The act of losing a loved one never gets any easier, whether expected or sudden. The flood of dread, sadness, and grief are hard enough to deal with, but then you discover that you have to be the one to make the arrangements for disposition. Luckily, funeral homes and cremation services in Baltimore, MD, make the process easier, allowing you to focus on mourning while funeral directors and crematorium staff prepare your loved one for a final goodbye.
While everyone has been to a funeral at some point in their life, or at least seen them on television or read about them in books, not many people have delved into the process of preparation for cremation. There are strict procedures in place to ensure loved ones are cremated to healthy, safe, secure standards, which includes identification of the decedent. Close loved ones identify the body at a funeral home or crematorium, then give permission to either a funeral director or crematory director to have the body cremated.
There are several kinds of preparation for cremation, but the two main ones are traditional cremation that involves funerary services and direct cremation.
Traditional cremation
with funerary services is when loved ones request a classic viewing of a decedent (deceased person). The body is prepared in the same way it would be for a funeral or burial. It’s washed thoroughly, made up to bear resemblance to the person in life, and placed in a casket for a viewing at a funeral home.
While it’s not the norm for bodies to be refrigerated or embalmed before cremation, loved ones can request it if the funeral services are scheduled for several days after death. The act of refrigeration or embalming will slow decomposition and keep the decedent well-preserved for funeral services.
Direct cremation
is a quicker process. There’s no preparation of the body. The decedent is picked up from the place of death, then driven via a funeral home vehicle or hearse to the crematorium. From there, the body is placed within a biodegradable casket, slid into the retort (crematorium furnace chamber), and the cremation process begins.
On average, the cremation process takes between 90 minutes to two hours. Sometimes bones don’t burn down all the way into ash, so crematory workers will use a special machine to grind the remains down into an ultra-fine powder.
Do Loved Ones Provide the Urn for a Decedent’s Remains?
Sometimes. The loved ones of a decedent can purchase an urn from the funeral home or a funerary outlet store, then give the urn to a funeral director or crematorium employee for proper storage of remains. If an urn isn’t provided, the funeral home or crematory will place the remains in a plastic bag that’s then placed inside a small cardboard box. This makes it easier for loved ones to scatter ashes instead of keeping them.
Cremation services go a long way towards being helpful and simple. It’s a quick and efficient process, one that affords you plenty of time to focus on your own emotions instead of getting stressed over funerary preparations.
You can learn more about cremation services in Baltimore, MD. Talk to us at Hari P. Close Funeral Service, P.A. to schedule a consultation and learn about cremation services/funeral home services. Visit our office in Baltimore or call our location.
