews Aurora Funeral Solutions, Messenger
- Silver: ASD – Answering Service for Directors, funeralOne, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Implant Recycling, Life Celebration, Live Oak Bank, LoveUrns, Madelyn
- Company, NGL, Nomis Publications Inc., Physicians Mutual, Tukios
- Bronze: Clearpoint, Doric, Inman Shipping, Kelco Supply Co, Sich Casket Company, Wilbert Funeral Services
NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 19,700 individual members who represent more than 10,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.
