What times are available for a visitation?

While we provide guidance with respect to visitation periods, we leave the actual time up to the family. Visitations may extend to multiple days or may take place in just an hour or so before the funeral service. Morning, afternoon and evening hours are available during the week or on weekends. It all depends upon the needs of the family.
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Where Can a Funeral Be Held?

Traditionally, funerals are held in a church, which is still a common practice today. However, there are several other options. Funeral services may be held at the funeral home in our Chapel or can even be held at the grave site or cemetery chapel.
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How Can A Funeral Be Personalized?

It is becoming more common to tailor a funeral service to the personality of the deceased. Prayers and remembrances offered by family and friends, favorite music, treasured belongings, pictures and mementos can all play a major role in making the final tribute fitting and moving. The family can choose to assemble a display containing family photographs, favorite possessions, items from a hobby or awards the deceased received. These items help shift the emphasis of the services to the memories of the person's life, rather than on the circumstances of his or her death. Personalization can also be added by simply choosing the most appropriate services and products available from the funeral home. These include cremation and its various service options, participating in a living memorial program, or purchasing a burial plot below the canopy of a sturdy oak tree.

When a loved one dies, grieving family members and friends often face dozens of decisions that arise in planning a funeral. These decisions are often made under great emotional distress, and as callous as it may sound, the cost of the funeral should be a concern. A traditional funeral, including a casket and vault, costs around $5,000, although many funerals easily surpass $6,000.

Being knowledgeable about the types of services and goods that funeral homes provide will empower you to ask specific questions about what is available and the cost associated with each item. Funeral homes may break down their services by the following categories:

• Basic Service
Basic service includes the services of the funeral home support staff in preparing contracts, correspondence and invoices; and in placing notices, scheduling personnel and vehicles and other support functions. This service may also include staff assistance during the funeral service, cleaning and maintenance of premises and grounds, clerical and accounting staff, chauffeurs, receptionists, parking lot attendants, and 24 hour telephone coverage.

• Visitation
This service includes staff present during visitation, receiving and placement of floral tributes, co-ordination of donations and other duties associated with rites and services during visitation. Charges include use of the funeral home for the reception of family and friends over the visitation period and/or the transportation of equipment to another facility for the visitation. This may include register desk, flower stands, donation stands, casket bier, sound system and religious equipment.

• Day of Service
This service includes preparations for the funeral service, staff to direct and assist with the funeral service including the co-ordination of donations and the receiving, arranging and local delivery of flowers. Charges include the use of the funeral home, furnishings and equipment and/or the transportation and use of equipment to another facility for the funeral service on the day of the funeral. This may include a lectern, organ, sound equipment, religious equipment, flower stands, donation stands, casket bier and casket carriage. Generally speaking, when services are conducted in a church or outside the funeral home, additional staff and longer time commitments for both staff and equipment are necessary.

• Documentation
This charge is for obtaining the necessary information to complete the documentation legally required in connection with the disposition and/or transportation of the remains; arranging for the filing of the documentation and registration of death and providing copies of our Funeral director's Statement of Death certificates. These charges do not include other professional fees such as charges by a Coroner, Department of Health, Government Consulates or Registration and Regulatory Fees.

• Facilities to Prepare and Shelter Remains
This charge includes the use of a room specifically designed and monitored by the Department of Health for the purpose of preparing and sheltering the remains of the beneficiary as well as the use of all necessary specialized equipment for the professional or sanitary care of the remains.

• Motor Vehicles
These charges are for the use of the vehicles for a single occasion. All transportation charges are frequently dependent on the radius of travel and take into consideration fuel, insurance and maintenance of listed vehicles.

• Initial Transfer
This vehicle is used to transfer the deceased (beneficiary) from the place of death to the funeral home.

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What is involved in the cremation process?

A casket or container is inserted into a cremation chamber with a temperature of 1600 – 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. All matter is consumed by heat or evaporation within two hours. The only thing left is the cremated remains, consisting of the bone fragment residue. The remains are carefully removed from the chamber, processed into fine particles and placed in a container or urn. Correct identification is ensured with a carefully controlled labeling system. The whole process takes about three hours.
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Are special cremation caskets used?

Cremation casket selection varies from cardboard to hardwood. Many are quite affordable and totally combustible.
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Is cremation cheaper than burial?

It can be, but depending on the choices you make it can be similar in cost to an immediate burial service. As a general rule the crematory charge for the cremation process is usually less than a cemetery space. However something has to be done with the ashes after the cremation (such as scattering, burial, or keeping the ashes, or some combination there of). This choice may or may not increase the expense of the cremation.

A couple of words about cremation: cremation is irreversible so every effort should be made to accommodate everyone’s needs prior to the cremation process, i.e. a time for viewing the body and having the body present at the service; and if you are considering scattering the ashes, that too is an irreversible act. You may want to consider your needs and those of others to have a place to remember your loved one on Memorial Day or other anniversaries, or you may wish to keep a small keepsake amount of ashes for this purpose also.
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Are the services held before or after cremation?

Services are held at the discretion of the family, However, most choose to have a visitation and service first, followed by the cremation.
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What happens to the cremated remains?

There are many options to consider with a cremation. A family can choose to bury the remains in a cemetery, store and display them at home in an urn, or scatter them in a place special to the deceased. It is advisable to check local restrictions in scattering remains on public property and get permission for private property.
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How can we memorialize a cremation?

There are several ways to memorialize a cremation. One option is ground burial of the urn, marked with a bronze memorial or sculpture. Most cemeteries also offer cremation niches in columbariums and others offer scattering gardens which provides scenic landscape for the family to visit.
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Can you still have a traditional funeral with cremation?

Just because someone is interested in cremation does not mean that the family cannot have a viewing and funeral service. All of the customs and ceremonies associated with a traditional funeral can still be performed prior to the cremation taking place. For these occasions, we offer economical cremation caskets and rental caskets.
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Can I still have a service if I donate my remains?

Yes. Fortuna Funeral Home can coordinate a memorial service or gathering at the family’s preferred time and location. We can also arrange the donation of organs to medical science.
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