Funeral Directors and Management were not honest with themselves or their customers.

Death is hard enough to deal with. This report  hurts every human being on earth. Our basic human instinct is to respect the dead.There seemed to be none of that at Demaine Funeral Home and National Funeral Home in Northern Virginia. This according to the report in the Washington Post.

The Virginia Service Corporation International horror story on the treatment of veterans and  loved ones comes down to three problems, honesty,  management, and an embalming problem.

That said the scenario that went down at  the  SCI Facilities: Demaine Funeral  Home and the Central Embalming Facility(National Funeral Home) could not have been thought up, it is beyond comprehension.

A brief snippet of the conditions observed by a customer from the  Washington Post Article:

the foul odor of decomposition smacked him in the face. A body lay on a gurney in the garage near a rack holding coffins, and the walk-in cooler where his father was to be left was filled with exposed bodies.”

First the folks were not honest with themselves about what was happening. Management, employees and embalmers “all” threw true”DIGNITY” out the window. The few who blew the whistle chose to do the right thing. The David and Goliath odds in this situation were  not good.

Second Management had it’s head in the sand. Managers knew what was going on. The fact that families were not allowed to come to the central embalming facility is a clue to the deceptions involved.

Management needs to be dealt with at all levels. Robert Waltrip the CEO and Founder of SCI needs to step aside. Too many instances like this have happened over the years. I am not going to name them here. It has been done elsewhere.

Third, Embalmers and employees threw their training and professionalism out the window. Basic embalming standards and procedures were not followed. Standards need to be applied and enforced.

The good news is that other firms in the area treat the deceased with respect. Veterans are treated with the utmost kindness- having worked in the area this is what  I saw  this in  how I was trained.

“Most embalmers  in  Northern Virginia, access refrigeration one way or another. The highest standards are generally observed in

handling loved ones going to Arlington National Cemetery. Helpful  Embalmers check bodies of veterans headed to ANC every other day or so. They have deep respect for the Veteran. I have seen embalmers undress veterans after being casketed, re embalm and re casket them when needed.”-Your Funeral Guy.

Please do not put all funeral directors in the Northern Virginia area in the category of those at Demaine and National Funeral Home. This has been happening on the WEB in comments in forums by funeral directors and the public alike.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Demaine Funeral Home pic from FLICKR

NCinDC’s photostream

national funeral home
northern virginia
service corporation international
your funeral guy

Technorati Tags: arlington national cemetery, blog, casket, Demaine, embalmers, funeral, funeral home, funeral industry, national, SCI, service corporation international, Veterans, washington post

Related posts

• SCI abusing Families deceased loved ones again-YourFuneralGuy (0)
• NO fingering Arlington National Cemetery on SCI-Veteran Body Abuse|YourFuneralGuy (0)
• Local Residents Block SCI Funeral Home Move-YourFuneralguy (1)
• Lawsuits say Virginia Funeral Home Defiled Veteran’s Corpse -YourFuneralGuy (0)
• Funeral “SCI” Atrocity Reported in the Press across the USA-yourfuneral guy (0)