First/Last responder Evan St. Fort, the Owner of St.Forts Funeral Home +Cremation, is a thriving black business owner in the North Miami Beach area. There has not been enough attention paid to the physical and mental toll that the pandemic is having on funeral directors. The numbers in South Florida are rising, and Evans St. Fort-Owner of St. Forts Funeral Home & Cremations in North Miami Beach, has seen it first hand. Funeral directors are often the forgotten frontline and last responder workers, as they too face a growing workload and the emotional toll it takes on them and their staff. He has navigated through one of the biggest challenges, meeting families' needs while staying within the CDC guidelines.
He and his staff must make sense of these new and unfamiliar deaths and help guide the evolution in how we mourn them. At the same time, Evans and his staff are assisting the families in reimagining end-of-life rituals. Live-streaming funerals and archiving them digitally have become commonplace. While other cities provide the COVID-19 vaccine to funeral homeowners/staff, Florida has yet to put a plan in place for funeral homes here.
The most challenging part of this Covid-19 pandemic has been keeping all clients and staff safe. Dealing with grieving families that have lost someone with the virus has not been easy. The most positive thing that I have experienced during this time is getting an opportunity to stop and spend time with family."
