Frazer Blog

Podcast Review: NFDA’s A Brush with Death

by | Oct 4, 2019 | Funeral Profession

Two people recording a podcast

In recent years there’s been a dramatic increase in the number of podcasts focused on death, grief, and the funeral profession. Here are a few notable ones:

  • Funeral Stories: In this podcast, the hosts cover the taboo subject of death in a way that’s both heartfelt and humorous.
  • Griefcast: Comedian Cariad Lloyd sits down with other funny people to talk about grief and death. In the podcast they talk, share, and laugh about the weirdness of grief.
  • Terrible, Thanks for Asking: In her podcast, Nora McInerny gets honest with the pain, discomfort, and sadness that comes with losing a loved one. She covers topics from finding a therapist to losing a child.

To get on the podcast bandwagon, NFDA has recently released an episode of their new podcast, A Brush with Death. Below I’m going to go over the premise of this podcast and share some of my personal thoughts about it.

The Premise

In this podcast, host Gabriel Schauf shares ways funeral directors can be more responsive to the changing needs of families. He wants funeral service providers to be up to date on the latest funeral service trends and ideas. This way they can better respond to the issues surrounding the profession.

New episodes air the second Tuesday of each month.

Episode #1 – Hospice is Where the Heart Is

In this month’s episode, Gabriel talks with Sara Moss, NFDA’s education manager. Sara is a licensed funeral director and has been with NFDA for two years now. She has extensive experience in the world of hospice care because she started volunteering years ago. Her role as a volunteer was to sit with patients who had no remaining family. It was important to her that no one died alone. She later progressed to be in charge of volunteer coordinating. Sara now uses her experience working in hospice to her current role in the funeral profession.

Throughout the podcast, Sara gives an in-depth explanation of the hospice process. She explains the anticipatory grief families experience prior to their loved one’s death and how important it is for them to have a support system. She also goes over the step-by-step process of someone being admitted into hospice.

The dying person, family, and hospice workers develop a strong bond throughout the process. Oftentimes, the staff will attend the funeral of the deceased. This means a lot to families and helps them in their grieving process.

Sara then goes on to share ways funeral directors can collaborate with hospice teams. A few things they can do is reach out to hospice centers and have community events, be flexible with hospice professionals, have an open line of communication, and offer care that goes above and beyond.

She also shares some resources funeral professionals can share with their families. This includes things to share before the death, during the death, and after the death.

Overall, in this episode, funeral directors will learn a lot of ways to better serve their families and collaborate with hospice centers.

My Thoughts

I think this podcast will be a great resource for funeral professionals. Already this first episode taught me a lot about the process of hospice and how funeral homes can better collaborate with hospice centers.

When Gabriel says, “the more you learn, the more you need to know,” I felt myself nodding. As you dive into a specific topic about the funeral profession, you’ll quickly realize there is a lot more to learn.

This particular episode is great for funeral professionals who have little experience working with hospice centers. They’ll learn ways to make connections with them and keep hospice workers involved, which will benefit their funeral home and the families they serve.

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