Lyn blasts unprofessional funeral home operators

President of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers (JACE) Calvin Lyn is condemning what he considers so-called funeral home operators who he said are degrading the standards of the funeral industry.

"They see it as a get rich quick mentality thing and they are overcharging the people!" Lyn lamented. "They pay police fi get bodies, pay nurses, they pay nursing homes, they pay morgue workers and mi nah tell any lie because mi get the report!"

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has seen an influx of deaths related to the deadly virus which has led to overcrowding in many funeral homes. Lyn says this is a problem only faced by those uncertified undertakers who do not know how to embalm bodies.

"We are coping with the handling of COVID cases because we are trained embalmers, morticians, and funeral directors. We know the type of chemicals to use for the different cases; COVID, jaundice, hepatitis, whatever. We embalm the cases when it is appropriate to do so, which helps to eliminate the virus or any bacteria," Lyn said. "When you embalm the cases there is no need for refrigeration. The people who are crying out about storage problems, it is apparent that they don't embalm."

NO CONSCIENCE

Describing the practices of these funeral homes as a 'hit and run', Lyn said that these people "don't have any conscience".

"Me know of cases reported to me, enuh, where this so-called place take the relative's money and couldn't produce the funeral and even go back to them for more money, enuh. Is a whole heap a nastiness going on," he said. According to Lyn, of the roughly 400 funeral operators on the island, only about 60 are certified from accredited institutions.

"Is not everybody can past exam to do mortuary science. Mi nah put down nubady, mi just a tell you weh me know. Some a dem dunce and they don't have the two or three science subjects to enter mortuary school. So some of them who say they are operating now, they used to work at funeral homes. They used to work at hospital morgues. Some a taxi, some a policeman," the respected mortician said. "You know wah one policeman told my wife about two years ago? She old, she must come outta the business, she rich. Him have two years leff inah the force and him affi get rich so she fi leff it gi him."

NO ENFORCEMENT

Lyn also reprimanded the Government for not enforcing the regulations put in place to control the industry.

"The ministry of health, in spite of COVID pressures, has to find the wherewithal to help monitor these places, because in the absence of regulation in the funeral industry, that is why this chaos is happening," he said.

Lyn said the only existing draft regulation for the operation of a funeral home stipulates that there must be an appropriate location with a refrigeration system as well as a qualified embalmer present. The home should also get regular visits from the parish's public health officials to inspect the facility.

Lyn says the only way to maintain the integrity of the funeral industry is to affirm the current draft regulation as law.