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QUEENS WEEKLY, MAY 17, 2020
Martin A. Gleason Funeral Home, located at 36-46 Bell Boulevard in Bayside. Photo via Google Maps
‘WE DON’T HAVE THE CAPACITY’
Queens funeral home owner says they’ve had to turn families away as mortuary system remains ‘backed up’
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
John Golden, owner
and operator of Martin A.
Gleason Funeral Homes,
said their funeral homes
in northeast Queens never
had to turn families away
— then came COVID-19.
“We don’t have the capacity
to handle all the
families that are calling
us,” Golden told QNS.
“We’ve served double the
normal amount of families
we serve in a month. At one
point, we had to turn 100
families away.”
But the Gleason Funeral
Homes — with locations
in Flushing, Bayside and
Whitestone — are far from
the only funeral homes
in New York City dealing
with an influx of families
and their deceased loved
ones due to the novel coronavirus.
Although COVID-19 is
believed to have reached
its peak, funeral homes,
crematoriums and cemeteries
are still dealing with
great volumes of families
needing funeral arrangements
as New York City’s
death toll reaches almost
13,724 confirmed deaths to
the coronavirus and 5,383
probable deaths, as of Tuesday,
May 5, according to the
Department of Health.
The city and state implemented
some ways to help
the mortuary system —
such as setting up mobile
morgues and allowing crematoriums
to work around
the clock — but the industry
is still adjusting to the
devastating losses.
The Gleason Funeral
Homes funeral directors
go where the deceased are,
which can be in refrigerated
trailers outside of hospitals,
hospital morgues,
houses and nursing homes.
Golden said the medical
examiner has a new
system that lets them know
where the deceased are,
but, he added, “Everything
has slowed up and become
more difficult.”
He said that their funeral
homes offer embalming,
which allows them to
safely hold deceased bodies
until burial in the absence
of a refrigerator.
But Gleason Funeral
Homes, which has served
Queens for over 100 years,
have limited their number
of funerals, as they try to
keep from overwhelming
and overextending staff
members. Golden said that
one day, a secretary had
to turn away a family, and
as soon as she got off the
phone, she couldn’t help
but cry.
“This has taken an emotional
toll on all our staff
at Gleason Funeral Homes,
but we’re still working to
send off the deceased and
their families as best we
can,” Golden said.
And for families, the
grieving process has become
even more of a challenge.
Right now, there are no
wakes at Gleason, and cemeteries
have limited visits
to 10 people. Crematories
currently are not allowing
visitations. Some have allowed
grave site recordings
to send to families with
their permission.
Golden said they were
able to record graveside
prayers for a nun who
passed away to send to her
convent.
He mentioned there are
some Catholic churches in
the area conducting memorial
masses virtually,
where there’s no one in the
church except the priest so
families can access it online.
In one instance, St.
Andrews in Flushing had
a priest go outside of the
church and bless the casket
from the car.
But Golden said it’s still
a very difficult situation
for families who weren’t
able to see their loved one
in the hospital, and can’t
have a ceremony.
Several weeks ago, the
city was only holding deceased
for 48 hours before
burying “unclaimed” bodies
on Hart Island, which
Golden said caused families
to feel “panic.”
“We were able to intercept
some, and now the
medical examiner has extended
the hold indefinitely,”
he said.
But Golden said the
system as a whole is still
“backed up.”
Many of the cemeteries
they work with have
limited burial times and
visitations. For instance,
the next available date for
a burial at Mount St. Mary
Cemetery in Flushing is
May 25.
St. Michael’s Cemetery
in East Elmhurst temporarily
closed visitation and
is restricting internments
attendance in order to protect
their staff.
Golden said they previously
wrote letters asking
Gov. Andrew Cuomo to let
out-of-state funeral directors
come and help, which
Cuomo did in the first week
of April.
That has helped, Golden
said, but now he thinks
cemeteries may need help
getting workers or independent
contractors to
open grave sites.
Golden said he suggested
the city bring in military
embalmers with experience
handling deceased
bodies and set them up in
Flushing Meadows Corona
Park, along with the out-ofstate
funeral directors. He
believes more help caring
for those who have died due
to COVID-19 may lessen the
burden.
Golden, who’s worked
as a funeral director for
more than three decades,
said the amount of death
they’re experiencing only
compares to 9/11 — but it’s
much harder to navigate
the current health crisis.
“In normal times, the
most gratifying thing
was shepherding families
through the steps as they
mourn — accompanying
them to crematories, helping
them grieve,” Golden
said. “And then COVID-19
arrived.”