Guide to Choosing a Funeral Mortuary
A funeral mortuary is a building or facility that is used to store corpses that are waiting to be identified. It also provides services for autopsy, burial and cremation as well as any other ritual to handle the dead. The mortuary is typically equipped to keep corpses for a significant period and prevent decomposition.
Funeral parlour vs. funeral mortuary
The funeral parlour is sometimes mistaken for funeral mortuary because they are perceived to work in practically the same way. While a funeral parlour works to provide services for the deceased such as organizing the funeral service and the paperwork, a mortuary’s functions are much more extensive. It is equipped to handle corpses for a longer period. A funeral mortuary uses cold chambers in order to store bodies. It also provides an extnsive range of services just like the funeral parlour although a mortuary’s main function is to handle the dead while the funeral parlour makes the arrangements for burial and the like.
In essence, a funeral mortuary is a sort of executor for the arrangements that the funeral parlour will make. For instance, if you want your dead to be cremated rather than buried, the mortuary will have the right kind of equipment for the task.
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Cold chambers
As earlier mentioned a mortuary’s primary function is to be a holding facility for corpses until the family identifies them and makes arrangements on what to do with the remains of their relative. As such, funeral mortuaries have cold chambers where they store the dead and keep them from decomposing.
There are two types of cold chambers: positive and the negative temperature chambers. The former is a type of chamber that keeps the bodies between 2˚ to 4˚ Celsius. It is capable of holding the body for several weeks as decomposition continues albeit at a slower rate. On the other hand, a negative temperature cold chamber stores bodies at -15˚ to -25˚ Celsius. This is a facility that is used in forensic institutes especially when no one has identified the body as yet. In a negative temperature cold chamber, the body is completely frozen so that decomposition is also stopped.
Choosing a mortuary
A lot goes into the right choice of funeral mortuary. Because funeral services are mostly provided within the facility (that is, the body stays there until it is buried or cremated), it is logical for families to go for a mortuary located close to their residences. You can choose to perform certain parts of the funeral such as viewings at home but you’re going to need to coordinate with a funeral parlour for that.
It’s also a good idea to opt for a funeral mortuary that offers extensive services beyond handling the deceased. Because this is a difficult time for you, make sure to go with a facility that can handle practically every technical part of the funeral for you such as paperwork, permits and arrangements for burial or cremation. In this way, you can just spend the time grieving for your loss and paying your last respects to the dead.