Working in several high-volume funeral homes, I know too well that professionalism
alone cannot ameliorate death’s existential spectacle. However, it can, even if only for a moment, ease the inexorable burden of sudden loss and grief over what might have been. Because, funeral directors and their staff know that achievement, wealth, education, age, and politics, all things we prioritize in life’s own drama, are rendered irrelevant in grief.
I have learned that when people think of funeral service work, if they think of it at all, they often consider it virtuous and noble, even a sacred service. And it most certainly can be all those things. However, few consider that funeral directors possess specialized knowledge and expertise that can humble even the most educated in other fields.
Yet, regardless of formalized knowledge and skill, facing death and navigating tragedy, loss, and grief every day, week after week, month after month, can certainly exact a price. Consider commitment, compassion, and knowledge in the face of fear amid the contagious pandemic. Professionalism, formal knowledge, and experience can suddenly crimp in the demand for services involving tragedies that involve multiple losses such as occur in mass shootings, a crew of firefighters who could not get out in time, or when caring for several members of the same family following a car accident or fire.
Empathy necessitates identifying with what others are feeling; the ability to situate oneself in another’s place. Before embalming or cremating a child, a beloved spouse, parent, or someone’s life-long friend, funeral home staff meet with and listen to the reflections of those who loved them most. Compassion, respect, trust, and expertise are imperative. When considering all that funeral service workers encounter, and then must produce, along with the weight of responsibility and accountability licensed funeral directors bear, the average annual salary of $58,020 of most funeral directors is almost incomprehensible. For embalmers, wages are even less. For all other funeral service workers, much less.
However, we most often read of funeral service reported only in terms of pecuniary interests, such as costs for consumers in the pursuit of profits; or the exceedingly rare, yet no less horrifying, scandal that betray both the profession’s promised ethos as well as the public’s trust. Unlike nurses, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and those in military service who also offer critical social support services, we rarely read about occupational hazards and threats to the well-being of funeral service providers.
A rare groundbreaking study conducted at Harvard found that symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among death care workers may be as much as 20% higher than those with PTSD in general. However, given that symptoms of trauma can be specific and unique in the absence of inclusion in a research study or a medical diagnosis, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, impaired family relationships, and/or substance abuse as they relate to occupational stressors may remain hidden among most funeral service workers.
Recent recognition of the risks to well-being that funeral service workers are subjected to has resulted in nascent initiatives to address them. For example, in 2022 the National Funeral Director’s Association (NFDA) announced the launch of their free online “Take 5” self-care series aimed at helping recognize signs of occupationally induced stress for funeral service workers, and offer resources to manage it. Additionally, in 2008, Congress established March 11 as National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day.
These efforts suggest an important, emerging awareness of the critical social importance of the professionals, services, and expertise that most of us will need to seek out at some point in our lives. Therefore, the public would be well-advised to get to know a funeral service provider, which can significantly reduce the stress of a sudden need for funeral services.
Barry L. Adams is a retired Massachusetts registered nurse. He earned a PhD at Brandeis University studying the meaning and organization of work, and the sociology of professionalism. He splits his time between Heath, Boston, and Tucson, Arizona. He works in funeral service in Boston and Tucson.