What To Do When Death Occurs
Losing a loved one can be one of the most traumatic events in one's life and therefore it is important to understand what to do when death occurs. We are here to help you tackle the choices one by one and make the process one of love, healing, and life celebration.
Need Immediate Assistance? Call Us Today: (814) 864-4864
When death occurs it is likely it will occur at one of the four following places:
Hospital
Should death occur at a hospital you may be asked to call us or the hospital may offer to call us. In any case we will go to the hospital after all clearances have been given by hospital officials to bring the deceased back to our funeral home no matter the hour.
Nursing Home
When death occurs at a nursing home, personal care facility, or acute care center their staff will notify family and will also typically notify the funeral home as to when we can go to the facility and transport your loved one back to our funeral home.
Residence
When death occurs at a residence and the deceased individual is under hospice and/or doctor's care they will often make the call to our funeral home on your behalf. If no hospice member is present the family may need to call and notify the funeral home.
Should an individual die suddenly at or around home it is best to call us immediately and we can help you determine if we need to notify the county coroner. Typically, the coroner will investigate all deaths that were unexpected or where the person was not under a doctor's care. It will be at the discretion of the coroner if an autopsy would be ordered.
Non-Facility or Residence Death
If death occurs away from home or a nursing facility it is important to call the local police who would investigate the death along with the county coroner. The police and coroner would then inform us at the funeral home as to where and when we would be able to bring the deceased back to the funeral home.
Death Away From Home
When death occurs unexpectedly away from home call Brugger Funeral Homes & Crematory immediately and we will assist you any way we can in bringing your loved one back to Pennsylvania.
What to do immediately:
Online Arrangements and Cost Estimator
Brugger Funeral Homes & Crematory now offers Online Arrangments and Estimator. You can now pre-plan your cremation, or plan for immediate services in the event of a sudden or unexpected death. Planning your cremation online can be done from anywhere, at any time. To start planning cremation services, click here.
Call Brugger Funeral Homes
Call Brugger Funeral Homes & Crematory immediately at (814) 864-4864 or (814) 825-2500 anytime of the day or night. Typically, it is not necessary to contact an out of state or out of the country funeral director. By contacting us first we will contact one of our many agents throughout the United States or world to assist us in transporting your loved one back to the Erie area. This method saves your family money as we have negotiated prices with firms in our funeral director network versus calling a funeral home on your own. You will then be asked to provide us with basic information for your loved one so that the funeral home out of town can properly prepare death certificates and burial permits. Upon arrival in our area we will go over the final details as they relate to funeral services for the deceased.
Should you ever have any question as to how a death should be handled, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year at Brugger Funeral Homes & Crematory by calling us at (814) 864-4864 or (814) 825-2500.