President's Message
Winter is behind us and spring fever is here with a fresh start to a new season and of course, baseball.
I would like thank Kim McGuiness, our Director of Finance & Administration, and the audit committee for all of their hard work meeting and reviewing the draft audits of NYSFDA and its subsidiaries presented by the Bonadio group. I am happy to report that all entities received a clean audit.
The members of the Workforce Committee worked and deliberated passionately for many hours on the workforce issue to come up with recommendations to assist with the current shortage of licensed funeral directors throughout the state, always keeping the best interest of the members in mind and at the same time working to protect the integrity of our license. I truly believe this Committee’s hard work has accomplished that.
During the March meeting, the Committee’s recommendations were presented and accepted by the board unanimously. For the past several years the Board’s discussions regarding this topic have been very dynamic so I encourage everyone to keep an open mind when reviewing the recommendations.
The first recommendation is to amend Health Regulation 77.7 by enhancing the definition of how a licensed funeral director can fulfill his/her responsibilities when it comes to overseeing removals. The main revision required will be to a funeral director’s duty to “be present” and “personally supervise” a removal as set forth in NYS Health Regulation 77.7(a)(1). The regulation in section 77.7(f) already authorizes the use of a ‘mere transporter’ who does not have to be a licensed funeral director to transfer a decedent from place of death to the funeral home. The concept would include creating a new permit, through EDRS/DAVE, solely for transfers/removals that a licensed funeral director creates. The permit would provide the authorization for an unlicensed transporter to perform the removal/transfer. The area of focus is on transportation from the place of death to funeral home.
The second recommendation is to explore developing business models for both expanding trade service and creating an on-call sharing service across the state. This concept would include NYSFDA seeking both private and public partners (i.e., Chambers of Commerce, NYS Empire State Development Corporation) to help with new start up trade service companies. In addition, NYSFDA will work to create toolkits, best practices, and guidelines for incorporating and starting a trade service or on-call sharing service and educational/networking forums to facilitate and encourage these new services to form across the state.
The final recommendation is to authorize students to supervise removals and transfers. The goal is to provide students with additional ‘hands on’ practical experience via supervising removals while on the path to becoming a licensed funeral director. NYSFDA will reach out to the Bureau/DOH and NYS mortuary science colleges to discuss the concept and its implementation.
The officers and our Executive Director will meet with Tom Fuller to discuss the regulatory changes. We will report back to the membership to let you know the Bureau’s thoughts regarding the recommendations and next steps.
Finally, the Bridge Commission met to finalize Student Day. They have developed a strong program with educational workshops; a Q&A period designed to prepare the students for an early career as a funeral director which will allow them to connect with fellow students and funeral directors from across the state. I am looking forward to meeting and spending the day with our future funeral directors.
In closing I would like to wish everyone a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter.
Respectfully,
Bob