Fall 2014 - fcanc.org

Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northern California
Fall 2014
Address: P.O. Box 60266
Sacramento, CA 95860
Phone: 916-486-3552
Email: fcanc@surewest.net
Website: fcanc.org
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What Happens After the Driver’s License Pink Dot?
You May be Surprised
We are pleased to welcome Aron Davis, Executive Director, Body Donation Program, UC Davis School of Medicine and Deanna Santana, Education Volunteer Coordinator from Sierra
Donor Services who will speak at our annual educational workshop on September 27, 2014.
Don’t be left out...come hear from the experts. (See enclosed flyer).
Body Donation
There are 10 universities in California who accept embalmed whole body donations and
the University of CA, Davis is the only one in our area. Embalmed cadavers are used to
teach anatomy to medical students and to develop and teach new surgical techniques on
tissue, bone and joints. In some instances, the body may be used to develop new surgical
instruments, to further vehicle safety, develop protective equipment or to assess impact
of damaging forces to the body.
Another option is the non-profit or for-profit companies who also accept whole body donations. Be certain to share your arrangements with your family, physician , lawyer and
funeral director of your wishes before death. Come and hear more at the annual workshop.
What’s in this Issue of the Newsletter?
Welcome New Board Members
What to do When you Can’t Afford a Funeral
Things to Know
Legislative Watch/News
Board Message Continued…
Board Members Message
The Board of Directors is pleased to announce
our annual workshop entitled:
What Happens After the Driver’s License Pink
Dot? You May be Surprised
The experts from the Body Donation Program at
the UC Davis School of Medicine and the Sierra
Donor Services will be available on the morning
of September 27th to answer all of your questions. Don’t be left out.
We Are Thrilled to Welcome Two New
Board Members
We are pleased to introduce to you Sharon Ponciano who is a death education
advocate and has worked as a bilingual
teacher in public education, a mental
health counselor and dance instructor. A
life-long resident of Northern California
she has lived in Sacramento for the last
15 years. She is passionate about social
and restorative justice; building community and beauty in all its forms. Her honors and achievements include first place
in her age group of the 1968 tricounties swim meet (Butte, Glenn,
Colusa) in the 100 meter back stroke.
She is actively involved in the Sacramento Skills Exchange and the National
Home Funeral Alliance.
The board of directors is pleased to introduce to you our other new board
member Heidi Boucher. She is a Home
Funeral Guide, Writer, Producer and Director of In The Parlor: The Final Good-
bye.
Heidi has been involved with independent film, television and theater for over
20 years in California and Oregon. Since
returning back to California, she has
worked as a production designer on several award-winning feature films,
shorts, music videos, commercials,
broadcast television and stage productions. Currently she is writing, producing
and directing the documentary film In
The Parlor: The Final Goodbye, an intimate portrait of three families choosing
the home death care option.
Creatively balancing her careers in film
and television production and as a home
death care guide, Heidi Boucher has
over 30 years experience guiding families in caring for their own dead.
Heidi feels passionately about family
rights in caring for their own loved ones
after death and creating sacred spaces
Donate Today!
The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northern California is supported by You and
your donations. We rely upon your generosity to continue to send this newsletter
out twice a year at a cost of $1,500 each
time. We also provide educational and
advocacy activities for your benefit and
maintain the funeral service network for
lower cost funeral services.
for families to say goodbye. Bringing
beauty, being practical and instilling a
sense of reverence are her guiding
points in consulting with families on
home death care.
Welcome to the Board of
Directors Sharon and Heidi!
Does California Have
an Indigent Funeral
Program?
The state of CA does not
offer any financial assistance to families.
At the county level contact the local coroner’s
office. NOTE: California
is notorious for finding
ways to not pay. So call
the coroner’s office before you call a funeral
home.
In CA there is a limit on
the amount of financial
assistance the family can
provide.
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Final Rights: Reclaiming
the American Way of
Death
Joshua Slocum, Lisa Carlson, Upper Access, Inc.,
Book Publishers, 2011.
Available through the
FCANCCost: $25.00 including S & H and tax.
Send check to: FCANC. PO
Box 60266, Sacramento,
CA 95860
What to do When You Can’t Afford a Funeral
The most important thing to remember is that a meaningful, heartfelt memorial doesn't need to cost more than your family can afford. Whether you
spend $600 or $10,000, you'll love and miss the deceased just as much. It's
the coming together of family and friends to laugh, cry, and love each other
that makes a funeral meaningful, not the amount of money it costs.
And this is crucial: there is no charity or government organization that
will pay off any debt you've accrued if you arrange a funeral that's beyond your means. It's your family's responsibility to spend within its budget. Funeral homes are not required to let you pay in installments; many
these days are asking for payment upfront. While this might seem frustrating, it's a responsible business practice and it prevents many grieving people from falling into a financial trap when they're not thinking clearly.
Sweating the monthly bills six months after the death because the funeral
payments are high does not, I assure you, help lift the burden of grief.
Here are some suggestions for creative ways to economize without giving
up the essential value of a final send-off. At the end of the article are links
to a few organizations that may help contribute for the funerals of children
in certain circumstances. It pays to call several funeral homes as many will
do a service for a drastically reduced price if the deceased was a child.
1. Many anatomical donation organizations will accept a body at no charge
and will arrange for transportation to their facility at no cost to the family.
If you have questions about the uses to which the body will be put, be sure
to ask, and visit their websites. Most of these companies provide body parts
for non-transplant purposes including research and medical training. There
is usually no expense to the family, even for out-of-state shipping. The consent form should be explicit that the body will be surgically divided. Some
body parts may be shipped outside the U.S. Most of these deal with both
nonprofit and for-profit entities. Any unused or already-used body parts
will be cremated and returned to the family when so requested although
some of the end users dispose of tissue as medical waste. Some options include Anatomy Gifts Registry and ScienceCare. More can be found here.
2.Consider body donation to a medical school. You’ll be helping train the
next generation of doctors who will be taking care of you, and depending
on where you live, the cost could be minimal (transportation) to free. Most
medical schools will return the cremated remains in one to two years after
study if you request this beforehand.
Be certain to make any donation arrangements ahead of time.
What to do When You Can’t Afford a Funeral, Continued
3. Whether there’s government money to bury the poor (euphemistically called “indigent”) depends on the
state. Some states have a budget for this. Others leave it up to the local county, city, or town. There is no rule
of thumb. If a family has no money, the first thing they should do is call the department of social services (or
whatever their state calls the welfare office) to see if there’s an indigent burial/cremation program.
If your state or county offers help it’s not going to cover a full-service funeral with embalming, a public
viewing, and associated ceremonies. The family is going to get a direct cremation or immediate burial at
most. Some states won’t allow a family to add any of their own money, reasoning that if they can afford to
do so, they don’t need the state’s help. Other states will allow families to add money for optional ceremonies
up to certain limits.
Remember that you can organize a memorial service later at home, at church, in a social venue, etc.
4. You have the right to pick and choose only the funeral goods and services you want and can afford. You
don’t have to buy an elaborate package. Sure, you may want a public viewing of the body and then a Mass of
Christian Burial at the church afterward, but if you don’t have the money for it you alone are responsible for
the bill.
5. Consider a home funeral. In most states it’s perfectly legal to complete the death certificate (with the doctor’s or medical examiner’s certification), file it, care for the body at home, and take it to the cemetery or
crematory.
Most families in this country did so routinely until the turn of the 20th century. The FCA national office can
help guide families, or you can turn to the new book Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of
Death for specific requirements in your state.
There are many meaningful ways to say goodbye to someone that have nothing to do with cost. I often tell
callers the story of my grandmother Edith Slocum’s funeral. She had wanted cremation, but the daughters
opted for the full embalming and formal ceremony at the request of a sister who hadn’t seen grandma in
years. Looking back, I found the made-up-body-lying-in-state extremely artificial and uncomfortable. But
the family reception afterward? One hell of a good party. We went back to Aunt Mary Ellen’s house where
the grandkids made food while 70 people milled around telling stories about grandma’s legendary cheating
at gin rummy. Most of them were getting tipsy off her favorite cocktail, which was no mean feat considering
she liked the dreadful sloe gin fizz. My fondest memory is of mixing up tuna-pea macaroni salad with my
cousin Kelly, crying and giggling at the same time.
Article by Josh Slocum, Executive Director FCA, Inc. (Revision given here)
Last Updated ( Friday, 04 April 2014 09:48 )
Things To Know
Shipping Cremated RemainsAs of Decmber 2013, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will No Longer ship cremated
remains via Registered Mail. Now Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 601.12 requires that those
sending cremated remains via USPS use Priority Mail Express service with delivery confirmation. NOTE that UPS and FedEx do not knowingly ship cremated remains at all.
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Another Airline Ends Bereavement FaresAmerican Airlines is the latest airline to stop offering special reduced fares to someone flying for the saddest of reasons: a serious medical emergency or the death of a family member,
citing the lack of necessity for this option due to the ease of finding affordable fares at the
last minute among low-cost carriers. Delta Airlines also recently eliminated bereavement
fares. At this time, United Airlines continues to have bereavement policies.
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Death Certificate PricesThe price for certified copies of death certificates have increased by five dollars from sixteen to twenty-one dollars this year. Each of our 15 counties Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn,
Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Placer, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo and
Yuba that we serve charge the basic fee of $21 plus any additional costs for processing the
certified copy. It is recommended that you order five to ten death certificates. Some entities will accept photocopies of death certificates while others such as banks and insurance
companies require certified copies with the seals.
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State of California Cemetery and Funeral BureauThe CA Cemetery and Funeral Bureau operates under the Department of Consumer Affairs
and has dedicated, underfunded and overworked people who publish an online newsletter and
the “Consumer Guide to Cemetery and Funeral Purchases.” the Guide is available online. For
further information please go to:
www.cfb.ca.gov
The office location is: CA Cemetery and Funeral Bureau 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite S208, Sacramento, CA 95834
Phone 916.574.7885
Legislative Watch/News
The following is from the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) website (May, 2014)
Funeral Rule Improvement Act of 2014 (H.R. 4213) – Introduced in the House of Representatives at the
request of NFDA, this bill would amend the definitions of "funeral provider" and "funeral services" in the
FTC Funeral Rule to include all for-profit sellers of funeral or final disposition goods or services. The bill has
been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.
The Funeral Consumers Alliance believes that the passage of the Funeral Rule Improvement Act of 2014 legislation can make sweeping changes to the Funeral Rule. Stay tuned.
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Dignified Interment of Our Veterans Act of 2014 (H.R. 4446/S.1755) – These bills would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study on matters relating to the identification, claiming, and interring
of unclaimed remains of veterans, including: (1) estimating the number of unclaimed remains; (2) assessing
the effectiveness of the procedures of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for claiming and interring unclaimed remains of veterans; (3) assessing state and local laws that affect the ability of the Secretary to identify, claim, and inter such remains; and (4) recommending appropriate legislative or administrative action.
During the last session of Congress, NFDA supported enactment of legislation to require the VA to work with
veteran service organizations and other groups, as well as funeral directors, to assist in identifying the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans held by funeral homes. Once identified, the VA would arrange for those
remains to be interred at a national cemetery and provided with appropriate honors if they qualified.
H.R. 4446 and S.1755 would require VA to conduct a study to determine how that program was working and
make recommendations to improve its effectiveness.
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Attention Members:
The world of funeral services is changing as I write this and we want you to be aware of the
different offerings of service and pricing. Your membership in the Funeral Consumers Alliance
of Northern California in the past was probably a money saver with the agreements we have
developed with certain funeral homes. However there are more options available to consumers
everyday and that includes highly competitive prices within the industry. So even though we
have agreements with certain family owned and operated funeral homes and make then available to serve you upon death they may not be the most cost effective prices in the area. We
encourage all our members to examine the pricing and services of funeral homes via the internet (and we also have some links on our website, fcanc.org) and shop around for the price and
level of service that you wish and can afford. The benefits of membership are that the
FCANC is the watchdog of legislation and funeral services for the consumer.
The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northern California wishes to extend our gratitude for the donations received from you during the time frame from August 2013 through June 2014. We are
sorry if we have left anyone out. Please contact us. We could not provide our services without
your support.
P.J. Strawbridge Esther Branthaver Leslie Lahr Julia Sadler Phyllis Conzelman Theodore Robinson Richard Gaunt Delene Halsey Harry Gobler Susan Post Barbara Hansen Helen Bouchard W. David Haggerty, Jr. Samantha Zones Raymond Coppock A. Leroy Hughes Ruby Tro en Lillian Mc Henry Janice Bazinet Shirley O’Key Ellen Pa erson Ann Winship Sally Weinland L. Joan Young Janet Mountjoy Mary Webber Ruth Wildman Mary Strong Sandra Bailey David Brubaker Douglas Dempster Sharon Sco John Moke Elaine Hironaka Gail Christensen Beverly Christensen Marie Marousek Patricia Carman Sharon Ponciano Donna Denny Phyllis Runyan Jean Risley W.E. Bi ner, M.D. Don Brush Claude Crownover Donald Sloan Margaret Young Helen Gangursky Victor Hershman Martha Oehler Mildred Livingston Florence Kozusko Patricia Ann Ruiz Cheryll Moore Hilary Pace Harry Cline Shirley Coffelt Mary Tsugawa Charlo e Benedict Darlene Hammersten Suzanne Allen Sylvia Mae Mehlhaff Bob Vanderhorst William Dillinger Beryl Wakefield Roberta Wilkins A.L. Red Hughes Maxine Schmalenberger Dorothy Benner Leslie Yates Gertrude Leven Gloria Bowman William Findlay Mary Nippert Volunteerism–
Vicky Wurtz Barbara Bachman An Article by Volunteer Nancy Steeves
Volunteerism is one of the best gifts you can give yourself! You probably know that it helps you stay
healthier, live longer and be a lot happier, studies have shown.
We need you!
Do you like helping people and have a few hours a month to spare? Be an agent for social justice!
Help people discover the benefits of FCANC, work with like-minded people who want to give back to
the Community. We were founded by a small group of local consumers interested in social justice;
our program is all about protecting the rights of others.
Join our friendly volunteer staff and find out what’s new in FCANC. There are many ways to help us
“just a few hours a month.” You can inform others at health fairs, death cafes, help establish new
contracted funeral homes, or just share your ideas. Being an agent for social justice doesn’t mean
you have to carry a sign and storm the Capital, it can be in small ways that add up.
As you know we are dedicated to providing information and education to the public concerning death
and dying issues, so families can make wiser decisions about end-of-life care and body disposition.
FCANC provides information so that one can choose to have a dignified, meaningful and affordable
end of life. Call us at 916-486-3552 or send us an email at: fcanc@surewest.net
Are
NON-PROFIT ORG
FUNERAL CONSUMERS ALLIANCE
You
OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
PERMIT No. 01771
P. O. BOX 60266
Email our office fcanc@surewest.net
U.S. Postage Paid
Sacramento, CA 95860
SACRAMENTO, CA.
or
Call 916-486-3552 to transfer your
membership to another FCA. Let us
TIME VALUE
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
know of deaths please.
Your Membership Entitles You to…
A lower cost Direct Cremation or lower cost
Direct Burial at a family owned and operated
funeral home of your choice.
Benefits while traveling throughout the USA-the
FCANC is one of over 100 similar affiliates that
are part of our network.
Invitations to our educational programs and
events held throughout the year.
Two informative newsletters per year.
Benefits of our advocacy work that protects
your rights as consumers.
Become a Member Today...
Enclosed is a one-time donation of $40 for each person listed below.
Name(s)_____________________________________________________________________________
Address______________________________________________________________Zip code__________
Phone___________________ Email______________________________________________________
To Transfer from another Funeral Consumer Alliance affiliate/network: Enclose a $25 donation.
I/we wish to transfer our membership from _________________________________________________
Name(s)_____________________________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________________Phone________
I/We wish to transfer to the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northern California for $25 per person.
Please mail this form with a check or money order to:
(We do NOT rent, sell or loan our membership list. )
Funeral Consumers Alliance of Northern California
P.O. Box 60266
Sacramento, California 95860
Any Questions? Call 916-486-3552 Email: fcanc@surewest.net