What to Do When Someone Passes
Helpful Reference Guide For Medical and Healthcare Service Providers
Immediately after a loved one passes, the families you serve will likely experience a depth and combination of emotions that they have never experienced before: grief, pain, relief, and anger, among others. As all healthcare providers know, time is of the essence immediately following a death; as such, there are some things that you can do to help your families anticipate and prepare so as to not create additional stress in the moment, allowing them to embrace their feelings and be with their loved ones during a difficult time.
Many funeral homes and cremation providers use a document such as the one featured here (Download PDF) to gather critically important information in a streamlined and organized manner. This information is vital to initiating the next steps after someone has passed away. These next steps include, but are not limited to, notifying family members, bringing the deceased into our care, applying for a death certificate, and making final arrangements.
Opal Cremation of Southern California is committed to making this process as seamless as possible for you and the families in your care. While we are able to facilitate every aspect of final wishes for cremation for the families you serve—from bringing their loved one into our care to returning their ashes back home where they belong—preparing the information listed in this form will speed up the arrangement process and make for a smoother transition, for everyone involved.
Information That Will Be Requested by Cremation Providers and Funeral Homes
When your loved one passes, please have the nurse or other attending medical personnel call Opal Cremation. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whenever possible, it is helpful to let the customer care team at Opal know in advance that a call is impending so that we can plan to be on our way as quickly as possible to tend to your loved one and bring them into our care.
Information checklist:
In order to ensure that all of the pertinent information is readily available, we have compiled the following list of the details we will need when the time comes:
• First and last name of your loved one
• Official date and time of passing
• The first and last name of the healthcare professional calling
• The attending physician who will provide medical information for the death certificate, their phone number, and any other available contact information
• The approximate weight of the deceased loved one
• Information about any implanted device(s), such as a pacemaker
• A timeframe in which the family/medical staff will allow the funeral home / cremation provider to pick up your loved one
• Any other information that you feel may be relevant
Additional facility information necessary to expedite services:
• Name of the facility
• Facility street address
• Facility phone number
• Facility fax number
• Prior approval of cremation provider’s release form