For anyone, dying is never an enjoyable experience. Time allows us to relive both good and unhappy
memories we have had with our departed loved ones. We find it extremely difficult to deal with death
and to organize a memorial ceremony. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family if you are
grieving and organizing a memorial ceremony. May God's peace surround you and yours.
Organizing a Funeral
Handling the Remains Following Death
First off, the government-affiliated funeral home will retrieve the body rather than the family if the
loved one passed away in the hospital. Whether or not the family plans the memorial ceremony at the
same funeral facility will be up to them. They might also decide to utilize a different funeral home. If so,
the funeral home that the government contracted will arrange for the body to be transferred to the
funeral home of your choice. Naturally, there will be a cost for them to carry the body from the hospital
and for storage. There is no fee for using Lee Mason Funeral Home to store or retrieve the body.
Handling the Remains in the Event of a Death at Home
The planning process will be put on hold if the deceased passes away at home because an autopsy is
required. To report the death, you will first contact the police. The corpse will be sent to the funeral
home contracted by the government if the police are investigating the death as a potential homicide or
suspect foul play. They will arrange for an autopsy to be performed there. The family may hire a private
coroner if the autopsy is taking longer than expected, depending on the specified time.
The police must be called if the deceased passed away at home while receiving medical attention within
three months of passing away; in this instance, though, they will authorize the family to take the body to
the funeral home of their choice. For the family to be able to record the death, the attending physician
provides a certificate of death or cause of death. This is carried out at RGD. They are about to issue a
Burial Order, often known as "The Pink paper." After that, you take this burial order to the funeral home
of your choosing to start organizing the memorial service.
It's difficult to register a loved one's death. The Registrar General Department's (RGD) website provides
this service information: https://jis.gov.jm/information/faqs/obtaining-a-death-certificate/
To file for an official death certificate in either scenario—at home or in a hospital—you will need the
attending physician's signed certificate of death.
There will undoubtedly be an autopsy if the death was due to an accident, and government funeral
homes and the body are handled according to protocol. The government pathologist's availability or the
family's decision to hire a private pathologist may affect the autopsy's scheduled timing. This will
expedite the process of approaching the memorial service plans. Naturally, the police will be there, so
proceeding with the memorial ceremony arrangements will rely on their directives.
Handling the Body Transfer from the Government-Contracted Funeral Home to the Funeral Home of
Your Choice
If, after following all the procedures, the family decides to transfer the body to a funeral home of their
choosing rather than the one contracted by the government, the police will once more need to be
involved. They must sign a copy of the cause of death and provide the family with a release letter. The
funeral home that the government contracted to handle this is then notified, and they will be pleased to
release the body to the funeral home of your choosing. There will be fees for body storage if it takes
more than 48 hours to obtain the police's signed copy of the cause of death and the release letter.
The police will turn over the body to the funeral home of the family's choice if the deceased passed
away at home while receiving medical attention three months earlier. To declare the deceased
individual deceased, the funeral home must transport the body to the closest hospital in your
community. After that, you can start organizing the memorial service.
Taking Church Matters Seriously
The majority of Jamaicans belong to a church or denomination. Planning a memorial ceremony for a
loved one who has passed away will therefore be religious in nature. Since every religion has a particular
way that they want their services to be conducted, family members typically ask the pastor or deacon
for advice.
Selecting Between Cremation and Full Burial
Storage is free of charge for a complete burial. The funeral home will assist you in selecting one of the
several packages. These include the color and style of the caskets, the number of programs, flower
arrangements, and extras like buttons and bookmarks. Radio announcements, Gleaner announcements,
and cemetery selection are also included in the different packages. The cemetery varies according to
where you are. If it's a commercial cemetery, like Meadow Rest or Dovecot, you can choose between a
single and double vault. For the person for whom you are doing the memorial service, there is only one
vault. Should you so desire, you can acquire a cheap double vault that can be utilized for any additional
departed loved one.
Additionally, there are no storage fees associated with a cremation. If you would like, the funeral home
will make arrangements for you to rent a casket for the memorial service. You also have the option to
have the body burned and the remains arranged in an urn. The remains will be packaged for you in the
urn of your choice, which you can select. The other arrangements are the same as previously stated, but
keep in mind that an urn's plot is significantly less expensive than a full coffin.
If the deceased person's family chooses to have their loved one cremated, there are legal requirements
that must be followed. Getting the Pink Paper is the following step after obtaining the cause of death
certificate from the coroner or doctor, if an autopsy was performed. The funeral home of your choice
will provide you with an official paperwork to be signed by a JP, or Justice of the Peace, along with a
family member and a doctor once you receive the Pink Paper. Following this, the funeral home will
deliver all necessary paperwork to the local police department in your neighborhood so they may
approve the cremation. Typically, this procedure requires one to three days, contingent upon the
families' pressing need for the service.
Keep in mind that most Jamaican families have a guest traveling from abroad who only has a limited
amount of time to attend the funeral ceremony. Thus, in these situations, time is of the essential.
Requesting a Government Death Grant
The deceased must have been a pensioner and receiving a government pension or had NIS withheld
from their wages in order to be eligible to apply for this government benefit. The funeral home must
first provide you with an invoice for the cost of the funeral, which you must present to the local NIS
office together with the pink paper or burial order. It only takes a few minutes to apply. It can take up to
three months for you to get the check. You must turn in all unused pension books if the deceased was
getting a government pension. This will make it easier for the NIS office to determine how much benefit
should be paid. Before the final check is issued, the family's usage of any pension vouchers that date
after the death will be deducted.
The funeral home of your choosing will provide you with a list of instructions for your loved one's
preparation after the official planning is completed. The clothing you want buried with them will be
listed. In addition, they will request the person's preferred perfume, talcum powder, shoes or slippers, a
headpiece (if desired), gloves, and possibly cosmetics if they used it. For guys, all you need is a simple
suit, gloves, and shoes if you want them. These are contingent upon the family and take into account
the list. The list is actually determined by the person's sex.
Funeral Homes' Extra Services
In Jamaica, funeral homes often inquire about the type of vehicle that will be required to transport the
body to the church and cemetery from the family member arranging the memorial service. A glass
carriage, a horse-drawn carriage, a standard hearse, or a limousine-style hearse are just a few of the
requests that family members might make. Another option is to have the loved one's favorite music
played at the service, whether it be modern, religious, or both. After the memorial service, this is done
while the body is being taken to the church and cemetery.
In summary
The funeral home of your choice will choose the details of the burial and funeral plans described in the
content above. Regarding how to handle a death at home and whether to cremate the body, the advice
is the same in Jamaica's 14 parishes.
