Source: News Strait Times
Date: 1.5.2009
IT is an industry that is known by more than one name. Internationally, many refer to it as death care services. Locally, it's known as bereavement care.
That's the term used to encompass a broad growing service industry that provides for the funeral needs of a family.
This includes taking care of the funerary arrangements (including care of the dead) and providing other services to surviving family members.
While the topic of death still remains something of a taboo here, more and more Malaysians are planning for their departure so as to make life easier for the ones they leave behind.
A well-thought-out bereavement care approach can make the difference between a healing transition for a family that lost a loved one and a messy funeral that fractures an already grieving family.
For the bereavement care provider, there is a two-fold approach to their business. They take care of the deceased's final needs and make sure the surviving family's needs are not neglected.
For the Xiao En Group and the Xiao En Centre - a leading bereavement care provider for Buddhist, Taoist and Christian funeral needs - its role in bereavement care was a natural evolution from its initial creation and managing of the Nilai Memorial Park.
The Nilai Memorial Park, which opened in 1991, remains a groundbreaking development for modern memorial parks in Malaysia.
The project was a labour of love for Datuk Choo Ching Hwa, the late father of Frank Choo, managing director of the Xiao En Group and the Xiao En Centre.
Choo said they initially began by providing the final leg of bereavement care, which is the final burial arrangements.
"Customers who bought land at our site kept asking 'why don't you provide the funeral services as well?' So we did," he said.
It made perfect sense from both the customer and business perspective.
Instead of looking for two or three parties to fulfil one's funeral needs, it made better sense to have a one-stop centre that caters for everything.
The Xiao En Group, however, didn't jump in straight away.
"We entered into the industry one step at a time. We started by purchasing hearses while collaborating with those offering funeral services. We didn't operate as full-fledged funeral directors until we completed the Xiao En Centre building two years ago," said Choo.
"In Malaysia, many funeral arrangers only provide the basic needs of a funeral and not much else."
However, more and more Malaysians are becoming more sophisticated in what they expect from bereavement care.
Thus, as demand grew and became more complex, so did the centre's operations.
The work begins from the hospital, not long after a person has died.
"The family calls us when the death occurs and we assess the situation."
The centre takes into account aspects such as the deceased's faith and preferred dates for burials and services. This will, in turn, affect the embalming process and other funeral arrangements.
To cater for the varied needs of their customer base, Xiao En conducts extensive internal training to remain competitive.
That's where consultants like Jeff Chancellor come in.
Chancellor, a qualified embalmer, funeral director, crematory operator and certified Funeral Celebrant, sees a healthy trend in bereavement care in Malaysia.
He notes that Malaysians are becoming more aware of their needs and the benefits of planning bereavement care.
The training he conducts is multifaceted.
"It includes safety aspects - such as safe preparation of a body. This is the technical side of training."
There is also a human-relations aspect.
"We are dealing with multiple generations. When you sit down and meet with a family, you may have a 100-year-old grandmother, 50-year-old children and three-year-old grandchildren, all of whom have different needs."
So how does a bereavement care provider prepare to service those needs?
For Choo, this means extensive research.
"We do a lot of research on the cultural and religious aspects. Different religions have different needs," he said, adding that training for bereavement care providers includes studying the psychological aspects of grief.
"We also undertake crisis interventions with angry customers. Many have sleepless nights and are tired. As such, bereavement care providers need to understand the process of grief as well. We need to understand all the stages of grief, including denial and anger.
It's an ongoing learning process. Perhaps one good barometer for public acceptance of bereavement care is the number of young people now who seek careers in this industry.
"Those days, we could hardly find young people wanting to enter this business," said Choo.
He tells the story of a potential employee who, more than 10 years ago, accepted a position with their company only to decline the job when the family pressured him not to join the bereavement care industry.
When asked if he thinks the attitudes towards death have changed, he says there is a positive trend.
"People are beginning to understand what is it we are doing. Our young employees tell their friends about their jobs, and encourage them to join the industry."
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