Grave Words: Notifying Survivors about Sudden, Unexpected Deaths

How to notify survivors about sudden deaths. Healthcare, law enforcement, fire service, religious and military personnel must often take on that task with little or no formal training. Grave Words makes this less stressful by providing detailed protocols for nearly every death-notification situation. It gives examples and tips about when, why, and how to use these protocols. Learn:• How to make telephone notifications.• When to use the “D” words: death, died, and dead.• How to tell children, parents, and disaster survivors about deaths.• Typical questions survivors ask, and some answers.• Various religions’ death rites and attitudes toward death.• How to identify grief reactions.• When survivors should view the body.• How and when to follow up with survivors.• How to deal with the media after a death.• How to effectively teach death notification skills.• Phrases to use when talking with survivors, and those “unhelpful” phrases to avoid.• Bereavement resources • Support group information• A death-notification course outlineSpecific protocols for emergency and obstetric departments, critical care and trauma units, prehospital care (EMS), police, chaplains and social workers, military, schools, prisons, and after disasters. Read more