We are open and able to serve your family during these historic times.

       

  Funeral, Visitation and Drive Thru Streaming Services

                During this COVID-19 pandemic, and any public health crisis throughout our history it is our funeral homes mission to first protect the public health of our community, families and funeral service providers. We are providing at no charge live streaming services for all visitation and/or funeral services held within the CDC guidelines. Many families in our care have selected to hold their funeral services until a later date. For some families this is the right decision; however, this comes at a tremendous personal cost. The grief that they carry with them remains unresolved until which time the scheduling of the service and closure begins. Even when this health crisis subsides there will be a segment of the public that will be reluctant to attend public gatherings. By introducing live streaming the friends, family, and community can in real-time make their presence from quarantine known. This is done by live stream participation. If you have any questions about streaming, private services or public services with the use of drive-thru, no contact visitations, and funeral services, please email: inthistogether@fredcdames.com, call (815) 741-5500 or (815) 942-5040 or view our informational video by clicking on this link which

explains in detail this option for your family  https://youtu.be/S1owX7doVMQ

Drive-Thru No Contact Visitation Services

           Drive-thru visitations have been around for over 35 years. When they first came out it was so fisherman and dock workers could pay their respects to the departed after funeral home hours. This concept never received much traction because in our opinion it was sterile. It is unique, that we now use that word to protect our community. During the last several months we have had families come into our care whose grief is understandably palpable. This grief is magnified many times by the inability to have the human connection that is so desperately needed at the time of emotional loss. We had asked some of our families early on to experiment with the drive-thru visitation concept, and all who had participated and continue to this day thus far have found it healing, and therapeutic. Not all funeral homes are designed to offer drive-thru funeral services. However, our Joliet funeral home and our Morris funeral home are able to accommodate such services. This is in full compliance with the CDC guidelines and the travel to essential businesses as described by Homeland Security. We can guarantee that with this additional service option, we can keep your family safe in continuous quarantine, while showing your love and support for the family or friend that has been lost. For those families who elect to use this no contact human interaction option, this is how it works: 

Click on this link for detailed directions for this option  https://youtu.be/e3cZ8FFZUms

We have had very good feedback from the families who have participated in the service, and we believe that it allows the family closure and the beginning of a healthy grief recovery. We have not lost our humanity; we are just participating in a safe and responsible way. For more information please email: inthistogether@fredcdames.com, call (815) 741-5500 or (815) 942-5040 

MOMENT OF DEATH

Upon receiving notification of the request of the transfer of the deceased from the place of death the Fred C. Dames Funeral Homes shall treat all places of death and persons present as potentially infectious. Medical status questions shall be asked prior to dispatch from onsite or in charge medical personal or surviving family. Upon arrival we shall treat the environment as infectious and YOU shall treat us as infectious. Upon executing social distancing, and disinfection of the deceased, we shall remove the deceased from the place of death to the funeral home. An additional charge of $195.00 for Covid disinfection protocals will apply.

FUNERAL AT NEED AND PRE NEEED ARRANGEMENTS

Prior to making arrangements at our funeral home, we would ask our families to provide much of the information needed at the time of loss either over the phone or online. Our online pre arrangement portal is and you can click here Pre Plan Online and our at need portal is and you can click here Online At Need Funeral Planning both can be located under planning at www.fredcdames.com Although our facilities are disinfected after each use, by doing this we cut down face to face contact significantly or eliminate it all together.

VISITATIONS AND FUNERALS

We are taking every precaution to insure our personnel and facilities are safe. In accordance with the CDC guidelines and the administrations directive, we are now able to have 50 people per staging area to pay respects to surviving family members at a time. This number during pre pandemic conditions is about average for most visitations depending on the hours selected. However many funerals have more and many have less than this number. Regardless, staging or building load will be monitored for  compliance. All in attendance will be required to maintain social distancing and wear a face covering. 

For funeral pricing information please click here Service Pricing.

 For the most up to date evolving Fred C. Dames Funeral Homes operational guidelines please view our website at www.fredcdames.com on our home page.

"We understand this is a once in a lifetime moment, we want to keep you and our staff protected. Together we will make sure this moment never gets lost in time."


Fred C. Dames Funeral Homes,

Family and Staff