Funeral Services
Claudia Windal became a licensed funeral director in 2006 with the intention of serving those who required financial assistance (mainly our Native American individuals and families). Funeral law (dictated by the MN Department of Health) created many barriers for me as I attempted to comply with expensive requirements and eventually, I began to refer families to several funeral directors who would charge reasonably and/or accept county funeral funding.
Minnesota Funeral Law is soon to Change (we hope and pray). Several of us worked with the MN Institute for Justice to change the law that requires all funeral homes to have embalming rooms (the cost to build and supply an embalming room is easily over $20,000. The judge is considering his response to us which should be forth coming by October.
In this interim, my colleague, Helen Williams, who works primarily with the local African American communities, and I have focused on boundaries laid out within a document called “Choices.†MN has made adaptations to the funeral rule that allow family members to care more for their loved one and lessens the need for a licensed funeral director.
We work with many folks who are from out of state and want the deceased returned to their home towns. We do not have the funds to assist them with travel. Presently, we are in conversation with Camping World staff in Madison, WI regarding the designing of a motorhome that would accommodate both the deceased an six family members. Our stops would be fewer since the motorhome would have restroom, kitchen with large refrigerator, and room to move about a bit. There are several possibilities in design….all would lengthen the motorhome some with 30 feet being the expected necessary length. Rollers such as used in traditional hearses would be installed and the “compartment†finished simply and respectfully.
We are interested in responses from any one reading this letter. Should you have ideas and/or experience in motorhome design…..or extra cash to make a donation to our project……and/or simply good words to sustain us….we would be appreciative.