Written by Director, Gareth Coles:
In my last couple of blogs, I’ve concentrated on innovative new products in the death care industry, but this week I’d like to focus on the wealth of ground-breaking services available to people, right here in Cardiff. Some services are designed to help you plan and finance the end of your life, whilst others exist to support the bereaved through difficult and painful times…End of Life
From community groups to specialist care, pioneering end of life services in Cardiff are designed to take the mystery out of death and enable families to make informed choices that are right for them:
- Death Cafes – a social franchise created by the late Jon Underwood that first came to Wales in 2014, death cafes are designed to get people talking about death, dying and end of life choices.
- Dying Matters – now with a dedicated Welsh division, Dying Matters is a charity that aims to improve the way families and professionals work together to plan for the end of life and to ensure people are well supported whether they choose to die at home or in hospital.
- Palliative Care – we are fortunate in Cardiff to have a number of innovative facilities dedicated to palliative care, including award-winning Nursing and Care Homes for the elderly, Ty Hafan for Paediatrics and Velindre specialising in Cancer Care – each with its own programme for supporting the immediate and extended families of patients in their care.
Financing
Innovation in this category focusses primarily on developing new ways to strip costs out of planning end of life services and sharing the financial burden:
- Crowdfunding for treatment or funerals – especially common in instances of infant illness, or sudden/tragic death, crowdfunding sites enable communities to come together to share the cost of supporting families in times of need
- Comparison sites –much like other comparison sites, funeral sites like aboutthefuneral.com make it easier for customers to search and compare services and costs from different funeral directors.
- Pre-paid plans – protected and held in trust by Golden Charter, pre-paid plans secure funeral directors’ services at today’s prices and include allowances for 3rd party costs.
Bereavement
Charities specialising in bereavement are not only providing exemplary counselling services, but also products such as books, outings and trips for families and children to help them support each other:
- 2 Wish Upon a Star – an inspirational charity doing incredible work to improve bereavement support for parents that have suffered the loss of a child suddenly or traumatically.
- Cruse Bereavement Care – working extensively in Wales, Cruse offers support, advice and information to all bereaved people, and in particular children and young people.
- Cardiff Bereavement Services – available to all residents, Cardiff City Council provides free, impartial advice on all matters relating to death care particular to the area.
Here at Coles we believe it’s vitally important to address taboos surrounding the subject of death, provide insights into the death care industry, and encourage people in the communities we work with in Cardiff to talk to their loved ones about what they want at the end of life. We also work closely with the bereaved to give them access to the support they need.  If you have any questions about any of the subjects I’ve covered in my blogs this month – please do get in touch.