DESPITE taking a financial hit from Hurricane Melissa and having to navigate damaged infrastructure as well as soaring fuel costs, funeral home operators in the hard-hit western Jamaica are refusing to let compassion become another casualty of the deadly storm.

Instead, many are digging deep into already strained profit margins and graves to help grieving families give their loved ones — lost before, during, and after the Category 5 weather system — a dignified final farewell.

In Westmoreland, Earl Scott, director of Scott and Sons Funeral Home, said his team has offered discounted funeral packages to several families and, in one case, covered the entire cost of a burial for a man who lost his only surviving relative to Hurricane Melissa.

Over in Trelawny, Paul Patmore, owner and operator of Patmore’s Funeral Home in Lowe River, is extending similar kindness, even as his business has racked up more than $600,000 in expenses since the passage of the hurricane, just to keep the bodies preserved with the use of a generator.

In St James, Melvin Honeyghan, managing director of Honeyghan’s Funeral Home, said his staff has also stepped in to cut the cost of funeral packages. Still, he acknowledged that closure remains out of reach for some families who have pleaded for storage extensions as they grapple with financial challenges.

Commending the operators for extending kindness in the face of adversity, president of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors Calvin Lyn urged his colleagues in hard-hit areas to lend support, wherever possible.

The hurricane claimed at least 45 lives when it hit the south-western section of Jamaica on October 28 and travelled north on its way to Cuba. Eighteen of those fatalities were recorded in St Elizabeth, 15 in Westmoreland, six in St James, two each in Hanover and Trelawny, and one each in St Ann and Portland.

Scott shared that sections of the roof at his funeral home in Westmoreland were ripped off by Melissa’s powerful 185 mph winds, but, thankfully, the morgue was not destroyed and he’s still able to store bodies. He said when he returned to regular operations he heard the cries of many families who, having lost their homes and livelihoods, could not afford to bury their loved ones. He, therefore, started to offer funeral packages at a discounted rate, not just to families who lost loved ones during the hurricane but also to people who lost loved ones after and before the onslaught almost two months ago.

“I have one [family] right now where the person died, and they don’t know when they would be able to do the burial because of financial issues… I am offering to that person the option of doing the funeral at half price. I see that they are really struggling and they are having problems, so that is why I am offering to help them out. They said they are thinking of doing the burial a week after the Christmas holiday.

“You have to help out in situations at times, because it is really rough on almost everybody,” Scott told the Jamaica Observer.

He added that he also covered the cost of the burial for a man who lost everything and has no support to bury his brother.

“He is at a total loss. His house came crumbling down, flat, and he is the only person alive and the only one responsible for his brother. I also offered to help him in some part of the rebuilding of his house,” shared Scott.

Lyn has commended the move, urging other members of the industry to do the same if they are in a position to offer assistance.

“I know Westmoreland, in particular, would be an area that people would have difficulty. If I was in that area I would assess the situation. Knowing that people are poor and they have lost just about everything, except their life… we should really offer to assist them,” said Lyn.

He also urged relatives of the deceased to make use of available resources, such as the Poor Relief Department within municipal corporations.

Meanwhile, Patmore said that he has incurred his fair share of damage due to Hurricane Melissa, but the mounting cost to operate his generator for 24 hours daily is at the top of the list. He told with the Sunday Observer last Thursday that Lowe River has not had electricity since October 28, forcing him to spend $12,000 per day for gas to keep bodies on ice.

“That’s a big leak, the $12,000 per day, as opposed to the regular [electricity] bill for the month. The regular light bill for us would be like maybe $120,000 per month, that would be somewhere around $4,000 per day, but now we are going three times that amount right now,” Patmore disclosed.

He shared that the experience has caused him to strongly consider switching to solar energy, advocating that every funeral home do the same.

“I know of funeral homes that are paying like $500,000 for electricity per month. I think those persons just need to go solar. We don’t have oil, but we have sunshine, and we just need to make use of it,” he reasoned.

Though the mounting cost to operate his generator for electricity is eating into his profits, and he is still recovering from damage sustained to his funeral home, Patmore said he has not allowed his personal losses to stop him from giving. He shared that he slashed all funeral packages in half for customers who lost their loved ones recently, whether due to the storm or otherwise. The discounted price will remain in place until January 2026. He added that, where possible, credit plans are set up for the grieving families.

“Our people are suffering, the citizens are suffering. Some people still cannot afford to get back their roof. People come into the office just asking for a simple thing like a tarpaulin, and sometimes I just cannot afford to give them because the need is just too great, but this is something that we can do,” he said, adding that he is happy to provide any form of support.

In addition to the need for assistance to cover the cost of burials, Honeyghan of Honeyghan’s Funeral Service in St James said he has also received requests to extend the storage time for the bodies of approximately 50 individuals who died before, during, and after the passage of the hurricane. He said he willingly obliged.

“We have funerals that were scheduled the week of Melissa, and all the funerals on the week of Melissa were basically put off. Some of the family members buried their loved ones the following weekend, but the majority of them cannot. We even had a family who said they are not going to be able to bury their family member until about April,” he told the Sunday Observer, adding that the individual died in early October.

He noted that the family faced this reality even with the offer of a 50 per cent discount on the table.

Honeyghan said he empathises with Jamaicans at this difficult time, even as he navigates his losses and staffing challenges due to many of his employees losing their homes. He said he will continue to stand in solidarity with his fellow Jamaicans.

“At the end of the day, all of us are Jamaicans. It’s not all me, myself, or I’m going to be hard and fast with someone of my own kind to the point where they won’t be able to see their loved ones go down in the grave the right and proper way, and I’m going to be holding out because of monetary issues. At the end of the day, we have to take care of one another,” he reasoned.

LYN… commends fellow funeral directors for extending kindness in the face of adversity (Photo: Kasey Williams)

Category Five Hurricane Melissa claimed the lives of at least 45 individuals when it hit Jamaica on October 28. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

A man prepares a grave for burial. Funeral directors in western Jamaica are digging deep into their profit margins to give discounts to grieving family members post-Hurricane Melissa. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

PATMORE…our people are suffering