Dignity Required

Thanks for posting. Years ago, a family of 5 died in a tragic accident... the medical examiner (bid type) transporter had one hearse. The TV news crews were standing by in town when the bodies were being transported back from the Medical Examiner's office... on film, it caught a nice white 1983 Collins, and right behind it, a white pickup truck with a camper cover. It was never identified as such, and the public likely didn't notice it, but all local FD's did... it was being used to transport also...
 
I agree that it isn't very professional in apprearance, but what is really the difference between a half ton pickup and a half ton plain-Jane cargo van?? There really isn't anything "dignified" about a cargo van and they are both trucks. With many first-call vans, the average indididual wouldn't have any idea if it belonged to a plumber or a funeral home.
 
I am not defending this F.D.'s decision to use his personal pickup as a first-call vehicle. I am simply stating my surprise in what many funeral homes will use for a first-call vehicle, especially in larger cities. There is nothing at all dignified about a stock half-ton cargo van with nothing more than stretcher hooks in the rear.
 
The county medical examiners office here in King County WA (Seattle) uses Ford or Chevy Pickups with a canopy on the back (No wondows in canopy) for their removal vehicles.. Most funeral homes here use mini vans.
 
We use a suburban and a mini van for first calls. The mini van doubles as the managers take home vehicle. If the suburban is out of service, I use the coach
 
All of this talk made me think of the fantastic beginning of "Night Shift", with that '74 headed to the Medical Examiner's office... with the Quarterflash song...
 

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will at least it was covered. but not the way you would want a love one to go out the door.
but I did have a uncle that made his last ride after the service from Arlington to Reva texas in the back of his favorite pickup truck. fishing rods in hand.

one of the people that worked for Him at the Hospital thought that it was illegal and improper for the boys to take Doc to his grave that way. so she called the law on them. she got told that as long as they had the proper paper work for transporting human remains with them they could prop him up in the seat if they wanted to.

of course Doc was secured in the coffin and it was secured in the bed for his 1000 mile trip to his final resting place and the family was able to carry out his final requests. that of course is the key it was his wished he was handled that way.
 
John ED Renstrom said:
as long as they had the proper paper work for transporting human remains with them they could prop him up in the seat if they wanted to.

very true ....as far as I know we can use anything we want from our coach, mini van to our new Lincoln SUV.

I still think the F.H. should have at least rented a mini van for the day and not use the P/U

I wonder if the pick up had the funeral home name on it ??
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We have two mini vans for removals and use to take flowers and equipment to the church for the funeral. Usually one of the vans is available. If not we will use the coach. If all the vehicles are busy there is a contract removal service in our area that uses mini vans that we will call.
 
I worked for many years as a nurse's aid and I always walked out with the ones that passed on my shift. Most of them I grew close to and it gave me a moment to reflect. I only had one home that Sean a hearse everytime, but several times these bodies were loaded into rusted out suv's or beat up cargo vans. There were a few homes that had proper removal vehicle. I'm old school in thought so I love the vinyl tops and landau bars. The worst one was a rotted out SUV pulling a bass boat. We had to unhook the boat to get the body in. He told me he would put the coolers and tac boxes the boat after I went in. I looked out and he tossed everything in the window. I know this is a bit off topic, but in that job I truly felt there was no dignity in death anymore. Bring back the proper first call cars and flower cars and I'd love it.
 
When I worked for the funeral home, we had a 73 Chevy Suburban that doubled as a flower car we did removals with. They later traded that in for a 77 Pontiac Grand Safari station wagon. The Suburban was a much better vehicle. The wagon had a clearance issue when transporting shipping containers. When used as a discount coach you couldn't put the spray on top. The suburban was much more utilitarian and still looked sharp.
 
We ran the removal service from the ambulance service I worked for and when they sold it we worked for the buyer,always had station wagons,also helped out with flower deliveries to the cemeteries,and rule #1 always wear a suit with tie included, even on coroners calls, boss said respect is the least we can give them,
 
the only time I ever got involved with a home and removals was right after Tom sold McCallies home here in town. we as the first responders on the scene would till then make a call and rather then rather then leave the person waiting he would authorise us to transport the body to the Home. we had a key and he would reimburse us the load fee and mileage.

after the home was sold the new management wanted to do there own. the one incident I was at we waited at the scene for them to show and they were prompt came with the Hearse dressed in there funeral home work attire showed respect and compassion as they removed the body. we as a volunteer service were of course out anything for the run.
 
Its our company policy that we wear a suit and tie and and dress coat ( black suit and white shirt) when doing any removal's even the messy ones !
 
Keith Snyder said:
A certain degree of dignity is required when transporting the deceased....and this is certainly not attained by using a pick-up truck! QUOTE]

Now I've seen SUV hearses, Minivan Hearses, Bus Hearses, I'm not sure I've actually seen a PickUp truck hearse before, but I just came across this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-Volksw...380?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b9512f8c

a 1994 Volkswagen Pick-Up Hearse

What do you guys think?

And just out of curiosity, the PCS does not recognize minivans, SUVs or pickups like this as professional cars do they? Would they be allowed on the showfield at PCS meets?
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Ive seen these before, and other pickup based hearses, after all its not "new" this ad is over 20 years old.
Yes, the PCS recognizes SUV, Mini van and similar as a pro car since they are built from passenger car or light truck chassis.
 
That VW ad was a domestic German piece. Funeral service is quite different in Europe and often times removals are made from different countries - so...they many times use speial vehicles for lengthy road trips. This is not necessarily a first-line coach but, as the ad implies, a funeral service utility vehcle.
 
The question of what constitutes a dignified funeral service also differs from culture to culture. For approximately 80 years, the Germans also felt that carrying the deceased in a trailer was completely appropriate.

And here's a vehicle to possibly blur the line between dignified coach and van/SUV. This 1977 Lincoln hearse was a homemade creation. Although built from a 1977 Lincoln, it wasn't converted into a hearse until 1985. The top half of the casket compartment and the rear door is a Chrysler minivan body mated to the Lincoln lower body.
 

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