Helping Families Heal: The Role of Funeral Directors in Mass Tragedies Episode Transcript

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
Welcome to the Remembering a Life podcast. I'm your host, Holly Ignatowski. Today my guest is Tim Schramm, owner and CEO of how Peterson Funeral Home in Taylor and Dearborn, Michigan. Tim has worked in funeral service for 35 years and in his capacity as a funeral director, he also serves as a commander of the Michigan Mortuary Response Team, a multi-professional cross-agency group established to address mass fatality incidents. And that's where our conversation today will begin. Welcome, Tim, and thank you so much for joining me.

TIM SCHRAMM:
I thank you Holly, and thank you for the opportunity to join you. I'm looking forward to it.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
Tim, let's start with a definition. What is the Michigan Mortuary Response Team and what do they do?

TIM SCHRAMM:
So my mart Michigan Mortuary Response team is, as you said, a multi-professional cross-agency group that assists local medical examiners in a mass fatality incident that they feel they need additional assistance in. And we have multiple sections and teams within our team itself from our command staff who meets on a monthly basis as we are always reviewing and updating our standard operating procedures. We do after action reports on every training, exercise or deployment, and we create improvement action plans following that AR. And so we're always working on those things every single month. And we're developing a future training in future exercises. So kind of that's what our command staff is responsible for. We also have dart our disaster assistance recovery team, and these are primarily law enforcement firefighters, medical examiner investigators that are out on a scene of a mass fatality incident of whatever that may be, our DPMU, our disaster portable morgue unit who we have a 5,000 square foot portable morgue that we can go and set up all of it or individual pieces of it that may be necessary to assist a local medical examiner.

Our morgue operations group, which is admitting and release person personal effects, photography, fingerprinting, pathology, radiology, anthropology, DNA and dental, and our Vic Mick, our victim information center and our morgue information center. And ultimately the VIC works on the antimortem side doing family interviews, capturing antimortem information, medical history, dental history in which then they can secure, whether it's medical radiographs, whether it's serial numbers of implants or dental X-rays that can all be used in positive identification in the mic. And that is all the information that is captured through morgue operations to create potential positive identifications for that local medical examiner in charge.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
So there are many other professions besides the funeral service profession involved in this local team. And I would imagine it's the same for the national. Tell us the difference between the local Michigan response team and the DMM mort, which I understand is the National response team.

TIM SCHRAMM:
Correct. And so realistically, you just defined it in your question, right? DMM Mort, which is the Disaster Mortuary Operations Response team, is responding to a federally declared disaster or emergency where our state team, my mort, is responding to a state emergency, a state disaster, or a local within our state, a local emergency. And so you're correct in the fact that both teams provide the same type of support for that local medical examiner that's in charge, but the difference being one is responding on a national level versus one responding on a state level. And so in the scenario of an airplane incident, so we take the Northwest 2 55 crash here at Detroit Metro Airport, the state team could respond to provide assistance to the local medical examiner in charge, but because it is also an NTSB issue, it could be a federal response and my mort would then be supporting the federal response or the DM mort team or vice versa. Right. The NTSB could say, okay, my mort's going to be the lead agency in this support, and DMM Mort will provide backfill or additional support as necessary.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
Tim, does every state have one of these response teams?

TIM SCHRAMM:
That's a great question, Holly. So the simple answer is no. It is a federal requirement. It has not been met across the country yet. There are a number of different state teams like Ohio, like Florida, there's some other state teams that are out there. I know South Carolina is working on getting a team standing up, but not every state does yet. But one of the things that I'm most proud of with our mior team from our inception to now, the HHS Health and Human Services has adopted the My Mort Standard operating procedures as the model for every state to use across the country.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
That is impressive. You had mentioned plane crash. What other kinds of mass fatality events does your local response team address?

TIM SCHRAMM:
So that really depends on the local medical examiner and their capabilities and the assistance that they may need. You take as a large incident, like a plane going down passenger plane, that is most medical examiners are going to need assistance with that type of surge. Now, there are smaller local medical examiner offices that, as an example, one of our ES in a couple of northern counties of the state of Michigan here has said to me if he had a single car accident that had five teenagers from five different families, that he would need assistance because he doesn't have the personnel to process an incident like that. And so he may need some personnel, he may need some equipment. It might not be that we have to stand the entire team up, but between team members and some of our assets, we could provide assistance and support for the situation. So there's no clear line of definition. It is really the local medical examiner needs assistance and they push that request up through their local emergency management.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
And how does this multi-agency response team all work together to help these families in these very difficult circumstances? I imagine it would have to be a very organized process.

TIM SCHRAMM:
In our opinion. It is. So again, that's why the standard operating procedures are so important to how our team can respond to support and assist in whatever the particular incident may be. So again, it's what are the needs, how can we provide that support and assistance, and how can we help those families be reunified with their loved ones so that they can move on to their local funeral home for viewing gathering ceremony and begin that journey along their way of grieving.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
And Tim, why did you choose to get involved with this line of work? Did you go through special training or did you have to have specific qualifications or certifications to actually work with the response team?

TIM SCHRAMM:
I guess first and foremost, why did I get involved is my passion as a funeral director is to help others. I think that's why those of us in funeral service, why we chose this profession is because we want to help others. And why get involved in this type of work with mass fatality responses? It's the same thing. I want to be able to help. I want to help others. I can sit home on the couch and watch it on the television, or I can make a decision to join in and to help. I want to make a difference in the lives of other people. The second part of the question, special training specific qualifications. Absolutely. So first and foremost, every team member has to complete required FEMA courses in incident command structure, just so they understand the standardized response that is used by local fire departments, county sheriffs, local pd, local medical examiners, local emergency management, state emergency management, federal emergency management.
It all uses the same ICS system, incident command structure. And so you take classes to understand that, and then individual sections have specific trainings to complete. So as an example, on the federal level, as a member of NDMS, the National Disaster Medical System and D Mort, the Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team, I have required online courses that I have to complete on an annual basis. And in-person training that happens on an annual or biannual basis depending upon budgeting. And on the state side, same type thing. We do individual team or section trainings generally over a two year period. And then the third year we do some sort of either full scale exercise or full scale functional exercise to provide the training requirements for our team members and then certainly individual professions that are within the team that have required continuing education for their professional licensure, their academic accreditation, those types of things. So just as an example, forensic dental team just two weeks ago did their annual required training for all of their team members. It's a constant process that's going on.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
And I understand that you were recently deployed to Hawaii following the devastating wildfires there on Maui. How did a Michigan professional from their response team end up being dispatched to Hawaii? And what was your role there?

TIM SCHRAMM:
I was not dispatched as a My Mort member. I am A-N-D-M-S and National Disaster Medical System and D Mort, the Federal Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team. I'm a victim advocate. I'm avic team member for both of those agencies. And so DM Mort was activated as a federally emergency to supply support and assistance for the local medical examiner in Maui. Maui is a county. The island itself is a county, and the county medical examiner requested assistance based upon this was declared a federal emergency. And so my role with Vic in d Mort is to conduct family interviews where we gather antimortem information that is before death. So one statistical information that's going to be required for death certificates, two personal identifiers, height, weight, eye color, hair color, facial hair, piercings, tattoos, those types of things. And then a medical history and a dental history. And as a victim advocate, we will work with local hospitals to obtain radiographs that our radiology team, anthropology team and the medical examiner can use towards positive identification.

We'll also work with local dentists to get dental radiographs again, in which our dental team and the medical examiner can use as an identifier. We'll get medical history if there's been a surgical implant, like a knee as an example, or a pacemaker is another great example. They have unique serial numbers that can be used as identifiers. And so capturing that information on the antimortem side and matching it with information that is captured on the postmortem side through morgue operations in the morgue information center, we can create positive potential matches and identification for the medical examiner to certify the positive identification of the recovered remains.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
And you mentioned that you did meet directly with families there, so in addition to being a funeral director, I would imagine you need to be a bit of a grief counselor as well.

TIM SCHRAMM:
Again, that's why oftentimes family interviewers with Team Vic on the national level or with our VIC on the state level, why funeral directors make great family interviewers because it is something that they do every day and they understand the grieving process is unique and different for every family. They understand the different emotions that could potentially be brought up in that interview process. And again, as an example, medical examiner investigators also make great family interviewers because again, they understand those types of instances with the grief, the emotion that is involved. They just, between MEs and FDs, they make really good family interviewers because it's something they do day in and day out.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
This might be hard to distinguish, but what do you think is the most difficult part of doing this kind of work?

TIM SCHRAMM:
That's a great question. I'm not sure that I can say just one thing. So one, on a state level, my role is different than what it is on a federal level. So there's going to be two distinct answers there. From a state level, from being commander of the mass fatality response team here in Michigan, there's multiple challenges and every deployment is different. Any exercise is different, every training is different. So there's different things there. On a national level, as a victim advocate, you're impacted by family stories. There are families that I worked with when I was on Maui that I will never forget the rest of my life. They made such a profound impact on me. And again, I'm trying to make a difference for them, but they have made such a profound impact on me that I will never forget them. And so is that difficult?
Very much. But it's also one of the most rewarding things to have that family want to give you a hug to say thank you at the end of our time together. It is incredibly rewarding, but it's difficult too because you care for that family. You empathize with their story, you feel their emotion, and so that is difficult. But in the end, if they're in tears and I'm in tears, we've connected on an emotional level and we'll never forget one another. And to me, that's an amazing opportunity to have an impact on a family like that.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
You wear a lot of hats, Tim, and I would imagine being a funeral director in and of itself is very challenging. I can only imagine that being a part of an emergency response team like this, as you just said, is extremely taxing, both physically, mentally, emotionally. What motivates you to continue to do this work? What are the rewards,

TIM SCHRAMM:
As you said, right, mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting? We were in Maui, we were working 14 and a half hour days, seven days a week. So it's physically taxing. There were originally when we got on island, right, there were challenges with housing, with safe drinking water, with access to food. So all of those things physically, potentially taxing mentally, just the workload of trying to get the job done as quick as we can so we can provide those families with the opportunity to take the next steps in their grief journey and returning their loved one to them. And emotionally, certainly again, just emotionally connecting with families, emotionally understanding that they are, first of all, they're mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted, understanding their grief, their shock, their devastation. It takes a toll on you personally also if you are connecting that way. But on the opposite side, that's why I do it because I want to help other people. I want to make a difference in their life somehow, some way. And so it's an amazing honor and privilege to be there to just try and help in whatever way I can. And that's what motivates me. That's what drives me. That's why I'm willing to go and do that.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
Tim, where else have you been called to serve as a member of the Michigan Mortuary Response team?

TIM SCHRAMM:
My mort was deployed in April and May of 2020 for AC Ovid 19 mortgage surge capacity relief for what is Region two south here in southeast Michigan. Because of the surge of CO deaths, our local hospitals were experiencing challenges with their morgue capacity. And so we adopted our standard operating procedures to meet the needs of that local emergency was happening. And so we actually deployed for 28 days providing local hospitals with morgue surge capacity relief of covid positive decedents.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
Tim, you just talked about the physical, mental and emotional challenges of doing this job. How do you care for yourself while you're doing this type of work? Where is your support so that you can continue to do the work?

TIM SCHRAMM:
There's multiple prongs there. So first and foremost, how do I take care of myself? One, I am a firm believer in exercise. So I'm a guy that's in the gym when I'm home five to six days a week. That helps me to manage stress. I eat better, I sleep better, I feel better with those workouts. So if I'm on a deployment just getting some sort of daily exercise, and I have a routine that I do that, I don't need a gym, I don't need any specialized equipment or anything like that, but that gets me that daily workout because again, I physically and mentally I feel better. I manage stress better, I eat better too. We have behavioral health specialists on both teams, both on the federal level and on the state level. We have behavioral health specialists that are embedded with our team just looking after the care of the team themself, right?

Just check, Hey, how are you doing? I'm here if you need to talk to somebody. Hey, I see you were really emotional after you finished with that family. Why don't we go take 10 minutes and just sit down and talk about what you're feeling and how you're managing that. And certainly post-deployment resources, again, both teams on the state level and on federal level, post-deployment resources for team members, whether it's just information, Hey, here's something to read, or whether it's one-on-one counseling, we have those services that are available to us, again, both on a federal level and on a state level. So we have to look out for not only the physical wellbeing of our team members with our health and safety officers, but we have to look after their mental health with our behavioral health specialists.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
And finally, Tim, the question I ask all my guests, who are you remembering today?

TIM SCHRAMM:
So now you really want to evoke some emotion, don't you? Who do I remember? Quite honestly, every day. And his picture sits above me here on my desk. He's looking down on me right now, and that's my dad. I remember my dad every day. I hear his voice every day. I hear things come out of my mouth every day. That remind me of my dad. But I remember My dad, and my dad was a World War ii, Marine Corps veteran. He worked in the steel mill here in southwest Detroit. And for 30 years, my dad taught me hard work, discipline, accountability. He was never someone who lavished you with his words, his love, his praise or those types of things. But I always knew how much my dad loved me and how he cared so deeply about providing, in teaching all of my siblings, teaching us the value of hard work, of discipline, of accountability, of family, but played high school football, college football, blah, blah, blah, all of those types of things. And my dad was never one to say, I'm proud of you, but his oldest sister passed away. And I had the honor and privilege being the arranger, being the funeral director, and caring for my cousins, and caring for my aunt. And the one thing I'll never forget is my dad walking out of that room following my aunt's funeral and my dad walking up and giving me a hug and saying to me, I love you. I'm proud of who you are, and I'm so proud of what you do every day to help people. And that's it. I remember those words every day because then I know I'm making my dad proud every day by helping other people.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
Those are powerful words. Thank you, Tim, for sharing those memories of your dad and for joining me today and helping us to better understand the important work that you and your colleagues do when responding to mass fatality events. You have Shed a lot of light on the role funeral directors and other professionals play when helping families who've experienced the complicated death of a loved one in the most tragic of circumstances.

TIM SCHRAMM:
Thank you, Holly. It's an honor and a privilege to be with you today and again, certainly an honor and a privilege to be able to shed light on funeral service, on funeral directors, and certainly on mass fatality response.

HOLLY IGNATOWSKI:
For more information about offering condolences to people who've experienced the death of a loved one and coping after a death due to a mass fatality situation, visit remembering a life.com.