FILIPINOS can benefit from the increasing global demand for embalmers, as fewer foreigners are showing interest in the profession, said a funeral service practitioner in the United States.
“The demand for embalmers is high anywhere else in the world,” said Jeffrey Chancellor, Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes Inc. (CFHI) consultant and chairman of the Pacific Center for Advanced Studies (Pcas). He said that in the US alone, there is demand for more than 50,000 embalmers.
Christopher Concepcion of Loyola Plans Inc. said about 200 embalmers are needed demand in Canada.
An average embalmer or mortician abroad earns more than $30,000 annually, Chancellor said.
However, Philippine Mortuary Association (PMA) president Renato Dychangco Jr. said the mortuary industry needs to “change its image,” especially in the Philippines if it wants to lure people to become professional embalmers.
“There is a great demand in the funeral profession, the problem is on how the community sees us,” he told reporters yesterday during the second PMA National Convention at the Pcas office in Panorama Heights, Nivel Hills, Lahug, Cebu City.
Since the funeral industry is one of the most commonly misconstrued business in the Philippines, there is a need to change public perception by taking concrete steps to highlight the art and science of funeral services, Dychangco said.
He said because mortuaries have great responsibilities in performing their services, such as embalming of dead bodies, industry players must strive to further improve their services.
He pointed out that globalization will also affect the mortuary industry.
“There is a need to professionalize the funeral service and upgrade the standard of death care because if we don’t teach these mortuary operators, it will bring the whole industry down,” said Dychangco, who owns the Cebu-grown Dychango group of companies that operates CFHI and Pcas, among others.
In line with its thrust to professionalize the Philippine funeral service to meet global standards, PMA has brought mortuary industry players from Ausralia, New Zealand and England to incorporate new developments and trends especially in embalming procedures.
“You feel what you see,” Chancellor said, referring to ways on improving a corpse’s physical look and make it appear “life-like.”
Dychangco also raised the need to take precautionary measures before embalming the body to making sure the person is really dead.
PMA vice president Joey del Rosario said there were cases of people being brought in for embalming because they were believed to be dead but were actually alive and were only in coma or unconscious.
Apart from access to education on proper embalming, Chancellor said funeral parlors need to be customer friendly as such establishments have long been perceived to be “dark and scary.”
Jan Field, Blake Emergency Services (BES) director for Australia and Pacific operations, believes, though, that the Philippine mortuary industry has proven itself to be of global standards.
“The quality of funeral services in the Philippines is very impressive. I think there’s something our country can learn from it,” said Field, an embalmer for 21 years.
Abigail Bailey, BES director, said the Philippines also has more embalmers compared to countries like Australia. (MMM)
DEMAND FOR EMBALMERS GROWING
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