Voices from the Front Lines: How we coped with Covid-19 deaths as funeral professionals
Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors' Covid-19 care team moving a casket into a hearse. (From left) Senior embalmer Danilo S Bautista, deputy chairman Ang Ziqian and funeral associate Kwek Yui Wei.
As the fight against Covid-19 will be a long-drawn one, TODAY’s Voices section hopes to shine a light on the triumphs and struggles of Singapore’s front-line workers by publishing their first-hand accounts.
In this instalment of Voices from the Front Lines, Mr Ang Ziqian of Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors writes of the anxiety felt by his family of funeral professionals when news of the first Covid-19 case emerged in Singapore early this year.
Society can be inequitable.
Honour, recognition, gold medals, front-page stories always go to the winners.
Those who try their best but end up in the middle or last simply bow their heads and walk away.
The funeral profession is a case in point.
Right now, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is the doctors, nurses and healthcare workers who are seen as the “first responders”.
Don’t get me wrong. They deserve the accolades, as they are at the forefront of our fight against an unseen enemy.
Funeral professionals are the “last responders” in crises like these.
When news of the first Covid-19 case in Singapore broke on Jan 23, my family was celebrating my dad’s birthday.
My father, brother and I looked at one another across the dining table and nodded in acceptance.
We are third- and fourth-generation members in a family of funeral professionals.
There was anxiety in our eyes. The fears of what we endured during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak of 2003 returned.
I knew then that life in the coming months would not be the same.
But, this time, we had the benefit of experience. The experience from Sars taught me to manage the morale and eradicate the fears of my colleagues, and activate our business continuity plan.
When Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors handled our first Sars case back then, some ex-staff members said they would quit if they had to handle such cases.
The morale was low because of fear and inadequate preparations across the nation.
We were ready this time around, but still faced challenges.
Increasing our stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) was an uphill task, as priority went to healthcare workers and not to us in the funeral trade.
We immediately set up a dedicated care team to manage Covid-19 deaths. This was to ensure that the rest of our colleagues could continue serving other grieving families. The intention is to limit the risk of infection.
When we handled our first Covid-19 case, my brother, who is the general manager, managed the coordination among the hospital, crematorium and family to ensure everything ran like clockwork.
Our staff members, wearing PPE, received the deceased for transfer to the crematorium.
The grieving family was informed of the new rules governing wakes and funerals. These included having no more than 10 persons (20 persons from June 19) in attendance.
It is in situations like these that I not only see but feel the pain of families losing a loved one. They told me how they hurt in not being able to see and touch their loved one on the final journey.
This reinforced the importance of funerals to families and society.
Grief is reduced when a community comes together to support a family facing a loss. Pandemics like Covid-19 impede the balm that wakes and funerals provide to grieving families.
As last responders, funeral professionals must soldier on for the community.
ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mr Ang Ziqian, 39, is deputy chairman of Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors and chairman of Ang Chin Moh Foundation.
If you are on the front lines of the Covid-19 outbreak or know someone who wishes to contribute to this series, write to voices [at] mediacorp.com.sg with your full name, address and phone number.
