Inside a NY Funeral Home During the Coronavirus Crisis | NBCLX

not gonna be able to do this this is 8 is the death toll that came in while I was on the phone then he was on the phone 9 by now that's 10 notification of death calls and it's not even noon time [Music] okay so our care team will be on the way just give us 20 minutes to two a half hour maximum every morning when I get up to go to work I'm scared I'm scared for my health I'm scared for my employees okay and we'll we'll let you know when we're outside and we'll be there momentarily as soon as I get through the front door my focus shifts and I don't have time to be scared anymore it shifts towards the families that need our services the families that entrusted us with the care of their loved one hi baby how are you oh you're watching Mickey Mouse my family is my everything every morning before I leave the house I give them an extra hug and say an extra long good bye see you later be home soon because I know that if I develop symptoms during my day I'm not coming home that night Ballard Durant funeral home this is Matthew Madden now what Duran funeral home this is Matthew may help you the area deaths due to the corona virus has just caused a big spike in volume here at the funeral home and no funeral home is prepared for there for this pandemic you're on your way back there's no beginning or end to the days anymore they they just blend right into one another we're working 24 hours a day seven days a week it's just non-stop Ballard Duran she was calling to confirm I have the phone is constantly ringing their calls for service all day long through the night people coming to the building people calling asking us to help them now under normal circumstances we would meet in person and every gallon raishin just you know due to the due to the restrictions in the Kovach virus we are under tremendous amount of pressure and so we have to kind of make it this this sterile way of doing it the cemeteries and the crematories are backed up so what we've done is removed the furniture from our chapels here in the building and we're just sheltering them in our care here until the time comes when they could be properly cremated or buried this is rather unorthodox there's it's not the best-case scenario but we're we're managing we're treating people like we would want to be treated I would want my own family treated and we're doing the best we can under these circumstances [Music] we're getting requests from families that aren't the norm consider this a person is driving to work one day starts developing symptoms gets nervous and drives to the hospital at the hospital they get the Cova 19 tests and find out unfortunately that they are positive at that point their quarantine they're separated from their family they're separated from their loved ones they have on their watch their cell phones their wallet their cash and the belongings that they have on them if they should pass away stay with the deceased person so we're the custodian of the deceased and their valuables that need to be returned to to the family in a timely manner it's unlike anything we've ever seen before [Music] this is a highly contagious virus so we're constantly disinfecting the building disinfecting our workspaces my staff and I wear masks and gloves throughout the day when we're caring for the deceased that is infected our care team wears the full PPE personal protective equipment we wear full face shield gloves the full tech suit shoe covers head cover I don't want to get sick I don't want any of my staff members to get sick our team members are a vital part of this organization and I know I have passion for what I do I am a first generation funeral director but when I see my team members work with the same passion and the same drive to comfort people that I do it really really makes me proud on the news I see people in the city honking their horns driving by for the first responders and the nurses and doctors every time I see that I think of my own team giving everything they can for the families that trust us social distancing during a wake or a funeral that that's the hardest part of this we're caring individuals we're caring people and to not be able to touch or hug shake someone's hand or hold their hand share some of that burden with them we're prevented from doing that now yes we do that we do that here the funeral home so we can livestream rabbi' having having prayers here our virtual webcast has become a life saver whether the family doesn't come to the funeral home or a few people come we ask them for emails to share memories about their loved one and then we livestream the service and we read the memories my 94 year old great-aunt passed a week and a half ago and we did the same thing for my family my childhood memories of being at my grandmother's house my aunt and uncle were always a fixture their togetherness matters being together matters and and this is allowing families to become a whole again in the light of this pandemic hey Scott how are you I'm good Matt how are you guys doing I just wanted to say a huge thank you from myself and my team we as funeral directors are all in this together where we're all experiencing the same thing and a dear dear friend of mine from Muskegon Michigan saw that we were running out of pee-pee he heard my concerns over the phone and shipped a huge batch of PPE masks gloves Tyvek suits hey we it's the least that we could do when we talked the other day and heard of the need we reached out to a couple people and that if we could ship that right to you that'd be fantastic if we could do more we would but hopefully this will help you and the team to get back going and serving families the way that we know that you guys do thank you Scott it was it was a great gift from a great friend of mine from across the country you keeping your head above water over there yeah we're trying how's things in Kentucky we're constantly learning as we go people are struggling people don't understand and they're they're trying to comfort their family and their friends while being isolated the path to healing is rather slow and we're trying to find ways to comfort them the best weekend it's amazing because we've literally for hundreds of years we're taking away everything that we've ever known and so we've had to essentially start from scratch so getting creative we started doing this drive through experience and I hate calling it drive through we have to come up with another name but bringing that visual the loved ones casket the flowers that all the family and friends have sent to show their support roll their windows down and and look out that window love on the family with some words of encouragement and then they can drive on and that family under the tint that we set up or whatever the family requests know for a fact that they're not forgotten there's anything I can do for you please stay safe please and know you're appreciate and thought up sir thank you friend doctors nurses and first responders are dying from being exposed to the Cova 19 virus and it scares me to think that we're on the front lines as well as them and it makes us all all nervous and we're soldiering on to care for these families and we're managing the best we can under these circumstances and trying to move forward [Music]

Channel: LX News

Views: 322,633

Keywords: nbc, nbclx, nbc lx, local x, nbc owned stations, news, lx, #news, white plains, new york, new york city, coronavirus, covid-19, covid-19 usa, coronavirus new york, covid-19 new york, funeral home, funeral homes, united states, us ny virus funeral bodies (cr), coronavirus news

Id: Yy04FyCafPI

Length: 8min 20sec (500 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020