Radiation Exposure in Deathcare
When imagining a scenario which includes radioactive human remains, you probably aren’t envisioning much in the way of deathcare – the topic carries a kind of Armageddon-ish feeling...
Rewired by Loss: Grief Is Essentially a Brain Injury
That’s right – a brain injury. A number of scientific studies reveal that an emotional disturbance, such as that caused by the experience of grieving a loved one,...
Modern Mummification
Mummification was long ago made famous – and rightly so – by the highly visible King Tut set. As a method of conveyance to the afterlife, it’s got...
Deathcare Challenges in Cases of Violent Death
Auto accidents, random acts of violence, suicides and other traumatic deaths create unique challenges for funeral homes. Sudden, traumatic, and unexpected (or, as in the case of suicide,...
Breaking Down the Bones
Bones are sort of death’s calling card, aren’t they? And it doesn’t really matter whose bone, or which bone, or where it is, even – any bone is...
Protecting Trans Identity After Death
The rights of the LGBTQ+ community are advancing in positive ways, even if it seems that for every two steps forward, there’s one step back. Progress is slow,...
Disturbing the Dead: When and How
At some point, many funeral homes will be asked to reverse their usual process and “unbury” a corpse. Disinterment, while not widespread, certainly isn’t uncommon in the modern...
Death in Progress: Minute by Minute
Death is not an event, but a series of them – a process. The death process can be complex business; sometimes it isn’t even necessarily permanent. Cellular breakdown...
Henrietta Smith Bowers Duterte Paved The Way for All Women
When Henrietta Duterte lost her husband Francis, a coffin builder, undertaker, and business owner, to consumption in 1858, she inadvertently became the country’s first African American woman mortician. ...
Death Care Artisans: Centuries of Intergenerational Craftsmanship
New generations of artisans are keeping traditional rituals alive, protecting old ways of honoring the dead in ways and reflecting the culture in its current forms. Gift-giving, Afterlife-style...