Public death care is a phrase you may have never heard before, but will likely hear more in the future as we further differentiate between private and public sector death care services. It’s part of the overall transformation that’s happening in the death care industry at large right now.
In this post, we’re providing more information on what public death care is, how the concept has changed over the years and the challenges that are faced in Texas and across the U.S.
What is Public Death Care?
The simple explanation is public death care is any death-related service that’s performed by a government entity or employee. Some examples of work within public death care include:
- Medical examiners
- Coroners
- Public cemetery managers
- Transport specialists
People working in death care positions are sometimes referred to as last responders. Instead of being the first to respond in an emergency they are the last to respond and care for the deceased.
Why Insight Into Public Death Care is Important
Public death care is something that touches all of our lives. Why? Because we all will die, and what happens after our death is largely determined by public policy that’s shaped by the work that happens within public death care. The more we all know about it, the better the system will serve us.
More research is beginning to look at various death care workers who serve vital roles in their communities. Professors like Staci Zavattaro at the University of Central Florida have done a deep dive into the data and conducted hours of interviews in the field. The goal is to better understand the work that’s involved and the people working in the public death care system.
People working within public death care are on the frontlines. They have a front row seat to see what’s working and what isn’t within the death care system. It would be a serious mistake to overlook their observations and the insights that they have to share.
Something that death care workers have been a part of is improving responses to large-scale emergencies like mass shootings and natural disasters. These can quickly turn into mass-casualty events that must be handled with little to no notice. The policies dictating the response have a bearing on the events as a whole, how they are managed and how people recover. It can even help to save lives.
Another issue that public death care workers are helping tackle is cemetery management as we move toward more cremations than burials. As we make the transition, some in the death care sector have suggested that public cemeteries would best serve as museums moving forward. More public cemeteries, including those in Austin, are considering ways to be more inviting and open. One popular idea is incorporating hike and bike paths through public cemeteries to encourage more interaction.
One other huge take away from the recent research has been that policymakers are often out of touch with what public death care workers do and what’s happening within the industry. It’s an issue we’ve seen play out as legislators have tried to pass bills that would legalize water cremation and natural organic reduction in Texas. Misconceptions about the practices and the need for new forms of disposition have negatively impacted the outcomes.
Challenges in Public Death Care Everywhere and in Texas
The work of a death care worker can be emotionally, psychologically and physically demanding. The hours can be odd and the shifts can be 24 hours or longer. That’s the case for public death care workers everywhere.
Add to that the fact that public death care is a part of public services that is underappreciated. The kicker is that many death care workers choose a career in the industry because they want to help make the lives of the living better. They are taking on roles few people are willing to do for the sake of others and getting little recognition for it.
In Texas, the challenges for public death care are largely the same as any public sector in the state. After years of explosive growth, many areas of Texas are constantly trying to increase the resources and manpower that are needed.
For example, right now there’s a serious shortage of medical examiners in the state. Here in the Austin metro Williamson County doesn’t have its own medical examiner. Families have begun to grow tired of waiting for autopsies since those have to be done by a private forensic examiner or by the Travis County medical examiner’s office. Typically, autopsies are completed in 60-90 months but it can extend months longer than that.
Another common problem that’s experienced in Texas and elsewhere is lack of support for public death care workers. While first responders are offered a plethora of mental health care services, death care workers go mostly overlooked even though they deal with some of the same difficult situations.
Research into the work environments and job-related tasks of public death care workers has made the disparity very clear. It wasn’t until the Covid pandemic that attention was given to the mental health of these essential workers, and now it is beginning to show up in public policy.
Public health is affected by the public death care system. It’s more than a matter of disease control and hygiene. There is a lot involved that can impact mental health for all involved, including the death care workers. For that reason, as funeral services transition in our modern age, it’s more important than ever to take the experience of public death care workers into account.
At Cremation.Green we aren’t just a private funeral home. We are vocal advocates for death care reform in Texas that expands disposition options so that more eco-friendly options are available to everyone in the state. We work closely with public death care workers when necessary to arrange funeral services that are handled efficiently and respectfully.
