SPECIAL PUBLIC HEALTH MEASURES
COVID-19 RECOVERY – Larger Funerals Possible June 19
The Government of New Brunswick has announced that effective Friday, June 19th the COVID-19 recovery plan will enter a new phase making it possible to hold funeral services with unrestricted numbers in attendance as long as social distancing requirements can be adhered to. This will apply to services or gatherings held in Churches, our Chapel and at cemeteries. In each case the actual number of people who may attend will be dictated by the capacity of the space in question.
This news will be of great comfort to the grieving families who will benefit from the love and support of a wider circle of family and friends nearby. Something that has not been possible for the past 13 weeks.
Public health authorities have advised us that this new status can change at any time depending on whether additional outbreaks occur within the province.
Social distancing is a vital part of this new stage. To help ensure that everyone remains safe and that further outbreaks don’t cause a return to tighter restrictions, we will be following strict social distancing guidelines at all services and asking the community to work with us to help implement this successfully.
Each family we serve will be advised of the guest capacity for their service and asked to help determine who should be in attendance and communicate the necessary details to those involved.
For those in attendance we will be providing instruction in advance, or at the service location, relating to safely entering and leaving the venue. Once inside, we will be asking guests to sit only with those in their own household and to maintain a two metre distance from all others at all times. Sadly, hugs and handshakes will remain strongly discouraged by the Dept. of Public Health for now.
For families choosing to have a period of visiting or gather at graveside, there will be similar guidelines in place and numbers and timing will be determined based on the location.
At this time the size and scope of services will be restructured, in accordance to the public health directive. We will be able to offer your family the ability to broadcast the service from our facility to family & friends through our live broadcast service. We encourage you to call the funeral home 466 – 3110 to confirm the specific arrangements for the services you are interested in.
In addition, we will be taking certain precautions to help ensure the health and peace of mind of all of those entering our funeral home. We wanted to share these with you and ask for your cooperation in trying to keep everyone safe.Prescreening protocols will be implemented with each visitor to the funeral home.
•Obviously we will want to meet with the key family member only; charged with the responsibility to make those important decisions surrounding the services of their loved one. A lot of information will be able to be gathered by phone and email.
•Discussions will be held with the primary arranger to best facilitate a safe private family visitation
•Hand sanitizer will be available for use through the lobby,parlours and reception area. We encourage you to wash your hands regularly.
•We will be doing our best to regularly disinfect the common areas in the funeral home, especially those things we all touch like door handles, counters, and hand railings.
•If you wish to send a condolence or pledge a memorial donation, we encourage you to do so on our website or by telephone. At this time we will be suspending the handling of cash or cheques for the purposes of charitable donations. Although it has been our privilege to take donations on behalf of the charities, you may place the donation through our website and the memorial will be forwarded on to the family, however to honour your donation it will have to be forwarded on to the charity directly or placed at a later date when things return to normal.
•While we certainly understand the importance of coming here to support family or friends at a time of loss, if you are feeling unwell, having flu-like symptoms, or running a fever, headaches, cough, underlying health issue or are immune compromised; please stay home until you have recovered. We are asking the same of our staff.
We thank everyone for their understanding as we continue to monitor this evolving situation and determine the best way to protect everyone. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of SPECIAL
PUBLIC
HEALTH NOTICE Monday March 16 2020..
Death notice for the town of: St-Stephen, Province: Nouveau-Brunswick