Planning ahead and getting organized can be beneficial for you or for someone dear to you.
It is empowering to understand the choices available for how you will be remembered, mourned, celebrated and cared for after your death. Please click on this link to make use of our “Deathcare Choices” worksheet to help you explore your choices.
It’s funny how we typically don’t plan ahead when it comes to our end-of-life care, rituals and ceremonies. During our lives, we plan for many situations including higher education, starting a family, vacations, big ticket purchases, weddings and retirement. We purchase insurance for situations that might happen like accidents, earthquakes, fire, floods, and theft. We save up.
Death, however, is a certainty, yet many of us fail to plan. Perhaps we neglect to plan in this realm because to do so means facing our own mortality. At KORU, our day-to-day experience with families continually illustrates the practical and emotional benefits of planning ahead for one’s end of days.
Thoughtful end-of-life planning begins with reflecting on who you are and what matters to you.
What is involved in planning ahead?
We recommend clicking on the following link to download KORU’s “Pre-planning Guide for End of Life”.
Talk to a death care professional. Our KORU staff can meet you in the comfort of your home, in our gathering room, or in your favourite cafe, for a one hour free consultation. It will be your choice to continue working with us
KORU is a locally owned and operated, grass-roots funeral business. When you call our office for information you will be able to speak to a licensed, trained and compassionate death care guide (funeral director)
Click here to learn more about KORU. Click here to learn more about KORU’s owner and founder, Ms. Ngaio Davis, deathcare guide Rebecca Peckham and the many community affiliates we work with
We are here to help.
How to Get Started:
Record personal information required for registering a death with the BC Vital Statistics Agency, click here to complete the vital statistics form- Think about what you want to have happen to your body. What disposition choice is the most reflective of your values and preferences? Burial, cremation, entombment, terramation (natural organic reduction or composting of human remains), transfer to another city, body or organ donation?
- Make specific selections for products like a burial or cremation casket, a burial shroud, an urn, a grave vault, a grave headstone, memorial marker or memorial bench. View KORU’s Caskets & Shrouds, Urns & Memorial Jewelry to get a sense of your selection choices
- Make choices for how your physical remains should be cared for? Should family participate in cleansing, dressing and getting you ready for your disposition?
- Think about how you want to be remembered. How will your death be marked by the people in your life? Celebration of life, church service, memorial service, potluck dinner at a friends? Any specific requests re: music, readings or how you’d like to see the people in your life be engaged to create a meaningful event?
- Consider how you will pay for your at-death services. The services you plan ahead for do not have to be prepaid. However, the costs will be guaranteed not to increase if payment is made ahead of time. You can choose to pay in full or by monthly payments. Pre-paid plans made with KORU will have the financial backing and strength of TruStage Life of Canada, Canada’s leading insurer of families for funding and coverage of funeral services
The benefits of planning ahead:
- Make rational and logical decisions when the situation isn’t emotionally charged, saving your family the burden of doing it at a time when they’re being faced with the reality of your death.
- The peace of mind knowing that you’ve expressed your wishes according to your life values, spiritual beliefs and budget.
- Making space to have thoughtful conversations with the important people in your life and also with experienced death care professionals.
- If you pay in advance now, you will not have pay the inflated prices of the same services in the future.
Potential concerns with planning ahead:
- What if I move away? The funds can be used by any funeral provider in Canada, we can help you with this process. There is no transfer penalty
- What if KORU closes down? We aren’t planning on it! But if we do, all plans would be transferred to a values-aligned provider, with plenty of written and verbal notice to any affected families
- How much will it cost? When you plan ahead, you pay for services at today’s prices. You can choose to pay in a lump sum, or over time using a payment plan
At KORU we appreciate the power of community and invite you to visit our friends at www.willowEoL.com and Death’s Apprentice to experience their death care planning teachings.