Frequent Questions | Warren's Funeral Home | Swift Current SK funeral home and cremation

Click on the questions below to reveal each respective answer.

Why have a Funeral?

Funerals fill an important role for those mourning the loss of a loved one. By providing surviving family and friends with an atmosphere of care and support in which to share thoughts and feelings about death, funerals are the first step in the healing process. It is the traditional way to recognize the finality of death. Funerals are recognized rituals for the living to show their respect for the dead and to help survivors begin the grieving process.

You can have a full funeral service even for those choosing cremation. Planning a personalized ceremony or service will help begin the healing process. Overcoming the pain is never easy, but a meaningful funeral or tribute will help.

What does a Funeral Director do?

Helping others cope with the emotional upheaval of a major loss is a funeral director’s most important job but beyond their supportive nature, they are also required to take care of all the logistics concerning the funeral service. From the moment of first contact, funeral directors and their supportive staff are dedicated to serving your family in a time of need on a 24 hour basis.

This begins with the initial contact of arranging transportation of your loved one into our care, no matter if it is day or night. We also ensure that the appropriate documentation is completed along with this transfer.

When the family meets with us for arrangements, the funeral director will guide you through the decision making process of how you best want to honour your loved one. We then act on your behalf in contacting the applicable service providers such as the church, clergy, musicians, hall, caterer, and cemetery. We also proceed in preparing the necessary supplies that will be needed for the service such as the casket / urn, items of personalization (casket corners, plaques, jewellery, photo enlargements, floral arrangements, candles, slideshows, recorded music, memorabilia), stationary, guest book, and monuments (both lettering and installation). We will also prepare notifications to be placed in the town. An obituary notice will also be placed on our website and can also be placed with newspapers of the families choosing

We also prepare your loved one for their final disposition. All individuals are treated with respect and we proceed with bathing, dressing, hairstyling and placing the individual in the selected casket. Pending the disposition choice, embalming and cosmetics will take place and / or transfer to the crematorium.

We complete the applicable paperwork; notifying Canada Pension Plan, receiving the death certificate, registering the death with Vital Statistics, submitting the Burial Permits, providing an estimate, submitting payment and honorariums to applicable facilities and individuals, assistance in completing Canada Pension Plan Death Benefit, as well as Survivorship Benefit if applicable and providing a final bill of expenses

What do I do when a death occurs?

The funeral home will help coordinate funeral arrangements, please contact them as soon as you are able.

Bring the following information to complete the vital statistic requirements:

~Birth Date

~Birthplace

~Father's Name

~Mother's Name

~Social Insurance Number

~Education

~Marital Status

We will help you with contacting your clergy. Deciding on time and place of funeral or memorial service. This can be done at the funeral home, church or event space of your choice.

The funeral home will assist you in determining the correct documentation you will need to assist you with executing the estate.

Make a list of immediate family, close friends and employer or business colleagues.

Decide on appropriate memorial to which gifts may be made (church, hospice, library, charity or school).

Gather obituary information you want to include such as age, place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degrees, memberships held, military service , outstanding work, list of survivors in immediate family. Include time and place of services. The funeral home will normally write article and submit to newspapers (newspaper will accept picture and they will be returned intact).

Arrange for members of family or close friends to take turns answering door or phone, keeping careful record of calls.

When I call, will someone come right away?

If you request immediate assistance, yes. If the family wishes to spend a short time with the deceased to say good-bye, that’s perfectly acceptable. Your funeral director will come when your time is right.

Why have a public viewing?

Viewing is a part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing aids the grief process by helping the bereaved recognize the reality of death. Viewing is encouraged for children, as long as the process is explained and the activity is voluntary.

What is the purpose of embalming?

Embalming sanitizes and preserves the body. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.

Why are funerals so expensive?

When compared to other major life events like births and weddings, funerals are not expensive. A wedding costs at least three times as much; but because it is a happy event, wedding costs are rarely criticized. A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing rooms, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.), these expenses must be factored into the cost of a funeral.

Additionally, the cost of a funeral includes not only merchandise, like caskets, but the services of a funeral director in making arrangements; filing appropriate forms; dealing with doctors, ministers, florists, newspapers and others; and seeing to all the necessary details. Funeral directors look upon their profession as a service, but it is also a business. Like any business, funeral homes must make a profit to exist.

Do I have to make different funeral arrangements if I choose cremation?

It really depends entirely on how you wish to commemorate a life. One of the advantages of cremation is that it provides you with increased flexibility when you make your funeral and cemetery arrangements. You might, for example, choose to have a funeral service before the cremation; a memorial service at the time of cremation or after the cremation with the urn present; or a committal service at the final disposition of cremated remains. Funeral or memorial services can be held in a place of worship, a funeral home or in a crematory chapel.

What is memorialization for a cremation?

You might choose ground burial of the urn. If so, you may usually choose either a bronze memorial or monument. Cremation niches in columbariums are also available at many cemeteries. They offer the beauty of a mausoleum setting with the benefits of above ground placement of remains. Many cemeteries also offer scattering gardens. This area of a cemetery offers the peacefulness of a serene garden where family and friends can come and reflect.

Can we scatter the cremated remains?

If you wish to have your ashes scattered somewhere, it is important to discuss your wishes to be scattered ahead of time with the person or persons who will actually have to do the cremation ashes scattering ceremony, as they might want to let your funeral professional assist in the scattering ceremony. Funeral directors can also be very helpful in creating a meaningful and personal ash scattering ceremony that they will customize to fit your families specific desires. The services can be as formal or informal as you like. Scattering services can also be public or private. Again, it is advisable to check for local regulations regarding scattering in a public place-your funeral director can help you with this.

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