2015 #1 - Association of Independent Funeral Homes of Virginia

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The Association of
Independent Funeral
Homes of Virginia
Officers:Blake Baker, Pres.
Katherine Samford, Vice Pres
Nathan Hines Sec./Tres.
Scott Stroud, Past Pres.
Directors:
Pat Loving
David Cecil
Ronnie Miller
Carey Bliley
Sammy Oakey
Johnny Muncey
Executive Director
Bruce B. Keeney, Sr. Exec. Director
Associate Director & Editor
B. Bennett Keeney Jr. "Bo"
15-1
Dig, Dig, Dig is what we have been doing
for the past couple of weeks here in
Hampton Roads, trying to get out from
underneath this “White Gold”. The kids
have had a blast skipping school, sledding
and building snowmen while we have
been trying to keep everything cleared
and safe. I pray that everyone one has
come through the storms safe and sound.
Onto the business: don’t forget to sign up
of the one day conference on Richmond
on March 13 to ensure that everyone gets
all their continuing education in before
March 30. Please send your registration
ASAP! At the meeting we will have a brief legislation update from Bo and
Bruce, Virginia Regulations and Laws by Lisa Hahn, Communication Skills
for Connecting with Cremation Families by Mike Nicodemus, Ethics and
Preneed Insurance by Michele Voss with Pekin Insurance, and 2 hours with
for OSHA”s 2012 Hazardous Communication Standard Revisions and
“Pushing the Envelope” both with Paul Harris.
I think this is one of the best line ups we have had in sometime for
continuing education!
P.S. Don’t forget about our big conference this summer at the Homestead
in Hot Springs, VA! It will be July 17-19, 2015. The convention is approved
for 5 Hours of Continuing Education!
I look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming events! It is truly
amazing how much I learn each time from not only the speakers, but from
interacting with each of you!
The snow man is dreaming of warmer weather and was created by Madie
and Buddy Baker with the help of Mama Kelly.
2015 Legislative Review
The 2015 Virginia General Assembly has now adjourned sine
die meaning the 2015 session has now come to a close. While
many pieces of legislation died this year there were also a great
number that passed the House and Senate and are presently
awaiting the governor’s signature. Your IFHV lobbyist, Bruce
and Bo Keeney, reviewed over 3000 pieces of legislation to
identify any key pieces of legislation that could alter the funeral
profession. With the help of the IFHV Board of Directors and
Legislative Committee IFHV successfully advocated on your
behalf this year to shape and change laws as to better protect and advocate for your profession. Here are just a few of
the pieces of legislation which IFHV was involved with during the 2015 Virginia General Assembly.
HB 1803 (Delegate Villanuevea) Surface transportation and removal service. Requires any applicant for
registration as a surface transportation and removal service to include the name of a manager of record on its
application for registration and to notify the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers within 30 days of any
change in the manager of record.
HB 2123 (Delegate Head) Practice of funeral services; exception for sale of caskets. Provides that the sale of
caskets by a wholesale distributor that operates a retail establishment for the purpose of selling caskets directly to
the public does not constitute the practice of funeral services. KILLED IMMEDIATELY BY IFHV LOBBYIST
SB 895 (Senator Alexander) Funeral Directors and Embalmers, Board of; clarifies definition of embalming.
Clarifies the definition of embalming to include details on the process and its purpose; eliminates the requirement
that the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers offer examinations for licensure at least quarterly; adds mental
or physical incapacity to practice his profession with safety to the public to the list of causes for which the Board
may refuse to admit a candidate to an examination or may suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue a license; eliminates
the requirement that all licenses be signed by the president and secretary of the Board and stamped with the seal of
the Board; and makes other technical changes to provisions related to the Board.
SB 951 (Senator Alexander) Dead bodies; disposition of remains or burial of decedent.
Clarifies the role of a person other than a decedent's next of kin, a person designated to make arrangements for the
decedent's burial or the disposition of his remains, an agent named in an advance directive, or a court-appointed
guardian to make decisions regarding the disposition of a decedent's remains. The bill defines "disposition" as the
burial, interment, entombment, cremation, or other authorized disposition of a dead body.
SB 1106 (Senator Alexander) Veterans; unclaimed cremains.
Authorizes a funeral director to notify a veterans service organization as an alternative to notifying the Department
of Veterans Services (Department) when cremains remain unclaimed. The bill also requires the Department or a
veterans service organization, in addition to determining if unclaimed cremains are those of a veteran as provided
under current law, to determine if unclaimed cremains are those of a veteran's eligible dependent. The bill also
authorizes a funeral director to transfer the cremains of an eligible veteran or his eligible dependent to a veterans
service organization or the Department for the purpose of disposition of such cremains and provides that absent bad
faith or malicious intent no funeral director or veterans service organization is liable for civil negligence for actions
permitted under the law. The bill also changes from 30 days to 45 days the time in which the Department or veterans
service organization is required to notify the funeral director if the cremains are those of a veteran or eligible
dependent.
SB 1434 Dead bodies; disposition, identification of decedent
Provides that in cases in which the identity of a decedent and the county or city in which the decedent resided at the
time of death are known, the person or institution having initial custody of the dead body shall notify the primary
law-enforcement agency for the county or city in which the decedent resided of the decedent's death, and such lawenforcement agency shall make good faith efforts to identify and notify the decedent's next of kin. Currently, the
primary law-enforcement agency for the county or city in which the person or institution having initial custody of
the dead body is located is responsible for making good faith efforts to identify the decedent and notify the
decedent's next of kin.
Humor in the Industry
As a guitarist, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral
director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had
no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s
cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the
backwoods, I got lost.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had
evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were
only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.
I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the
side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in
place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this
man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, and we all wept
together. When I finished I packed up my guitar and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my
heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and
I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”
Apparently, I’m still lost…
~Jackie Stewart
National Study Confirms Value of Flowers at Funerals
According to the results of a new report from the American Floral Endowment’s Floral Marketing
Research Fund (FMRF), both bereaved families and funeral directors feel flowers and plants offer
comfort during and after funerals.
The study, Funeral Directors and Flowers: Insights into Floral Tributes in the Funeral Industry, by the
FMRF sought to assess consumers’ attitudes toward and use of floral tributes in funeral services; the
study also sheds light on funeral directors’ current relationships and experiences working with floral
retailers. FMRF partnered with the National
Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) to conduct
the survey of association members; this is the first
study of its kind in more than 20 years.
According to the study, when looking at nonhuman sources of comfort, funeral directors believe
that flowers and plants offer the most comfort to
bereaved families, followed by sympathy cards and
food. Seventy-three percent of funeral directors
believe the families they serve recall flowers and
plants as a source of comfort; approximately 64%
of families talk about flowers and plants sent by
loved ones and friends.
Funeral directors personally feel – and believe the
families they serve think – that floral tributes and plants serve as an expression of sympathy, are a token
of tribute and respect for the deceased, and help provide comfort and warmth to the funeral setting.
Funeral directors indicate that nearly 84 percent of families want to take flowers and plants home after the
service.
“Flowers always have been and will continue to be an important part of funeral services,” said NFDA
President Robert C. Moore IV, CFSP, CCO. “Seeing a flower or plant from a friend or loved one brings
comfort and lets the bereaved know they are not alone in their grief.”
FMRF also asked funeral directors why they believe some families prefer memorial donations to floral
tributes. The top reasons why families prefer memorial donations include: their loved one’s involvement
in a specific charity (33.7 percent) and not believing flowers are needed at a funeral (27.5 percent).
The study examined the relationship between floral retailers and funeral homes. Most funeral homes (73
percent) indicated they had a great relationship with local florists and that they work well together.
Approximately 63 percent indicated that they’d had a “relationship-building” visit from a local florist in
the last three to four months.
The report offers suggestions from funeral directors to help florists offer better service. Suggestions for
florists include keeping product information they provide to funeral directors up-to-date, ensuring that
deliveries are made well before a scheduled service to allow adequate time for set-up, and being mindful
of the size and shape of floral tributes so that they are easy to transport and set up at the locations where
services might be held and to the family’s home after the service.
The report can be downloaded at no charge from the FMRF website,
www.floralmarketingresearchfund.org (click the “Research” link at the top of the page; visitors to this
website must create a free account in order to download the report).
Article by Ryan Thogmartin, CEO of DISRUPT Media –
Creators of the FUNERAL Social Design Process
Most funeral homes owners don’t hire professionals to handle their marketing – they do it on their own or
hand it off to someone else at the funeral home who is not a professional marketer. Your letting your
brand image, your livelihood, be handled by someone who is not qualified to handle those
responsibilities.
You want families to hire you, a professional funeral director, to manage their deceased loved one…. but
you aren’t doing the same when telling the story of your brand. Doesn’t make much sense, right?
When we talk to funeral home owners about their social media presence and who is handling it we hear
the same answer over and over: ‘We have an employee who does it for us’ – generally that person is a
secretary or another funeral director on staff.
Let me ask you this, would you go to a plumber to fix a blown transmission in your car? Didn’t think so.
3 Reasons Why Someone in Your Funeral Home SHOULDN’T Be Managing Your Social Media
Presence
1) Time –
Time commitment for social media is huge! If an individual has other responsibilities in
the funeral home then they will most likely NOT have the appropriate amount of time
necessary to effective operate social media. To effectively operate social media you need
to be engaging the community and posting appropriate and timely information.
2) Expertise – Do you (or your assigned staff) understand how facebook algorithms work, what day of
the week is best suited for posting, how to read facebook insights, what type of content
gets a better organic reach, etc. If not then you’re better leaving it to the experts.
3) Strategy –
Most funeral homes don’t understand what type of content to post. Most funeral home’s
social media accounts quickly become a listing of obituaries and pre-need information.
This is not an effective use of social media as the consumer will not engage with this type
of posting.
For more information contact funeralsocial.com
Owner of Cremation.com Files
Lawsuit to Protect Customers from
Internet Confusion and Deception
Directors Advantage, Inc., the owner and
operator of Cremation.com, has filed a federal
lawsuit seeking a court order disabling and
transferring the cremations.com domain name in
an effort to protect consumers from Internet
confusion and deception associated with
cremations.com.
Directors Advantage has served funeral home clients with technology and digital marketing services for
many years including the provision of services such as development of memorial tribute videos, funeral
home websites, online memorials, and digital marketing services. The Cremation.com trademark has
been used for nearly fifteen years to promote and provide goods, services, and information to
consumers in the field of funeral services and Directors Advantage has also more recently promoted and
provided such goods and services through use of a federally registered version of the Cremation.com
trademark.
The lawsuit alleges that the cremations.com domain name is owned by a fictitious entity at an address
outside of the U.S., and persons acting on behalf of cremations.com have, among other actions:
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Misrepresented to potential customers that the sales solicitations were being made on behalf of
Directors Advantage’s legitimate Cremation.com site as opposed to cremations.com;
Fraudulently requested and accepted payments for advertisements on Directors Advantage’s
legitimate Cremation.com site when in fact such persons have no affiliation with Directors
Advantage or Cremation.com;
Engaged in egregious sales tactics that included as swearing at potential customers after
advising and/or implying that they were acting on behalf of on Directors Advantage’s legitimate
Cremation.com site; and
Misrepresented to potential customers that Directors Advantage’s legitimate Cremation.com
site was going out of business or that they were in fact the owners of Cremation.com
Ellery Bowker, CEO of Directors Advantage, stated “We have a duty to protect our customers and our
brand. After receiving numerous complaints, inquiries and even threats of legal action from customers
who have been confused and deceived by cremations.com, we felt it was important to pursue legal
action.
The case, Directors Advantage, Inc. v. cremations.com, 1:15-cv-00141-GBL-TRJ, was filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by David E. Weslow, a partner in Wiley Rein LLP’s
Intellectual Property Practice, and Attison L. Barnes, III, co-chair of Wiley Rein’s Litigation Practice.
118 North 8th Street
Richmond, VA 23219