James Forrest says the public's understanding of the Government's Covid-19 restrictions was "magnificent". Photo / Bevan Conley
James Forrest says the public's understanding of the Government's Covid-19 restrictions was "magnificent". Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui funeral directors went into uncharted territory when Covid-19 alert level 4 restrictions were announced last year, with technology often the only way to provide friends and families with a connection to funeral services.
A year on, people overseas are still not able to return home to say goodbye, meaningthose entrusted to provide a fitting funeral service are still using livestreams to connect people around the world.
Dempsey and Forrest funeral director James Forrest said 95 per cent of their funerals were now webcast, compared to around 10 per cent pre-lockdown.
"It's become a very powerful form of communication and people have really got their heads around it," Forrest said.
"It's amazing, and we've now managed to allow people to interact as well, whereas previously it was always just a one-way system.
"We had to come up with ways of making that as pleasant as possible for the family, whether that be by taking photos or driving past the family home.
"Grief brings out the best and worst in people and, thankfully, people were accepting of the Government's restrictions.
"Families were so understanding of the situation, it was magnificent."
A number of families had indicated they would have a second funeral service once lockdown restrictions had eased, Forrest said.
"I think as time has gone on it's harder for them to go through that second memorial service though, so they've left it as is.
"We have a service this Saturday for a family who lost a loved one during level 4, and they've decided to wait for the year anniversary to have a memorial service, which is lovely.
"We're all different though, and what's right for one person may not be right for the other."
Craig Cleveland, of Cleveland Funeral Home, said Covid-19 restrictions were "hard on everyone".
"We became pretty distressed, because we were used to being able to help people and put things in place," Cleveland said.
"When we went to level 4 there were to be no funerals, and there were to be no gatherings.
"We had a case of a 107-year-old, Whanganui's oldest resident, who died right in the middle of lockdown.
"The saddest thing about it was that even though her two sons were able to come and view in their family bubble, her own daughter was locked down internally at a rest home.
"When they had their family goodbye, which meant following us up to the crematorium, that's all, they weren't even able to be close to their sister.
"All those huge dynamics made us feel, in many ways, quite hopeless."
Craig and Laura Cleveland, of Cleveland Funeral Home. Photo / Bevan Conley
Cleveland said a large number of memorial services were held in May, when the country moved into alert level 2, but before that, memorial services were often almost entirely virtual.
"I had one funeral where I was the celebrant, Jonathon [Greenwell] was the funeral director, the casket was there with an empty chapel, and we were livestreaming a formal funeral service to 74 sites around the world.
"It was really a virtual funeral, and there were a lot of ways of reinventing how we did things."
Despite the hardships of a year ago, Cleveland said he always tried to look at the positives.
"Zoom and livestreaming are still used as a tool by huge amounts of people, even within Whanganui. There are a group of older people here who we used to see at funerals a lot, but they're still a little bit concerned about Covid-19, so they're joining us via livestream.
"Rest homes are opening up livestreams as well for residents and staff who can't make it to funeral services, so there has been some positive spinoffs from the challenges we faced.
"I think we're very lucky in Whanganui that we have a close community with a huge amount of support, and I think that sense of community has only grown stronger since lockdown."
