RESOURCES DURING COVID-19
End-of-Life Doula Hotline free & confidential. 1-888-351-8999. This MN Death Collaborative hotline connects you with trained end-of-life doulas who can listen compassionately and direct you to resources.
Home Funeral Guides and Pandemic Care webinar from home funeral educators, including Lee Webster, author of Essentials for Practicing Home Funeral Guides and third National Home Funeral Alliance president.
Loving, Living, and Dying During COVID-19 Minnesota death doula Jane Whitlock, interviewed by Diana Pierce on What’s Next?, answers FAQs
Loving, Living, and Dying During COVID-19: FAQs for companions, families, guides, friends, leaders, and tenders.
Virtual Funerals During The Pandemic: How to Run a Virtual Memorial, by certified celebrant Sarah Jane Lambring, specializing in non-traditional funerals.
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Time stamps: 00:54 Virtual Funerals Up To Now 02:09 Who Is This Video For 03:06 A Funeral At Home 06:45 Technical Option (zoom video conference) 09:22 How To…
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A. ADVANCE HEALTH CARE/DEATH CARE PLANNING
Accompanying the Dying: a Practical Guide and Awareness Training, by Deanna Cochran, R.N., hospice and palliative care nurse and end-of-life educator in Austin, TX. A range of services from 15-minute phone or Skype brainstorming to a 3-month professional Practical Guide and Awareness Training. See also www.aGentleGuide.com.
Allay Care: Helping people talk about and document their end of life care wishes.
Communicating End-of-Life Care Wishes, Georgetown University guide to help those with terminal conditions communicate end-of-life decisions to their family and clinicians. Includes questions patients can ask physicians and a PDF worksheet. Nursing@Georgetown, the School of Nursing & Health Studies.
Choices: free downloadable booklet from Minnesota Department of Health with legal and practical information on the final disposition of a body.
Consider the Conversation, a 60-minute documentary on the struggle with communication and preparation at life’s end. Interviews with patients, family members, doctors, nurses, clergy, social workers and experts like Ira Byock and Susan Dolan.
The Conversation Project, founded by journalist Ellen Goodman, provides a starter kit for conversations with loved ones about final wishes.
“Dying Trans: Preserving Identity in Death.” Trans folks may be unaware that upon their death all power over the body is turned over to their legal next of kin, possibly an unsympathetic parent or sibling. Tragedies of misgendering can occur postmortem . . . . This article explores what the trans community can do to protect themselves at death.
End of Life Planning Checklist explains the difference between wills, living wills, and advanced directives. Recommends making a list of accounts, passwords, recurring payments, deeds, etc. Remains management and funeral planning are also covered.
Five Wishes advance health care directive legal in most states. Free download.
Funeral Consumer’s Alliance of Minnesota, affiliated with the national Funeral Consumers Alliance, focuses on consumer protection, education to help assure meaningful and affordable choices. Offers a free 2-page After Death Arrangements form. FCA MN offers a general price survey for Twin Cities area funeral service providers.
GYST (formerly “Get Your Shit Together”): For organizing the things your loved ones will need after your death.
GoWish – A deck of 36 cards to help clarify end-of-life values. In English and Spanish. Can be played online or with actual cards.
Green Burial Council Planning Guide: A worksheet for planning and facilitating a green funeral.
Honoring Choices Minnesota (from Twin Cities Medical Society and Twin Cities Public Television) encourages families to have discussions regarding end-of-life care choices. Excellent videos at http://www.honoringchoices.org/tools-resources/videos/english
Honoring Choices Minnesota Health Care Directive specifying your wishes and naming an agent to speak for you if you cannot speak for yourself, including whether this agent has the power to make decisions about the care of your body after death. A short form answers basic medical and agent questions. Free download of both versions at http://www.honoringchoices.org/health-care-directives/english-directives/17-healthcare-directive-large-type-short-form/file
Minnesota Coalition for Death Education and Support: promotes and provides education, opportunities for networking, and support to professionals and volunteers involved in the care of persons confronting death and bereavement.
Minnesota Funeral Planning: links to vendors around the state. How to arrange a funeral that mourns your loss as well as celebrates your loved one’s life legacy.
Physician-Ordered Life-Sustaining Treatment Paradigm (POLST): POLST documents are for people who have received a terminal diagnosis. Filled out in conversation among patient, health care agent, and health care provider so all parties understand how the patient’s life values will influence their desires for end-of-life care.
The Letter Project: Stanford University School of Medicine’s project to help adults at all stages of life write a letter to their health care providers (and loved ones) outlining their life values and EOL desires.
My Final Wishes: published by the Threshold Care Circle in Viroqua, WI, a fill-in-the-blank workbook to record preferences for end of life, including wishes for funeral, burial and memorial services; information for your death certificate and obituary; location of papers needed to handle your estate, phone numbers of important people to call.
It’s Okay to Die, tied to the book by Monica Williams-Murphy, MD. and Kristian Murphy, , has POLST forms and other tools, including a Personal Self-Assessment Scale (PSAS), allowing one to define ahead of time when to accept or forego specific medical interventions at each stage of decline of health.
B. DEATH DOULAS/HOME VIGIL GUIDES — MINNESOTA
Inspired Journeys, Angela Woosley is a licensed mortician, mortuary science educator, and owner of Inspired Journeys, a family-centered natural death care provider offering end-of-life doula services, home funeral education, funeral celebrant services, and public speaking/community education. angela@inspiredjourneysmn.com. 651.300.0119.
Minnesota Threshold Network is a community organization advocating family-directed after-death care, home vigils and green burial choices. Monthly meetings free and open to all. Periodic trainings for after-death body care. Volunteer educators and home vigil guides assist individuals and families with end-of-life planning, home funeral vigils, and green disposition options.
Minnesota Death Collaborative is a central resource of integrative end of life professionals/death workers. We provide presence, education, and advocacy to individuals, caregivers, and providers. Through compassion and respect, we honor all visions and experiences of what may be. (Website online soon.)
MortaliTea, with Deah Kinion, Certified End of Life Doula, offers family centered, non-medical, holistic care and support for the dying and their loved ones. Deah offers mortality planning/resources, a holistic approach for a peaceful death, vigil/bedside comfort, and legacy planning. 507-990-3299
Southeast Minnesota Threshold Network: Rochester area chapter of Minnesota Threshold Network, advocating family-directed after-death care, including home vigils and green burial choices.
A Thousand Hands. Anne Murphy, celebrant, home vigil guide, and death educator, is trained in the art of supporting individuals and families through the season of death and dying through heart-centered, compassionate, and meaningful conversations, rituals and ceremonies. Former NHFA board member. annievmurph@gmail.com or 651-964-9128
C. SUPPORTIVE FUNERAL HOMES — MINNESOTA
. First funeral home in Minnesota to offer flameless cremation (alkaline hydrolysis).Crescent Tide Funeral & Cremation, 764 Transfer Rd, St. Paul, MN 55114, 651-315-8214
Gill Brothers Funeral Home, 5801 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55419, 612-861-6088
LaCanne Family Funeral Service, 2280 6th Avenue, Windom, Minnesota 56101. 507-831-1526. Offers flameless cremation (alkaline hydrolysis).
Mayo Clinic, The Mayo Department of Anatomy uses alkaline hydrolysis at no cost for whole-body donors. 200 First St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905. 507-284-2511
Metro First Call, 12600 Creek View Avenue, Savage, MN 55378, office@metrofirstcall.com. 952-767-9300. Offers flameless cremation (alkaline hydrolysis) and natural burials.
Thomson-Dougherty Funeral Home, 2535 Park Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404, 612-871-4407
Willwersheid Natural Burial and Cremation, 235 Wentworth Ave. W., West St. Paul. 651-228-1006. Funeral director Steve Willwersheid offers vigils and funerals with unembalmed bodies as well as natural burials.
Black Funerals Homes
1. Estes Funeral Chapel, founded in 1962, the only Black-owned and operated funeral home in Minneapolis. In 2018, Estes built a new facility at 2201 Plymouth Ave N. See this KARE-11 news story.
D. GREEN BURIAL OPTIONS IN MINNESOTA
Hazelwood Lutheran Cemetery, 3962 Hazelwood Ave., Webster, Mn.55088. Burials without casket or vault are permitted in existing plots. Lee Topp, president, 612-702-6127
Mound Cemetery of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota’s first hybrid green burial ground certified by the Green Burial Council. Brooklyn Center, MN, 952-935-0954. info@moundcemetery.com. Charges a maintenance fee for vaultless burials.
Prairie Oaks Memorial Eco Gardens, Minnesota’s first natural burial ground, Inver Grove Heights, MN, 651-300-9549
Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, 2105 Lexington Avenue South • Mendota Heights, MN, 651-228-9991. The two-acre site is currently undeveloped. As the gravesites become occupied, native perennial flowers will be replanted to grow on top of the graves. Eventually, the natural burial area will resemble an uninterrupted prairie. Rather than placing individual headstones or grave markers, the name of the deceased, along with birth and death years, will be listed on a permanent monument.
Roselawn Cemetery, non-sectarian hybrid burial ground, 803 W. Larpenteur Ave. Roseville, MN. 651-489-1720
E. ECO-FRIENDLY FUNERAL SUPPLIES
Affordable Coffins & Artery offers sturdy, dignified, custom, and hand-crafted coffins, using green materials. 595 N. Snelling Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, 55104. mike@affordablecoffinsandartery.com; 651-208-6902
Duluth Casket Shop sells custom hand-crafted casket and cremains boxes from native local woods. Duluth, MN,, 218-728-2384
Final Foootprint: Eco-caskets and natural burials. Half Moon Bay, California. 650-726-5255
Quiet Waters Casket Co. Hand-crafted pine boxes and urns made in Alexandria, MN. 320-815-3861
Techni-Ice reusable packs can be used instead of dry ice to cool a body. Available at amazon.com and Group Medical Supply in Plymouth, MN
Waconia Casket Company, solid wood caskets for direct sale to the public. For green burials, caskets can be made with no metal parts. Waconia, MN
F. FAMILY-DIRECTED VIGILS/HOME FUNERALS RESOURCES
1. Articles: (Family-Directed Vigils/Home Funerals)
Alexander, Max, “The Surprising Satisfactions of a Home Funeral,” Smithsonian, March 2009.
“DIY Death: Natural, At-Home Funerals And Their Boomer Appeal.” November 22, 2013. http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/11/diy-death-natural-home-funerals
Natural Transitions Magazine: articles, stories, and photos on conscious, holistic, and eco-friendly approaches to end of life, including family-directed after-death care.
“Who Owns the Dead? Owns the Dead?” featuring Elizabeth Knox, founder of Crossings: Caring for Our Own. New Republic, June 24, 2015. https://newrepublic.com/article/122130/who-owns-dead
Zezima, Katie, “Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative,” New York Times, July 20, 2009.
2. Books: (Family-Directed Vigils/Home Funerals)
Alison’s Gift: The Song of a Thousand Hearts Opening by Pat Hogan (NOSILA Publishing, 1999). The true story of seven-year-old Alison, rendered brain dead in a car accident. Her mother, Beth Knox, cared for her body during a home vigil and went on to found Crossings: Caring for Our Own at Death. Book available at crossings.net.
Caring for the Dead: Your Final Acts of Love: A Complete Guide for Those Making Funeral Arrangements With or Without a Funeral Director. Lisa Carlson. Upper Access Publishers, 1998. The original comprehensive guide for funeral issues.
Final Rights: Reclaiming the American Way of Death, Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson, Upper Access Press, 2011 www.funerals.org/ The new comprehensive guide for funeral issues with state-by-state requirements.
Handbook for Creating a Home Funeral, JerriLyons & JanelleVan Melvin, 1998. finalpassages.org
Laughing in a Waterfall: A Mother’s Memoir. Marianne Dietzel, Laughing Bridge Publishing, 2010
Living Consciously, Dying Gracefully: A Journey with Cancer and Beyond. Nancy Manahan & Becky Bohan, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2007 nanbec.com
Living Into Dying: A Journal of Spiritual and Practical Deathcare for Family and Community. Nancy Jewell Poer, White Feather Publishing, 2002 nancyjewelpoer.com
Resource Guide: A Manual for Home Funeral Care. Elizabeth Knox Free download at crossings.net
Undertaken With Love: A Home Funeral Guide for Congregations and Communities Free download at http://undertakenwithlove.org/?page_id=104
3. Films: (Family-Directed Vigils/Home Funerals)
Art of Natural Death Care, a 28-minute showing families caring for loved ones after death. https://vimeo.com/220346382
A Family Undertaking, a full-length PBS documentary on the growing home funeral movement follows several American families as they forgo a typical mortuary funeral to care for their loved ones at home. Film clip at PBS.org. On Netflix.
The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman, a full-length documentary about the conscious dying and home funeral of the filmmaker’s brother, an environmentalist. See a clip of the film at IMDb.
Passing Through Our Hands: A Home Funeral Guide, home funeral educator Donna Belk’s video guide for after-death care of a body.
4. Internet: (Family-Directed Vigils/Home Funerals)
CBS news feature on home vigils and green burials.
“End-of-life Choices: Through History,” Twin Cities Public Television’s 26-minute documentary featuring Minnesota Threshold Network members.”
Home Funeral Directory, natural after-death care and green funeral options
Home funerals and green burials, a 9-minute YouTube excerpt of a 2012 presentation by Minnesota Threshold Network members Heather Halen and Julie Tinberg.
How-To Manuals: Step by step home funeral guides and manuals from the National Home Funeral Alliance
Preparing to Die: website on funeral planning, including green funerals.
5. Organizations — national and local: (Family-Directed Vigils/Home Funerals)
Crossings: Caring for Our Own at Death: education and inspiration to families for better experiences in after-death care, with or without a funeral director, and for exercising choices that will bring about greater healing. Offers a 37-page step-by-step resource guide for a home funeral as a $25 booklet or as a free PDF download.
Funeral Consumers Alliance: national watchdog and educational organization for home funerals and ethical practices in the funeral industry.
Funeral Ethics Organization: national organization working against exploitation of consumers making funeral purchases.
Morning Star Singers: volunteer singers who offer songs of healing and comfort to those struggling with living or dying. The group sings for free at hospices, hospitals, nursing homes, and private homes within the Twin Cities. www.morningstarsingers.org
National Home Funeral Alliance: educating families about end-of-life choices, including natural death care and home funerals.
Order of the Good Death: Founded in 2011 by Caitlin Doughty, a Los Angeles mortician. Funeral professionals, academics, and artists advocating accepting that “death itself is natural, but the death anxiety and terror of modern culture are not.”
Threshold Care Circle: helps family rediscover traditional folkways of a home vigil and family-directed funeral. Viroqua, WI. (608) 606-8060
G. NATURAL BURIAL/ECOLOGICAL FINAL DISPOSITION RESOURCES
Carolyn Laine, MN State Senator, 33-minute You Tube presentation, “Green Burials, Options for After-Death Care.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZKy2xo2g8w
Choices: free downloadable booklet from Minnesota Department of Health with legal and practical information on the final disposition of a body.
Dying Green, a 26-minute documentary about natural burial and land conservation, set in the Appalachians. Dr. Billy Campbell’s dream is to conserve one million acres of land, using our own death to create wildlife preserves. Two copies available at Hennepin Co. Library.
Eloise Woods Community Natural Burial Park, a green cemetery in Cedar Creek Texas. Ellen Macdonald, Manager.
“Flameless Cremation,” a chemical process of reducing a body to its basic elements using alkaline hydrolysis. Bradshaw Funeral and Cremation Services in Stillwater, MN, offers the first commercial unit in the Midwest. TV news story, newspaper article or YouTube video
Going Out Green: One Man’s Adventure Planning His Own Burial. Bob Butz, Spirituality & Health, 2009
Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry To a Natural Way of Burial. Mark Harris, Scribner, 2007
Green Burial Council, nonprofit organization working for environmentally sustainable death care. Certifies mortuaries, cemeteries, and providers.
Green Burial Movement: www.brownedocs.com/the-green-burial-movement
TED-X Talk on Conservation Burial, “Saving One Million Acres for Two Thousand Years” by Billy Campbell, MD, founder of Ramsey Creek Preserve, the first green cemetery in the US.
A Will for the Woods, full-length documentary about a dying physician’s wish for a green burial that led a cemetery to turn a wooded section slated to be cleared for conventional graves into a natural burial site. Profiles the US green burial movement. See a trailer here
H. SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Death Cafe Twin Cities: a not-for-profit social franchise and international movement to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.”
Death Over Dinner: not exactly an organization, but an opportunity for interested people to gather friends and family over dinner and discuss end-of-life planning and other death-related issues.
Minnesota Threshold Network 
I am interested in becoming a member of the MN Threshold Care Network. Please add me to you contact list and inform me of any upcoming educational or networking opportunities. I am an interspiritual minister, specializing in hospice ministry, green funerals and burials, and educating spiritual communities in SE MN about these options. Thank you for the laying the foundation for this important work.
Rev Char Tarashanti biobalance240@charter.net 507-289-0720
Mound Cemetery Of Brooklyn Center becomes certified green funeral provider in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
Mound Cemetery of Brooklyn Center has been certified as a “hybrid greenburial cemetery” offering end-of-life services that are ecologically conscious to minimize long-term environmental impacts.
Green burial providers adopt burial practices that are non-toxic and energy-conserving, including:
• Burial with non-toxic, biodegradable burial containers.
• Burial without the use of formaldehyde-based embalming chemicals.
• Burial without the use of burial vaults.
Mound Cemetery Of Brooklyn Center was certified by the Green Burial Council (GBC), a nonprofit organization that advocates sustainable, economically viable burials and the restoration and stewardship of natural areas. Founded in 2005, the Green Burial Council certifies funeral service providers, burial grounds and product providers as green burial providers to address a “new ethic in death care.”
“We’re pleased to offer the Minneapolis/St Paul Metro communities with more options for the afterlife burial of their loved ones,” said Dan Kantar, cemetery manager. “Becoming ‘green certified’ is another way in which Mound Cemetery is responding to the unique, evolving desires of its customers.”
To learn more, visit http://www.moundcemetery.com or the GBC’s website at http://www.greenburialcouncil.org
Please add me to your contact list.
I feel alone. I am 85. I am looking into a green funeral. What is the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis doing about green funerals. I live on the farm from which my great grandfather was drafted into the Civil War in LeSueur County. Help!
testing u
my business was looking for MN Health Care Directive Planning Toolkit several days ago and found a company with 6 million forms . If others are wanting MN Health Care Directive Planning Toolkit too , here’s a
https://goo.gl/Q3wges.Nice piece – I was enlightened by the details – Does someone know where I would be able to obtain a fillable MN Health Care Directive Planning Toolkit document to use ?
The following was an OOPS! link: Choices: free downloadable booklet from Minnesota Department of Health with legal and practical information on the final disposition of a body.