Blog | Lifesong Funerals

Before the time comes when you need cremation services in Monticello, FL, you should prepare, as much as you are able, for what will happen after you die. This includes having a current will or revocable trust in place. It also means having a life insurance policy to provide your family with financial security after you die.

What is the value of having a life insurance policy?

Many people simply do not think about life insurance, especially when they are younger, even if they have families. Death seems a long way away, if ever, and spending more of a family’s hard-earned income on something that will not be needed until far, far in the future does not seem like a priority.

However, the reality is that none of us knows when death will come knocking on our doors. You may be perfectly healthy now, but you may be diagnosed with a terminal illness in six months or a year. You might be involved in a horrible traffic accident that claims your life. Perhaps you end up in the path of a sudden weather event, such as a tornado, and you lose your life.

Instead of assuming that none of these things could happen to you, it is best to be prepared with the hope that they will not. If you are the primary source of financial support for your family, it is imperative that you take the steps you need to make sure your death will not leave your family in a financially devastating position.

The good news about life insurance – if you are younger and healthy – is that it is very affordable, and you can lock in a low monthly rate if you purchase a whole life (term policies typically have lower rates initially, but the rates tend to balloon after the first term – usually 10 years – ends) insurance policy when age and medical conditions are not a concern.

Having a life insurance policy means you can ensure the financial health of your family after you die.

A second reason why you should have a life insurance policy is that many policies can offer living benefits. These can include protection for a business that you own, supplemental income after you retire, or payment for long-term care.

While you do not necessarily need these living benefits when you are younger, you are more likely to need them when you grow older.

For example, if you do need long-term care when you get older, you may get sticker shock when you see how expensive it is, especially since most assisted living facilities and many nursing homes have Medicare exclusions.

Assisted living facilities, in particular, either do not accept Medicare or have only a few slots available for Medicare. With both assisted living facilities and nursing homes, accepting Medicare as a form of payment is based on how many assets you have. To qualify, in most costs, you practically have to divest yourself of all financial and property assets three years prior to the admission date to be eligible for Medicare admission.

If you have living benefits with your life insurance, you can offset some of the cost of long-term care with those benefits (without having to get rid of everything you own and all the financial resources you have) to make it more affordable.

Life insurance protects your family’s financial security after you die and can provide benefits for you while you’re still living. It’s a good investment to consider when you’re planning for death.

For information about cremation services in Monticello, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

Before you need cremation services in Havana, FL, you will likely be with your loved one when they are actively dying. Actively dying happens in two stages. The first, which is usually about three weeks (although it can be longer), is pre-active dying.

With pre-active dying, you will probably see your loved one exhibit some of the following symptoms:

• Increased restlessness or agitation
• Increased periods of confusion
• Decreased interaction with others
• Increased sleepiness
• Increased lack of stamina and energy
• Hallucinations of people who have already died
• Decreased nutrition and hydration intake

The active dying process comes next. It is the last step before your loved one dies. The active stage of dying typically last an average of three days before death comes.

The phase of active dying that indicates that death is very close are unresponsiveness, falling vital signs, and rapid and shallow breathing.

While not everyone experiences every symptom or sign of the active dying process, your loved ones will likely experience the majority of them. These include:

• Changes in breathing (shallow breathing, irregular breathing, and extended pauses between breaths)
• Waste incontinence or decreased urine output (urine will often have a dark color)
• Mottling (blood pooling on the skin’s surface)
• Changes in body temperature (when blood flow is reduced, blood is directed to vital organs and away from extremities, which will be very cold to the touch)
• Changes in heart rate and blood pressure (heart rate is slower and blood pressure goes down)
• Agitation, delirium, and audio and visual hallucinations
• Fluid buildup in the lungs that produce gurgling sounds

All of this can be hard to watch as your loved one exhibits some or all of these signs of active dying. However, you should be aware that while it may be distressing for you, it is not for your loved one.

As the body undergoes life’s final shutdown, your loved one is a very deep sleep state (similar to the sleep when anesthesia is administered), and they are not suffering at all.

However, to make sure that your loved one does not experience any physical pain or discomfort during this phase, they are given a strong narcotic on a regular schedule. The narcotic enhances the deep sleep your loved one’s deep sleep, so you should not be surprised if they don’t respond to anything.

Your loved one is likely still able to hear during this deep sleep, so it’s important for you and other family members, if possible, to be with them and talk with them during the active dying phase.

Try to keep your conversations with them and with each other as calm and peaceful as possible. Your loved one can hear not just words, but also the tone in which they are spoken. Fighting and arguing among you and other family members can be very distressing to them.

It’s also important to not have a lot of loud, simultaneous noise during your loved one’s active dying phase, because this can be distressing to them too. If you decide to have a little noise, you might play some of their favorite music at a very low volume.

You and other family members can sit with your loved one and softly talk with them while holding their hand or with an arm around their shoulders. Someone should stay with your loved one through their very last breath.

For information about cremation services in Havana, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

One of the cremations services offered in Monticello, FL is help with packing and shipping cremation remains (cremains). After cremations are completed, the cremains may need to be packed and shipped to another location. This location could be a place that was special to the deceased or it could be back home where the deceased grew up and where their other family members are buried.

Funeral home directors handle the process of shipping human remains for burial somewhere else, but generally family members assume possession of cremains and are responsible for getting them where they need to be. But funeral directors can help make sure the cremains are packed correctly (in TSA-approved containers or a sturdy container for shipping by the U. S. Postal Service), which is one of the biggest issues people encounter when they are trying to ship cremains.

Most American domestic airlines will carry cremains. Carrying cremains could refer to a person who is taking the cremains with them to a specific place or it could refer to the cremains being shipped as air cargo. When shipping cremains by air, the container with the cremains in it. It must be security friendly. Because the contents of the container must be completely visible when scanned for TSA approval, they must be very thin-walled and lightweight urns that are made with wood or plastic.

Be sure to tell the funeral home director that you intend to ship the cremains by air and they will make sure that you get a TSA-approved container for the cremains.

If the cremains are not in a security friendly container, the TSA will not allow it to pass through security. If their scanners can’t see the contents of the container, they can’t let the container on a plane. You can save yourself a lot of time, money, and extra grief by making sure that you get the right kind of container when the cremains are returned to you by the funeral home.

Be sure that the airline you select will carry cremains. Go to the airline’s website. If there is no information on it about shipping cremains, contact the airline to find out what its policy is before you arrive at the airport with your container of cremains.

It’s important to have original signed versions of all documents that are relevant. These would include a certified death certificate, the cremation authorization form, the cremains receipt, and the authority of the authorizing agent form.

The only legal way in America to ship cremains domestically or internationally is by using the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). No other private shipping companies will knowingly accept or transport cremains.

For USPS shipment, the cremains must be packaged in a strong, durable container. Every domestic cremains shipment is done using USPS Priority Mail Express. International cremains shipments are done with USPS Priority Mail Express International Service. The only restriction on international shipments is that receipt of cremains must be accepted by the country they are being shipped to.

All cremains that are shipped using USPS must have a Label 139 sticker. This sticker makes it easier for mail handlers to know that the contents inside are cremains. The sticker should be affixed to the package beside to the shipping address.

If you’d like information about cremations services in Monticello, FL, talk with our knowledgeable and compassionate team at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations for guidance.