At Home or at Work
When a death occurs at home or in the workplace, a family member or co-worker should contact emergency personnel and the person's physician if he or she was under a doctor's care. If the death occurs at home with family or friends present, and the person is under a physician's care, the family will want to call us directly.However, if the death occurs in a residence and no one is there at the time of death, the police will need to be notified and respond to the residence before the deceased is removed from their home.
If in any case you are not sure of who to notify or what to do, please call Pray Funeral Home at (517) 543-2950, and we'll assist you in notifying the proper agencies.
While Under Supervised Care
When a death occurs in a care facility, such as a hospital or nursing home, the professional staff will notify you and the necessary authorities. If the name of the funeral home has been left with them, the institution will notify the funeral home at the time of the death. The funeral director will contact you immediately following their notification to help you proceed. (However, we suggest you call us immediately, so you've got the reassurance you need that all is taken care of properly.)If a loved one was in the care of a hospice program, a hospice representative will give family members instructions and procedures to follow. The coroner/medical examiner will be notified by hospice. Following their release the hospice will contact the funeral home. It is always a good idea for the family to contact us immediately so that we will be aware of the pending call from hospice.
Widening the Circle
Our staff members are experienced professionals who can provide much of the information you need, emotional support and compassionate guidance.While you may ask the director any questions at this time, you will be able to discuss the arrangements in detail later when you meet in person. During this initial call, the funeral director will gather information to be able to transport your loved one to the funeral home.The funeral director may ask you several questions, including whether your loved one made any pre-arrangements. The director will also schedule a date and time for you to meet at the funeral home and will let you know what you should bring with you. Others you will need to notify are:
- Family members and friends
- Clergy or other spiritual advisors
When a death happens away from home
If a death occurs away from home, whether it happens out of town or out of the country, contact us as soon as possible at 571-543-2950.
Pray Funeral Home can help you determine what options you may have. In many cases we can take care of all the details to complete the arrangements you will need, including coordinating the arrangements with a funeral home near the place of death on your behalf, so you don't have to worry about making additional calls and arrangements.
Call us first, we will take care of the details.
Those Important Questions
If there is no pre-plan in place, there are several other questions that you may have to answer in regards to the death of your loved one:
- Do I have to have embalming?
- Do I need to purchase a casket?
- What about cemetery arrangements?
- Does the family have to engage the services of a minister or a funeral celebrant?
- What type of service should we have?
However, as we’ve said before, one of the best ways to make sure that all of your questions and desires are taken care of is to make pre-arrangements. This is as simple as outlining your wishes to having all of the details written down and the financial arrangements prepaid. Please contact one of our staff at (517) 543-2950 to learn more about pre-arrangement.
What to Expect When You Arrive at the Funeral Home
One of the first things our funeral arranger will do is to provide you with our Resource Planning Guide which contains helpful information and outlines some of many service options that are available to you. We will be honored to explain all of the options available to you. It also contains our general price list. We will then guide you through the entire arrangement process, explaining how you can create a memorable personal celebration of your loved one's life. This is not a one-way conversation; we want to hear your ideas and desires, and use them as the foundation for the arrangement process.
This process may include:
- Gathering information to help us prepare and file the official death certificate
- Determining a schedule, location, date and time of services or events
- Selecting a casket, urn or other items
- Preparing an story of your family member's life to be used for an obituary notice
- Scheduling vehicles
- Selecting friends and family members who may assist in the service such as Casket or Urn Bearers
You may also sign necessary authorizations or make arrangements to have them signed by the appropriate family members.We’d like you to bring any photos, a favorite song, or memorabilia that help illustrate how you would like your loved one to be remembered. Having these things, and knowing their favorite song or favorite gathering place – even their favorite activity – will help us create a truly fitting memorial service.We will assist you in planning a loving tribute that captures the spirit of the person whose life you wish to honor. To learn more about personalizing the service, you are welcome to visit our pages in the Honoring Life section of this web site. The funeral arranger will discuss personalization with you during your arrangement conference.The following checklist will help you remember what information about the decedent and items will be needed when meeting with our staff.
- Full legal name- Home address
- Social Security number
- Date of birth
- Place of birth
- Father's name
- Mother's maiden name
- Veteran's discharge papers (DD-214)
- Recent Photograph
- Highest education
- Occupation
- Place of burial (if applicable)
- Clothing
- Clergy name and phone number
- Survivors (name and relationship)
- Insurance policies (if applicable)
