Handle with Extreme Care
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
A divorced funeral director swipes his way through diminishing prospects on Tinder. An employee prepares his father for a final goodbye. And a business dealing in the dead faces escalating demand as a result of the pandemic. Patrick Ginnetty and Bowie Alexander’s darkly humorous film offers a different perspective on what life was like as the Covid crisis reached a critical point. Like so many other mortuaries in New York, the subject of Ginnetty and Alexander’s documentary is stretched to its limit, with all who work there challenged by the physical and emotional burden of their job. What makes Handle with Extreme Care stand out from other portraits of Covid-era films is the frankness by which it juxtaposes seismic events with people’s attempts to carry on with their lives.
"But the most poignant personal issue in the film affects Omar, the funeral home worker, whose personal life overlaps with his daily professional work of responding to the fallout of the pandemic when his father becomes seriously ill with COVID. Like many others, Omar heroically continued going about his job responding to the worst consequences of the virus even as those consequences played out in his own family." -Daily Beast
Citation
Main credits
Alexander, Bowie (filmmaker)
Ginnetty, Patrick (filmmaker)
Lapointe, Michael (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography and editing, Bowie Alexander, Patrick Ginnetty.
Distributor subjects
Grief and Recovery,Medical History,Mental Health Studies,Urban StudiesKeywords
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So let\'s just double check to make sure that
they\'re not here.
00:05.190 --> 00:08.890
De La Cruz is what we\'re looking for because we
had a De La Cruz,
00:08.899 --> 00:09.989
didn\'t we?
Last week?
00:14.670 --> 00:21.000
Yeah, we\'re deciding among ourselves who\'s
going to draw the straw,
00:21.010 --> 00:27.920
straw, straw, short straw to call the family to
tell them that the body is missing.
00:28.100 --> 00:32.419
I think that Joe should tell him since I told
him to stop taking these calls or stagger them
00:32.430 --> 00:35.919
at least and he wants to bring them all in.
Then he calls the family and says we can\'t find
00:35.930 --> 00:37.569
the body again.
It\'s not our fault.
00:37.659 --> 00:39.490
It\'s not like you can say, hey, listen, we
can\'t find the body.
00:39.500 --> 00:41.509
I\'ll talk to you later.
You know, you have to kind of sit there and
00:41.720 --> 00:44.959
what are you gonna do about this?
And I would start by saying we went to the
00:44.970 --> 00:50.810
hospital to pick up the body and apparently
there was some kind of a mix up at the hospital
00:50.990 --> 00:56.069
and they cannot locate the body and I would
dump it all right on the hospital,
00:56.810 --> 00:58.369
the hospital can\'t find the body.
00:59.419 --> 01:03.509
So I don\'t know what to tell you.
I\'m uh when they find it,
01:04.199 --> 01:10.430
they\'ll call us.
Uh, 123 JJ
01:10.440 --> 01:16.849
JJ. Yeah.
01:18.589 --> 01:21.709
Where are you, Gene?
01:26.160 --> 01:29.489
Yeah, this was out here.
01:30.779 --> 01:34.970
This one is not here.
Not here.
01:35.150 --> 01:38.769
Wait, get over here. Mhm.
01:44.910 --> 01:45.440
He, he h
01:56.790 --> 02:03.730
action, he\'s not that heavy too.
02:04.699 --> 02:07.440
He\'s, he\'s, he\'s a white also.
He\'s a very hard one.
02:07.449 --> 02:11.250
He\'s a tough player.
That was this guy, Jose or,
02:11.380 --> 02:12.250
excuse me, this guy is a big,
02:21.630 --> 02:24.889
oh, give yourself plenty of extra space to you
know.
03:19.110 --> 03:20.410
All righty.
See you black.
03:20.419 --> 03:21.119
I\'ll see you tomorrow.
03:47.960 --> 03:52.190
Mhm. Mhm.
03:59.419 --> 03:59.500
Ok.
04:08.970 --> 04:15.279
Mm. Mhm. Ok. Mhm.
04:21.399 --> 04:27.000
Mhm. Mhm. Yes.
04:29.489 --> 04:31.230
Mhm. Mhm.
All right.
04:31.239 --> 04:35.230
Thank you. Yeah.
04:40.390 --> 04:41.950
Was born.
04:45.640 --> 04:47.700
Mm I think that\'ll be ok.
04:51.859 --> 04:52.859
Are you?
05:04.250 --> 05:10.089
I wanna make.
Yes, we are perfect
05:11.369 --> 05:16.519
to be a good funeral director.
It takes a lot of patience uh finding some
05:16.529 --> 05:19.880
sympathy for the families, some empathy for the
families that you\'re dealing with,
05:20.399 --> 05:25.829
but enough courage to get through the horrible
things that you often see to help the families
05:25.839 --> 05:29.829
that are experiencing the death to uh to get
through those days.
05:43.510 --> 05:44.890
Spring time.
05:45.149 --> 05:51.920
April May time um turkeys are uh are breeding
and the
05:51.929 --> 05:58.750
um the the mail turkeys are excited at that for
that period of time and after
05:58.760 --> 06:04.779
that\'s over, they seem to lose interest so they
don\'t uh they don\'t make uh fully year round
06:05.010 --> 06:06.250
like humans might do.
06:07.109 --> 06:11.470
It would be nice to have a partner, somebody
that I could share my life with somebody that I
06:11.480 --> 06:13.690
could do things with activities with.
06:14.160 --> 06:19.570
Uh, my dream would be somebody that I could fly
fish with or that would enjoy shooting.
06:19.809 --> 06:23.380
And then of course, there\'s the, the physical
aspect of it and,
06:23.660 --> 06:27.369
and then just, uh, sharing, sharing time,
sharing our lives together.
06:27.380 --> 06:31.529
That would be nice.
She\'s looking, looking for a romantic Jewish
06:31.540 --> 06:33.380
guy.
I\'m not a romantic Jewish guy.
06:33.390 --> 06:35.950
Forget about it.
Oh, there\'s Regina.
06:35.959 --> 06:39.480
It looks like she makes uh open peach pie.
That could be good.
06:40.130 --> 06:41.489
I think that\'s what that is.
06:42.279 --> 06:44.579
This one\'s got, it was a wonderful gift from
God.
06:44.589 --> 06:46.980
I don\'t know.
I don\'t think I\'m in for that.
06:47.660 --> 06:51.160
Serena 48.
No hookups, but she\'s showing her bare belly.
06:52.230 --> 06:57.019
Never married, no kids up in the, I don\'t know
what all of that means.
06:57.320 --> 07:00.829
Goes to me on Long Island.
She works out all the time.
07:02.019 --> 07:06.709
I don\'t work out at all.
We\'d probably be uh not too good.
07:15.549 --> 07:18.320
People die in the most awkward places.
07:18.880 --> 07:25.670
They die in a bathtub, they die in the attic,
they die stuck between the toilet bowl and the
07:25.679 --> 07:30.230
sink and the, and the pass the top, you gotta
get them out of there.
07:30.950 --> 07:35.369
But I\'ve had four hernias repaired from doing
this.
07:45.709 --> 07:47.109
You know how many times I\'ve done this?
07:47.459 --> 07:49.779
All right.
Didn\'t count that many times.
08:09.279 --> 08:13.250
No thought you at home.
I\'m sorry. Yep.
08:13.260 --> 08:16.750
That\'s what I\'m gonna give you.
L like Larry, E like Eric,
08:16.760 --> 08:22.320
F like Frank E like Eric, V like Victor, R like
Robert.
08:22.329 --> 08:23.359
Spell it for you.
08:24.170 --> 08:25.200
X like X ray.
08:25.489 --> 08:30.220
I like ice a like Adam, I\'ll, I\'ll talk to the
boss of you.
08:30.239 --> 08:33.880
I\'m just a, just a helper here tonight, so.
08:34.729 --> 08:36.718
Oh, ok.
Yeah, I retired from here.
08:36.729 --> 08:40.968
Get out of here now I\'m back to work.
He dragged me back in here because I got too
08:40.979 --> 08:42.658
much work to handle.
He\'s coming out,
08:57.510 --> 09:02.229
put it back in there here in there. No.
Come on,
09:02.239 --> 09:05.030
we can\'t body how you gonna get them into the
gasket?
09:05.090 --> 09:09.190
They, why they sit in the creation that will
force you to put them in the casket,
09:09.890 --> 09:13.559
force them they might have it.
Don\'t put the check so close to the wall you
09:13.570 --> 09:18.239
got no room here.
This is like Tetris in the pot.
09:18.969 --> 09:25.719
Just give me one second. Yes. Ok. Ok. Yeah.
So uh yeah.
09:25.729 --> 09:27.650
Yeah.
Yeah, because it\'s just getting ridiculous.
09:30.659 --> 09:35.330
We, we can\'t make the phone calls we need to
make because people are calling in just asking
09:35.340 --> 09:37.590
for updates and things like that, which I
understand.
09:37.599 --> 09:39.250
But it\'s, it\'s very disruptive.
09:43.969 --> 09:48.619
The first time I ever touched a dead person was
in the chapel across the hall.
09:48.809 --> 09:54.099
I came in here after a funeral mass and they
were setting up a body in the chapel and I
09:54.109 --> 09:56.580
asked him, you know, what does there was an old
lady?
09:56.590 --> 09:58.859
I remember she said, what does, what do they
feel like?
09:58.869 --> 10:01.390
Are they hard.
Are they cold or?
10:01.400 --> 10:03.369
You know, he says, well, go ahead and touch it.
It\'s like,
10:03.380 --> 10:08.460
really, so I touched them, I really quickly and
I remember it was cold and,
10:08.469 --> 10:10.580
uh, but it didn\'t give me nightmares or
anything like that.
10:10.590 --> 10:11.909
I said, oh, ok.
That\'s how it feels.
10:11.919 --> 10:12.919
And that was it?
10:21.429 --> 10:25.609
New field is well known in this area.
I know everybody in this area is the Spanish
10:25.619 --> 10:26.890
community.
Come here. Yeah.
10:27.169 --> 10:28.280
And I appreciate that.
10:30.919 --> 10:33.349
Well, I can\'t, I can\'t help you.
10:34.739 --> 10:39.979
If you, if I can\'t talk to you, I will hold
them here and they will be safe.
10:41.159 --> 10:44.739
I will hold the cremains here and they will be
safe.
10:46.390 --> 10:48.440
Yes, you\'ll be safe here at the funeral home.
10:50.229 --> 10:56.229
I, I\'ll hold, I\'ll hold the cremains here at
the feudal home and they\'ll be perfectly safe.
10:56.239 --> 10:59.140
My dad\'s typewriter that he uses was made in
West Germany,
10:59.150 --> 11:01.210
which is a country that no longer exists.
11:01.429 --> 11:05.539
And he used to send my brother and I on the
scavenger hunts to try to find typewriter
11:05.549 --> 11:08.489
ribbons and different components of the thing.
11:08.820 --> 11:12.400
Everybody\'s like this, this is antiquated and
nobody makes this stuff anymore.
11:12.409 --> 11:13.409
I\'m like, I know
11:20.169 --> 11:24.390
and my wife came home from work and I said to
her, I am going to work tomorrow.
11:24.450 --> 11:27.599
You can\'t go to work, you gotta stay home and
rest.
11:27.609 --> 11:32.150
I said if I don\'t go to work tomorrow, you\'re
gonna find me hanging from the chandelier cause
11:32.159 --> 11:34.919
I can\'t sit here and watch mindless television.
11:37.150 --> 11:40.080
It\'s just, you know, even with cable there is
nothing on.
11:41.099 --> 11:47.669
Ok.
So we\'ve converted our main chapel
11:47.770 --> 11:54.590
into a storage area for the bodies that we
11:54.599 --> 11:58.309
have gotten from hospitals over the last couple
of weeks.
11:58.320 --> 12:00.679
It\'s just a dead body stinks.
12:01.929 --> 12:04.760
Something that I found over all my years in
this.
12:04.770 --> 12:07.309
I never got used to. Yeah.
12:07.700 --> 12:13.400
Maybe some people do.
I don\'t to assist the overburdened funeral
12:13.409 --> 12:18.859
homes every week.
A professor from Suny Canton upstate drives six
12:18.869 --> 12:24.010
hours with his students to pick up bodies here
in New York City and deliver them to
12:24.020 --> 12:25.119
crematories.
12:25.469 --> 12:32.059
Not a pleasant task but one that is crucial at
this point in the pandemic on Utica Avenue in
12:32.070 --> 12:34.750
Brooklyn.
I\'m Mary Murphy picks 11 news.
12:34.760 --> 12:36.190
Don\'t worry in life.
12:36.849 --> 12:40.349
I won\'t let you down, but maybe in death, I
will
12:45.669 --> 12:51.020
humor in the funeral industry is, is, is a
defense mechanism.
12:51.030 --> 12:57.549
The mind, the mind can only take so much
seriousness in the
12:57.559 --> 13:00.739
future.
Let\'s put just a tad bit of space in between
13:00.750 --> 13:02.479
the boxes so we can get in. Ok.
13:03.030 --> 13:04.030
All right.
Thank you.
13:08.500 --> 13:09.909
You telling me they\'re gonna be too close.
13:12.140 --> 13:15.390
You\'re packing up just a tad bit too close, my
friend.
13:16.760 --> 13:23.119
Uh We never really take advantage of
13:23.130 --> 13:26.250
life.
We take advantage, extra advantage of it is
13:26.260 --> 13:28.650
what it is.
We don\'t appreciate the people that\'s around us.
13:29.200 --> 13:31.030
We don\'t care.
I\'m doing something, bro.
13:31.270 --> 13:33.719
We got the heat over here.
Why are you worried about that?
13:33.729 --> 13:35.789
You\'re sick.
Well, I, I was saying right now,
13:35.799 --> 13:39.890
what we\'re dealing with is very virus.
Can I just talk Jesus Christ?
13:40.549 --> 13:41.919
Is there a future for us?
13:42.669 --> 13:45.750
Is there something solid that we could just say?
You know what,
13:45.760 --> 13:50.250
tomorrow I\'m gonna do this.
There is no such word as tomorrow later or the
13:50.260 --> 13:52.390
next second because people are dying every
second.
13:58.700 --> 14:03.669
You wanna use gloves or you just gonna run
doggy after I grab it.
14:03.679 --> 14:05.210
Then you tell me I should use drugs.
14:06.330 --> 14:07.419
No, this is not the same.
14:14.020 --> 14:15.530
You wanna put it head first over there.
14:15.770 --> 14:18.669
I don\'t care.
It doesn\'t matter how many bodies are you gonna
14:18.679 --> 14:21.599
put here.
Uh As many as we could fit, you\'re gonna need
14:21.609 --> 14:23.849
Southern tear, southern tier, southern tier.
I don\'t care.
14:23.859 --> 14:26.590
A southern tear.
This one is going to the other place.
14:26.599 --> 14:30.919
You move it over there, move it over there.
I don\'t care to give a shit Southern tear.
14:30.929 --> 14:36.940
Jesus Christ.
Not just a minute. Yep.
14:39.059 --> 14:42.260
You can\'t walk up everything you gotta have
room to move.
14:43.320 --> 14:46.880
There\'s no room to bring a casket through here.
They shouldn\'t be no,
14:46.890 --> 14:50.559
there\'s no room to bring a box through here.
Why would you need to move a box?
14:50.570 --> 14:53.330
You gotta start moving these things around.
This is gonna be in the way.
14:56.140 --> 14:58.690
Let me see what it\'s like for you guys.
How do you guys get around?
15:01.580 --> 15:04.239
I see what the problem is you can\'t get around
them.
15:04.250 --> 15:10.719
I can\'t, I\'m right.
The problem there was a day when I was still
15:10.729 --> 15:12.520
like you.
I remember, I used to see him.
15:12.530 --> 15:14.700
Yeah, I was a little kid to the south. Right.
15:46.330 --> 15:53.150
This is supposedly Maria G, and she says that
she\'s 25 years old and lives in
15:54.700 --> 15:57.280
Brandon, Florida.
She probably doesn\'t even know where Brandon
15:57.289 --> 15:59.190
Florida is.
But that\'s what she says.
16:00.010 --> 16:03.549
And then, you know, she\'s beautiful.
Her boobs are hanging out and everything I said,
16:03.559 --> 16:04.700
well, where do you live?
What we say?
16:04.890 --> 16:09.429
She and then she wrote back Egypt or East Egypt
or something and I wrote back to this.
16:09.440 --> 16:13.070
What the hell are you talking about?
There\'s no place anywhere in New York City
16:13.080 --> 16:15.960
called Egypt.
Oh no, I made a mistake.
16:16.049 --> 16:21.239
She made a mistake because she thought she was
talking to the other guy thought BS but I
16:21.250 --> 16:27.440
decided to leave my wife.
I left her so
16:27.450 --> 16:31.780
unfortunate situation. Yeah.
No, I just say
16:39.010 --> 16:41.520
ok. Mhm.
16:54.429 --> 16:59.150
4 4000.
That\'s 718424 4000.
17:00.659 --> 17:05.699
It\'s only been seven days.
So I\'m gonna send out a couple of emails before
17:05.849 --> 17:06.719
I go.
Hi, how are you?
17:06.729 --> 17:09.369
Good evening.
I\'m a funeral director before being transferred.
17:09.380 --> 17:12.199
Would you please tell me what the extension
number is to admitting?
17:15.390 --> 17:20.890
Yep.
404 or 7404.
17:22.150 --> 17:24.910
Ok.
May I be transferred now please? Thanks.
17:27.859 --> 17:33.180
I\'m sorry.
Extension 7404 does not answer.
17:34.599 --> 17:36.079
Let\'s just. Ok. Dokey.
17:37.859 --> 17:41.489
Let\'s see what other numbers we have. 245.
Hello.
17:43.930 --> 17:45.640
I\'m glad this is an emergency.
17:47.849 --> 17:51.819
Come out.
That phone rang.
17:51.829 --> 17:55.510
Once it gets picked up this one rings and rings
and nobody picks up.
17:55.930 --> 18:01.140
This is a hospital. Nothing.
18:05.770 --> 18:09.329
I need to speak to the nursing supervisor
immediately and live personally.
18:09.339 --> 18:11.000
I don\'t need your voicemail.
I need her page.
18:12.300 --> 18:15.270
This is now the third call that I placed in the
nursing home.
18:15.280 --> 18:16.670
We have a death.
We pull.
18:20.589 --> 18:23.979
Ok, then I\'ll tell you the story.
The story is that the body has been in our
18:23.989 --> 18:27.109
funeral home for seven days and you haven\'t
signed a death certificate.
18:29.319 --> 18:30.910
Alani died.
April 5.
18:30.920 --> 18:32.150
Where is the death certificate?
18:33.810 --> 18:36.729
Well, he didn\'t.
What name, what name did he sign?
18:36.739 --> 18:40.880
I don\'t see it in the system.
What name we have 150 cases.
18:44.670 --> 18:45.890
Really?
Well, where is it?
18:45.900 --> 18:47.910
Because I\'m looking in the system and it\'s not
there.
18:47.920 --> 18:49.739
April 5th, did she die?
April 5th?
18:53.550 --> 18:57.310
718424 4000.
She doesn\'t have time.
18:57.319 --> 18:59.550
I have 100 and 50 bodies here but she doesn\'t
have time.
18:59.560 --> 19:04.709
Ok. Yes.
718424 4000
19:07.319 --> 19:12.319
718718424 4000
19:14.599 --> 19:17.739
and stay.
What
19:29.520 --> 19:30.069
that all?
19:39.020 --> 19:40.020
Ok.
19:46.390 --> 19:49.150
What what it kids?
20:00.010 --> 20:04.500
I am very sorry for your loss but for today
it\'s only temporary panel.
20:04.680 --> 20:08.280
The original we sent to outside, you know, to
make in script,
20:09.329 --> 20:10.689
it will come back in 10 days.
20:11.449 --> 20:12.599
I\'m very sorry for your loss.
20:14.390 --> 20:15.390
So
20:26.520 --> 20:30.000
embalming does it slows down the decomposition
process?
20:30.010 --> 20:34.030
But the freezing of the body she looked, I mean,
you know,
20:34.349 --> 20:37.310
it was, it wasn\'t like what you would think
after two months,
20:37.319 --> 20:41.150
it was perfectly beautifully preserved.
And that\'s why I described what I saw because I
20:41.160 --> 20:46.770
know you, you know, OK, I see
20:47.880 --> 20:51.630
my father passed away in 2009.
So I know this,
20:51.640 --> 20:57.219
this feeling, you know, when you lose somebody.
So always it\'s broken heart doesn\'t matter very
20:57.229 --> 21:02.069
close to my heart or not.
You know, somebody from my family lost somebody
21:02.079 --> 21:06.709
or, or another families because everybody, we
are brothers,
21:06.719 --> 21:08.959
you know.
So it\'s sad situation.
21:08.969 --> 21:12.890
It\'s never time to, to, to say to somebody whom
you love,
21:12.900 --> 21:19.880
you know, bye bye and maybe never see again.
So I don\'t know what to say.
21:19.890 --> 21:26.229
Yes, the more, you know, watch
21:28.119 --> 21:29.119
one.
21:56.819 --> 21:57.750
How you gonna pay me?
22:03.910 --> 22:08.000
Yeah. Four.
22:12.280 --> 22:12.359
Uh
22:21.609 --> 22:22.609
OK.
22:38.020 --> 22:41.229
But these buddies are going, they\'re going like
for now these are going,
22:43.260 --> 22:50.130
I have what\'s happening more and more people
are reaching a breaking point with this
22:51.010 --> 22:54.319
and the frustration is getting higher and
higher.
22:54.329 --> 22:56.989
I just hit my 10,000 steps for today.
22:57.250 --> 23:01.209
And that\'s the reason why I\'m losing weight and
that\'s a good thing.
23:04.030 --> 23:06.400
This is war, this is war.
23:07.520 --> 23:11.160
You do.
So before we walk to the truck down and I\'m
23:11.170 --> 23:14.359
like 147 deaths a day.
23:14.660 --> 23:17.300
They, so they\'re doing seven or 800 a death.
23:17.859 --> 23:23.209
I\'m sitting on well over 100 right now and we
start at seven in the morning and we go to
23:23.270 --> 23:24.459
midnight every night.
23:24.900 --> 23:28.630
It\'s my birthday.
It\'s my birthday. Yeah.
23:29.680 --> 23:36.449
So eternal rest ran on to you Lord and let
perpetual light shine upon them.
23:37.310 --> 23:41.650
May their souls and all the souls of the
faithful departed through this virus.
23:42.030 --> 23:44.520
Rest in peace. Amen.
Amen,
23:57.469 --> 24:00.069
inspection and safety checks.
We restore and repair,
24:00.079 --> 24:03.939
all makes and models of barbecues and grills
while maintaining the highest health and safety
24:03.949 --> 24:07.180
standards in the process.
Our service beds are stocked with a full
24:07.189 --> 24:11.209
selection of common horses and other microbes
and guaranteed to remain antimicrobial.
24:12.260 --> 24:15.750
Well, for New York City, the vital statistics
that they collect for the death certificate
24:15.760 --> 24:20.989
include name, place of death, date of death,
place of birth,
24:21.000 --> 24:25.780
date of birth, parents, names, uh mother\'s
maiden name,
24:26.069 --> 24:31.810
social security number. Ok.
25:12.760 --> 25:16.339
We\'re dealing with bodies.
We\'re not conducting services,
25:16.349 --> 25:22.130
we\'re not having full funerals.
We\'re just dealing with body disposal.
25:22.229 --> 25:26.560
That\'s what it\'s come to discourage body
disposal.
25:27.500 --> 25:28.640
That\'s what it feels like.
25:31.170 --> 25:33.160
There\'s nothing sacred in this anymore.
25:40.160 --> 25:41.729
That\'s like a good look on that.
25:48.479 --> 25:51.069
Is that right?
What we take it in?
25:51.489 --> 25:57.819
I got it.
I have been, I\'ve been eating a lot
25:57.829 --> 26:01.859
of uh a lot of not so great food.
I have not gained any weight.
26:01.869 --> 26:03.310
I\'ve been staying the same.
26:04.010 --> 26:09.400
Ok, but my fluid is not enough.
My mouth is dry right now.
26:09.410 --> 26:10.829
I got to get some more into me.
26:13.979 --> 26:15.010
The appeared online.
26:15.380 --> 26:19.750
So we gotta get up to 42.
26:21.050 --> 26:21.339
We have
26:26.699 --> 26:28.780
2233123.
26:30.939 --> 26:35.739
Good on the edge of ok, we\'re in that steak.
26:36.369 --> 26:42.020
She said, uh, you can check your hold, hold the
seat up,
26:42.209 --> 26:46.410
you.
So
26:49.979 --> 26:54.329
he is, come on, put the head over here.
26:56.250 --> 26:59.609
Two of these poor guys stabbed themselves.
27:00.400 --> 27:04.369
Repeat.
One of these guys stabbed himself repeatedly in
27:04.400 --> 27:06.439
the neck.
Really? Yep.
27:08.459 --> 27:10.959
What, what brings you to the point that you can
do that?
27:11.189 --> 27:13.859
That\'s, yeah, it\'s a question.
27:14.839 --> 27:17.619
All he had to do was stick around with
Coronavirus.
27:17.630 --> 27:23.000
Uh I\'m, I\'m grateful that I\'m, I\'m busy because
I\'m so busy that I can think about,
27:23.119 --> 27:26.239
you know, start thinking about getting
depressed about things or anything.
27:26.729 --> 27:32.069
So, and um, yeah, yeah, that I,
27:34.359 --> 27:37.520
you know, yes, yesterday we got rid of 35.
So now we have,
27:37.790 --> 27:40.219
we could fit another 35.
So we\'re, you know,
27:40.780 --> 27:44.910
we\'re going, we\'re going out to these are
people that have made some arrangements with us
27:45.329 --> 27:49.140
and, or maybe complete arranges, but we haven\'t
gotten the bodies because we don\'t have room.
27:49.630 --> 27:52.680
So we\'re go which we, now we\'re refilling the
place.
27:52.689 --> 27:55.329
But they should first check that when they
bring bodies in.
27:56.099 --> 28:00.280
We should check the table to see uh if they\'re
on the list if they\'re not,
28:00.290 --> 28:03.000
they gotta go downstairs because now we gotta
spend a couple,
28:04.170 --> 28:06.969
few minutes taking those bodies out with the
shack.
28:08.829 --> 28:09.890
How\'s the sandwich?
28:11.589 --> 28:18.060
I couldn\'t, they only eat sandwiches and heroes
and pizza and burgers.
28:18.530 --> 28:21.760
So if you get Indian food, that\'s not happening,
they wanna get Thai food,
28:21.770 --> 28:24.119
that\'s not happening.
Chinese food ain\'t happening.
28:24.829 --> 28:28.329
So, but what can you do?
So it\'s sandwiches.
28:28.339 --> 28:33.000
That\'s why I\'m like this and they\'re like that.
28:37.520 --> 28:40.939
This is the most sacred object right here.
28:41.609 --> 28:46.550
This is the most sacred object that a family
can ever give to a funeral director.
28:47.030 --> 28:51.250
They entrust the funeral director into this
care.
28:52.640 --> 28:53.640
Their love
29:19.560 --> 29:23.219
human beings.
Number one instinct like almost if someone in
29:23.229 --> 29:29.069
the beginning of time went and programmed the
gene that our number one command was to survive,
29:29.489 --> 29:31.890
you could see this in every facet of life.
29:32.650 --> 29:39.579
The virus will as deadly as it is, will attack
the human body and kill the human being,
29:40.130 --> 29:41.939
not realizing it kills itself.
29:43.030 --> 29:47.189
But it\'s number one command is to survive.
29:47.670 --> 29:51.290
You don\'t know it\'s killing itself, but it will
do what it do until the end.
30:07.229 --> 30:11.250
We, we had um a lady who passed away a number
of years ago.
30:11.310 --> 30:15.849
She was 100 and six and not that it\'s ever easy
to lose your mother.
30:15.859 --> 30:20.489
I I don\'t wanna say that, but the son was just
beside himself.
30:20.619 --> 30:27.170
Extremely destroyed and he was in his late
eighties and you almost wanna just try to
30:27.180 --> 30:29.560
explain to the gentleman.
It\'s like you know you\'re on deck.
30:29.569 --> 30:33.439
Um you know pe people don\'t normally live that
long.
30:33.469 --> 30:37.760
100 and six you got 89 or 88 years with your
mom.
30:37.770 --> 30:38.800
That\'s better than most.
30:39.319 --> 30:41.030
You should, you should be grateful for that.
30:43.170 --> 30:45.660
I would be sign me up for 100 and six. Jeez.
31:10.709 --> 31:12.829
Alright Omar Sema.
31:13.890 --> 31:17.910
Are you you\'re looking sexy and you\'re a little
uh hook a bit.
31:20.540 --> 31:21.579
Is that the baby?
31:21.810 --> 31:24.050
The baby here so that you could see it?
31:24.510 --> 31:28.510
The mother wants Angelo Guadalupe Ison Lopez
and I spell everything off her.
31:28.520 --> 31:31.329
So now here\'s the baby Veronica Lopez Bazan.
31:35.609 --> 31:38.410
Oh no.
How did that happen?
31:38.880 --> 31:44.770
Because the hospital I don\'t know if the
hospital was asking me if they named the baby.
31:44.780 --> 31:46.579
How did they get Veronica on here?
31:47.479 --> 31:48.810
No idea where that came from.
31:50.849 --> 31:52.089
The father\'s name and no.
31:53.969 --> 31:57.500
Oh ma make sure you got the right baby.
I mean it\'s their mistake,
31:57.510 --> 31:59.469
not my mistake.
I gave them my paper.
31:59.479 --> 32:02.290
That\'s who I\'m here for.
This is my MRI number is everything and this is
32:02.300 --> 32:05.199
who you gave me.
So this is what I I have no problem telling the
32:05.209 --> 32:06.900
mother this is the wrong baby.
It\'s the wrong baby.
32:06.910 --> 32:08.420
This is what the Bellevue Hospital gave.
32:09.130 --> 32:12.349
I I know but you don\'t want to go to have to go
through that with the mother.
32:12.420 --> 32:19.339
No, it\'s it\'s upsetting enough and don\'t be
opening that in here that belongs next
32:19.349 --> 32:21.630
door in the funeral.
Not in the house.
32:21.640 --> 32:23.410
Come on.
No, it\'s not.
32:25.390 --> 32:29.969
And, and just so, you know, I took my computer
back because I wanna use it.
32:29.979 --> 32:33.569
I\'m, I, I gotta look at porn and I wanna be
able to use it.
32:35.380 --> 32:41.130
It is.
You gotta think about yourself.
32:43.310 --> 32:46.449
Forgot to think about it yourself.
But then that doesn\'t help the mission
32:53.760 --> 32:56.839
crazy to be living for through, through a time
like this.
32:57.069 --> 33:02.920
And I\'m just glad I get to be able to be doing
something besides sitting on the couch.
33:03.969 --> 33:05.349
The dead aren\'t gonna hurt you.
33:17.540 --> 33:21.140
Yeah, I mean, I mean, each, each soul has
energy, you know,
33:21.150 --> 33:22.800
you don\'t destroy energy.
33:23.030 --> 33:29.869
Each soul has energy and, and that\'s, it\'s, we
embrace that energy and because of
33:29.880 --> 33:33.109
that, uh it\'s, it\'s a feeling
33:41.770 --> 33:47.060
death is the ultimate and spiritual experience
because death answers no matter what religion
33:47.069 --> 33:51.400
you are, it answers one question and one
question only.
33:51.410 --> 33:52.979
Where do we go after we died?
34:00.750 --> 34:04.520
What\'s going on very much?
Just throw up some shrimp.
34:10.570 --> 34:14.800
So his friend who also works with him has a
side hustle selling the stuff that they
34:14.810 --> 34:16.520
delivered it the other day.
I can help.
34:19.729 --> 34:23.719
The shrimp is good but I only have time to have
one because somebody just died in the house.
34:23.729 --> 34:25.530
So off I go,
34:36.060 --> 34:38.120
have you been to Fairview Forest Hills?
34:39.219 --> 34:42.010
Forest Hill should be ok. Yeah.
This one that was on the Hills.
34:42.689 --> 34:45.000
Not in a long time.
I haven\'t done anything in a long time.
34:45.010 --> 34:46.129
Yeah.
I used to go there.
34:46.139 --> 34:48.179
The Forest Hills Care Center.
That should be ok.
34:48.729 --> 34:51.989
Yeah.
Oh, is it good for your father?
34:52.000 --> 34:55.479
The February 1?
I was there once.
34:55.489 --> 34:58.100
I thought they closed down.
I put it on the bottom of the list.
34:59.389 --> 35:01.560
I thought you was like to pick up a body.
35:01.870 --> 35:04.389
Well, that\'s how I know a lot of these places
do.
35:04.399 --> 35:07.169
I want my father\'s body there.
Not necessarily.
35:07.300 --> 35:09.129
Well, that\'s why I told the lady he\'s like,
listen, he\'s like,
35:09.139 --> 35:10.939
I have the list.
He\'s like, you have to know something.
35:10.949 --> 35:16.489
He\'s like I go to these places and not a lot of
nursing homes are taking on COVID patients and
35:16.500 --> 35:20.360
he\'s unfortunately a COVID patient, but at
least he\'s medically stable.
35:20.370 --> 35:22.149
You know, he could be on that pile over there
too.
35:22.159 --> 35:24.879
So, you know, every cloud has a silver lining
35:29.090 --> 35:36.070
and because if we and then it\'s either you go
to one side and you start to
35:36.080 --> 35:40.500
crack up.
Rodriguez is a funeral director in Queens,
35:40.510 --> 35:45.510
but for days now, his phone has not stopped
ringing because we\'re getting families crying
35:45.520 --> 35:50.419
on the phone to us as the city system for
burials is completely overwhelmed.
35:50.429 --> 35:55.479
Rodriguez was scheduled to pick up the remains
of two people for cremation today from Elmhurst
35:55.489 --> 35:58.899
Hospital.
Instead, the remains were loaded into trailers
35:58.909 --> 36:01.919
like this one and brought here to Randalls
Island.
36:02.370 --> 36:08.399
Rodriguez waited for six hours before he was
finally able to gain access to the trailers.
36:08.429 --> 36:13.459
What is not efficient is funeral directors
having to go dumpster diving in these makeshift
36:13.469 --> 36:17.540
morgues where we\'re stepping on people\'s loved
ones and dragging them over other loved ones.
36:28.239 --> 36:30.850
You know, don\'t be afraid.
Maybe we can get more of this.
36:30.949 --> 36:32.770
I know we can, but I\'m not being afraid.
36:33.060 --> 36:37.399
You put a layer on the bottom and then you put
a layer on the top and you put some inside.
36:38.790 --> 36:41.479
It\'s getting a little smelly in the right here.
36:42.449 --> 36:44.060
It\'s gonna be like that action.
36:45.689 --> 36:48.939
You put stinky bodies in the room.
It gets smelly sometimes.
36:49.929 --> 36:51.300
Listen, thank God it\'s the summer.
36:52.199 --> 36:54.449
Yeah, we got no ac going.
37:06.090 --> 37:08.520
You didn\'t get anything for, for mother\'s day.
I see.
37:08.530 --> 37:10.919
You\'re not my mother.
My mother is dead.
37:17.570 --> 37:20.639
Say I\'ll, I\'ll tell your kids to get you
something but you\'re not my mother.
37:22.820 --> 37:25.760
Well, come on, I hear you.
I hear you.
37:25.770 --> 37:30.399
I got it for your birthday.
I got it for Valentine\'s Day for everything
37:30.409 --> 37:32.760
else.
I give you presents but mother\'s day.
37:33.760 --> 37:38.610
It\'s not, you\'re not my mother, I guess because
she feels that she\'s the mother of your
37:38.620 --> 37:40.699
Children.
Well, that\'s how she feels.
37:40.709 --> 37:42.340
Does she get you something for Father\'s Day?
37:43.070 --> 37:46.239
I guess she did.
I don\'t remember but I never asked her for it.
37:51.449 --> 37:52.689
Where do you want this?
37:53.530 --> 38:00.469
You want it like that? Hi. Gorgeous.
How are you?
38:00.580 --> 38:03.040
I\'m the reason why things are running.
38:04.060 --> 38:07.820
I\'ve been told my brother told me all about you.
Well, he,
38:07.830 --> 38:13.179
excuse me, excuse me.
Not all, only the good parts.
38:15.629 --> 38:21.199
What do you need?
Uh oh no, this is what I\'m built for.
38:21.260 --> 38:23.360
Hey, you\'re built for on that baby.
38:25.219 --> 38:27.399
So I was nice to her.
You would have been proud of me.
38:27.409 --> 38:32.489
Did you hear what I said?
Flirting constitute.
38:32.500 --> 38:34.719
Uh I always flirt.
Yeah, that\'s me.
38:34.729 --> 38:39.010
I know.
I know but asking her to have a glass of wine
38:39.020 --> 38:41.570
is not flirting.
No, but when the little sisters of the poor
38:41.580 --> 38:46.919
call you for donations, I shouldn\'t flirt with
them with the with the superior.
38:47.699 --> 38:48.699
That\'s a problem.
38:49.310 --> 38:55.110
It could be, well, maybe not but maybe could be
carry on
38:55.830 --> 39:00.149
numbers.
Carry on if you\'re gonna get married,
39:00.159 --> 39:04.780
marry your best friend, not your lover, your
best friend.
39:11.330 --> 39:15.590
This is a very dark blue casket with gold shade.
39:17.979 --> 39:20.379
This is a black casket with gold shame.
39:23.270 --> 39:27.649
This is a dark blue with a, with a light blue
interior, very plain.
39:29.800 --> 39:32.729
We have a silver casket that\'s very plain with
a white interior.
39:32.959 --> 39:36.040
This is happening in every single funeral home
throughout the city.
39:36.760 --> 39:41.929
This room here is happening in every single
funeral hall throughout the city to the point
39:41.939 --> 39:46.850
where funeral directors are turning off their
phones and saying don\'t call us anymore and
39:46.860 --> 39:48.580
that\'s not right to the consumer.
39:49.709 --> 39:51.080
Please return to your cars.
39:52.489 --> 39:54.870
Don\'t wait for the others start, hit the head
back.
39:56.540 --> 40:02.550
Ok, please return to your cars. Ok.
40:03.320 --> 40:07.060
Just, just go directly back to your car so I
can bring more people up.
40:29.300 --> 40:34.340
Yeah, they, they said I couldn\'t uh get the
body because there\'s nobody in the morgue area
40:35.209 --> 40:37.830
and yeah, the Morgan Center went home early.
40:38.580 --> 40:42.909
So now I have to go back tomorrow when they can
get me into the trailer.
40:44.360 --> 40:45.360
When\'s the funeral?
40:46.500 --> 40:48.469
Got another there between nine and six.
40:51.600 --> 40:53.979
Must be nice working banker than ours.
40:56.330 --> 40:57.330
Oh, what?
41:39.810 --> 41:41.870
Jam them in, just jam them in.
41:43.169 --> 41:48.179
Nobody cares.
It is De Blasio.
41:48.189 --> 41:50.280
He\'s checking on to see if you have a mask on.
41:50.540 --> 41:54.179
Better.
Put your mask on gonna drop bombs on you.
42:05.110 --> 42:09.620
They have about six burials.
Why would they bring the bodies where I have 35
42:09.629 --> 42:11.760
cream?
Because they\'re bringing them in from outside.
42:11.770 --> 42:13.949
They\'re bringing them in and that\'s it.
And then where are you gonna,
42:13.959 --> 42:16.669
you\'re not gonna take a body like that and put
it in the front room,
42:16.679 --> 42:20.090
put it in the casket and that\'s fine and seal
it.
42:20.580 --> 42:23.810
Yes.
Get, get caskets for these things.
42:23.820 --> 42:30.449
You complaining to the very the hell out of
here but I don\'t put stinking bodies out up
42:30.459 --> 42:36.620
there, you know.
42:38.510 --> 42:42.610
So uh so are you with him right now or are you
allowing to go to Brad?
42:43.649 --> 42:50.629
You\'re with them?
These, these, you can\'t describe to me
42:50.639 --> 42:51.989
in detail what you\'re wearing.
42:55.159 --> 42:56.750
I wish you would take care of me.
42:58.810 --> 43:01.560
We could, it could be, it could be a mutual
thing.
43:01.570 --> 43:05.949
We\'ll take care of each other. Yeah. Yeah.
43:06.229 --> 43:08.649
You\'re making me wish I could come down there
and take care of you.
43:08.659 --> 43:13.000
Honey, we, we should have cremation clearance
on all those because I think those are the ones
43:13.010 --> 43:16.520
I see.
We haven\'t seen a whole lot of progress thus
43:16.530 --> 43:20.050
far in terms of his oxygen levels with his
COVID infection.
43:20.939 --> 43:25.669
Unfortunately, last night, um, he was working
much, much harder to breathe.
43:29.040 --> 43:30.699
So I wanted to give you an update.
43:52.370 --> 43:54.530
I know it\'s very difficult that I feel bad for
you.
43:55.050 --> 43:57.320
You know, she doesn\'t, she\'s very worried
because, you know,
43:57.330 --> 43:59.080
she doesn\'t want him to be very.
43:59.370 --> 44:03.479
No, he\'s, he\'s here, he\'s here.
He\'s been here for several days already.
44:03.489 --> 44:08.370
I don\'t, I couldn\'t tell you when, listen, you
know, we\'ve had well over 100 films and by the
44:08.379 --> 44:11.270
time this is done in another week we\'ll have
another 100.
44:11.280 --> 44:15.669
Part of the reason is you\'re not getting an
answer because the phones are really busy and
44:15.679 --> 44:19.750
sometimes we take the phones off the hook
because we\'re not gonna get any work done.
44:19.760 --> 44:22.729
I can\'t sit here and talk to you and answer the
phone every 30 seconds.
44:22.739 --> 44:27.040
That\'s, that\'s not polite to you and it\'s not
polite to the few people on the phone,
44:47.969 --> 44:50.000
you know, who dies in an epidemic.
44:51.129 --> 44:52.969
What is the theory of Darwin?
44:54.030 --> 44:58.750
The fittest survived the old animal?
44:59.179 --> 45:04.879
Of the herd is weak down today.
45:06.739 --> 45:13.439
Understand of the people of the nations baptism
in the name of the son,
45:13.449 --> 45:15.209
the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.
45:17.139 --> 45:19.010
Well, I, I think that\'s wonderful.
45:20.679 --> 45:24.060
Thank yourself.
But I, I just like to share a scripture with
45:24.070 --> 45:26.179
you.
All right, go ahead. Ok.
45:26.189 --> 45:30.100
Jesus told us 2/2000 years ago and you can see
this is brother.
45:30.110 --> 45:34.449
He, he, he, he said all this on the mountain.
Have you ever heard of?
45:34.459 --> 45:37.979
Uh, excuse me?
I\'m sorry.
45:38.159 --> 45:43.050
That\'s all right.
Are you talking about sermon on the mouth?
45:45.409 --> 45:47.570
Maybe, maybe I could take over your job for you.
45:48.899 --> 45:50.399
Well, this is my first time.
I\'m trying, uh,
45:50.919 --> 45:53.760
what we call telephone witnesses and I\'m kind
of nervous.
45:53.820 --> 45:57.000
Don\'t be nervous.
I\'m, I\'m, I\'m not gonna treat you badly.
45:57.010 --> 45:58.250
Don\'t be nervous.
45:59.560 --> 46:01.879
Chapter 13 verses seven.
46:03.090 --> 46:08.560
When you hear walls and report the walls, there
will be Greeks and,
46:09.060 --> 46:13.540
and in one case after another food shortages p
do you know what?
46:14.530 --> 46:18.639
I sure do that, that, uh, what\'s going on now?
46:18.939 --> 46:21.469
Yes, COVID-19.
That\'s the pestilence.
46:21.669 --> 46:26.280
It sure is.
And the gold on and then we\'ll be fearful sign
46:26.709 --> 46:29.750
and from having a great time. Yeah.
46:30.979 --> 46:34.409
So listen, um, I gotta get going because I, I
have a,
46:34.419 --> 46:36.639
a death to, to deal with. Ok.
46:37.739 --> 46:39.750
No, no, no, that\'s, that\'s all right.
That\'s what I do.
46:39.760 --> 46:41.870
That\'s what I\'m in business for.
I take care of dead people.
46:55.370 --> 46:55.750
Yeah,
47:02.840 --> 47:04.060
1997.
47:05.469 --> 47:11.389
What are these?
These are cremains from
47:11.399 --> 47:15.149
1997.
You have cremains going back is probably from,
47:15.159 --> 47:19.439
as far back as, probably the forties, thirties.
Maybe every funeral home has,
47:19.449 --> 47:22.550
remains at that, uh, will never get picked up.
47:22.879 --> 47:25.870
That\'s why some funeral homes have very strict,
pick, pick up,
47:25.879 --> 47:29.310
uh, rules if you don\'t pick them up in 60 days,
100 and 20 days a year,
47:29.320 --> 47:30.889
whatever it is, they\'ll get rid of them.
47:36.320 --> 47:38.500
So what\'s your story?
So you, you\'re looking,
47:38.510 --> 47:40.780
looking for a date or whatever?
She\'s Yeah, why not?
47:42.070 --> 47:43.350
I said, all right.
So let\'s talk.
47:43.360 --> 47:44.669
She says I wanna see pictures.
47:45.500 --> 47:47.969
She said, are you on Facebook?
I said, no, I\'m not on Facebook.
47:49.100 --> 47:55.159
So I says, well, I have some pictures of me on
Facebook, send me some of your pictures.
47:55.169 --> 47:59.340
You were on Facebook and look for this name.
So I did the stupidest thing I ever did in my
47:59.350 --> 48:00.850
life.
Now I\'m on Facebook.
48:01.129 --> 48:04.370
I don\'t want to be on Facebook.
I give him two hoots about Facebook,
48:04.379 --> 48:06.209
but there I am because of a woman.
48:07.320 --> 48:08.750
I never dated her. Anyway.
48:10.949 --> 48:13.810
Got, got to be, she really was not my type. Ok.
48:16.719 --> 48:23.600
Now negotiates at the gate carrying candles for
the families
48:23.610 --> 48:24.610
that can\'t.
48:24.909 --> 48:31.120
Sometimes when it\'s so brief, it almost leaves
them still feeling hollow like you know what
48:31.129 --> 48:34.419
just happens.
They don\'t have enough time to process it.
48:36.199 --> 48:39.350
And his father are vulnerable, handling
infected bodies,
48:39.360 --> 48:45.110
but they keep going, determined to offer
dignity to those who left this world without a
48:45.120 --> 48:46.389
hand to hold
48:58.469 --> 48:59.649
East Army sixth.
49:07.020 --> 49:09.790
I drink it.
Yes, it is.
49:10.229 --> 49:13.550
How you, everybody\'s good.
Thank God. Yeah.
49:13.580 --> 49:15.810
Yeah, we\'re just tired.
It\'s been a long run.
49:17.350 --> 49:18.679
A long war run.
49:19.159 --> 49:20.510
Yeah, I know it so much.
49:22.560 --> 49:27.060
Ok, I hope is going to be ok. Yes. Ok.
49:28.399 --> 49:31.939
Thank you.
You see, I forgot my bag again.
49:33.080 --> 49:35.389
I don\'t know what I\'m going to do with my mind.
49:36.770 --> 49:37.790
I have to die.
49:39.260 --> 49:41.090
I have to die one day.
49:41.389 --> 49:45.540
You know, I prefer to give real bed every time
I can.
49:46.010 --> 49:47.969
Yeah, until I\'m finished.
49:48.179 --> 49:54.310
If I uh you know, when I die, I don\'t want to
die.
49:54.320 --> 50:00.719
But we have to, you have to accept it.
Nobody never live
50:00.729 --> 50:02.260
forever in this world.
50:03.300 --> 50:07.679
I don\'t like to die.
You think I, I supposed to die eight years ago
50:07.699 --> 50:08.790
with cancer?
50:09.070 --> 50:11.479
But God did not want me.
I\'m still here.
50:14.459 --> 50:16.060
God didn\'t know what me,
50:30.489 --> 50:31.949
I\'m the truck, right?
50:32.179 --> 50:34.300
Do you know I have a mask?
50:34.629 --> 50:36.250
But I\'m standing 6 ft away.
50:38.629 --> 50:39.699
This was all Italian.
50:41.750 --> 50:42.939
So many tomato plants.
50:49.439 --> 50:54.159
La Muerte de Nuestros, Hermanos Paulino, I
Maria.
50:54.879 --> 50:56.929
No, Puerta Nora.
51:10.189 --> 51:11.459
Walk slow. Ok.
51:11.989 --> 51:15.189
Walk slow, walk slow. Ok.
51:16.570 --> 51:22.770
How about I, I was his baby in the house.
You know that every,
51:22.780 --> 51:25.469
every time I go to sleep when a guy coming to
him in the hospital,
51:25.800 --> 51:29.399
I tell about, forget it he\'s not my brother.
51:29.760 --> 51:35.510
How do you know?
I know I have a special place in my heart for
51:35.520 --> 51:38.889
nurses who have to deal with sick people.
I can\'t deal with sick people.
51:38.899 --> 51:41.840
I can deal with dead people a lot easier than I
can with sick people.
51:43.129 --> 51:46.959
You know, God bless the nurses who deal with
sick people all the time.
51:46.969 --> 51:52.159
Funeral director, Joe Neufeld is handling 80
victims this week in Queens and he noted his
51:52.169 --> 51:56.250
colleagues have been under pressure to remove
bodies from hospital morgues and were
51:56.260 --> 52:01.024
threatened that COVID-19 victims could end up
in a mass grave on Heart Island.
52:01.034 --> 52:06.044
If they didn\'t move fast enough.
Hart Island is New York City\'s Potter\'s Field
52:06.165 --> 52:10.824
where those with no family or means to arrange
a funeral are laid to rest.
52:11.225 --> 52:16.064
They used to bury 25 people a week here in the
age of the Coronavirus.
52:16.254 --> 52:18.304
It\'s about that number every day.
52:19.219 --> 52:24.550
We\'re no longer embalming them just because the,
we don\'t have time to have visitation.
52:24.560 --> 52:28.790
So if we\'re not having visitation, we\'re simply
either burying directly.
52:28.800 --> 52:33.719
You have to put bodies in trucks in parking
lots.
52:34.469 --> 52:38.649
I mean, how you could get numb to any of this?
52:38.939 --> 52:43.500
Uh II I can\'t, I can\'t imagine
53:40.590 --> 53:43.649
it\'s too much.
It really is.
53:43.659 --> 53:47.179
It\'s going to be ridiculous.
You can take a couple up to your house in Maine.
53:47.500 --> 53:51.760
Oh no, it\'s like you can have something to sit
on while you\'re fishing in the fucking river.
53:51.770 --> 53:56.580
By yourself.
Just, you know, it looks like shit.
53:56.590 --> 54:00.250
I love those.
You know, the whole place looks and smells like
54:00.260 --> 54:05.139
shit.
The fire department would bring in counselors
54:05.149 --> 54:11.739
to talk to us because you just saw some really
brutal stuff and the counselor,
54:11.760 --> 54:14.439
you know, they would say, how about you?
And what about you?
54:14.449 --> 54:17.929
Who takes care of you?
And I almost lost it.
54:17.939 --> 54:22.459
I almost started to say nobody, I\'m on my own.
I do it,
54:22.469 --> 54:25.340
you know, and I almost lost it.
And I said, no,
54:25.350 --> 54:26.860
I\'m all right and I\'m all right.
54:27.870 --> 54:32.030
So I wouldn\'t admit to her, I guess.
Then today
54:42.719 --> 54:46.699
you got a lot of food to deal with there.
I know I called your brother and your sister
54:46.709 --> 54:49.300
and I told them, well, I left a message with
Elaine and I,
54:50.659 --> 54:54.409
I, uh, called Bob and I said no food till
Monday.
55:07.409 --> 55:10.209
I lost five pounds since I started this venture.
55:10.500 --> 55:16.610
Very, very happy if I could do this all summer
and keep losing 2.5 pounds a week.
55:16.629 --> 55:19.639
Uh, my doctor is gonna be very pleased with me.
55:23.320 --> 55:29.120
Check the name on the box and the tracking
number and you make sure that the name of the
55:29.129 --> 55:33.159
tracking number.
And did you see how I set up out there to make
55:33.169 --> 55:37.360
sure that you set that aside as they check them
in?
55:37.899 --> 55:41.689
Ok.
And don\'t let them go anywhere unless you check
55:41.699 --> 55:43.899
the bodies into the thing. Ok.
55:47.560 --> 55:49.590
All Right.
I\'ll see you at the back of the hotel
55:55.500 --> 55:58.550
calling.
Hopes to be able to touch base with you and
55:58.560 --> 56:01.370
provide an update about the status of your
father.
56:01.379 --> 56:04.669
Uh, we moved into our intensive care unit last
night.
56:05.209 --> 56:07.530
I\'ll try and give you a call back in a few
minutes.
56:14.820 --> 56:20.090
Only four crematoriums in the city and those
are backed up for weeks or months even.
56:20.409 --> 56:24.870
And that leaves families wondering what to do
with their loved ones and it leaves funeral
56:24.879 --> 56:26.090
homes packed.
56:31.250 --> 56:34.409
You got a lift here.
You want a head first?
56:34.419 --> 56:38.889
What are we doing? Yeah.
Uh, so we\'re gonna go this way down here.
56:39.030 --> 56:41.429
Hold on one second. Ok.
56:41.699 --> 56:43.360
All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
56:45.629 --> 56:52.239
Type one.
That\'s been so ok, but it\'s gonna go up on top
56:52.250 --> 56:53.449
of that one.
56:58.250 --> 57:01.530
Take it off, take it off, take it off it.
57:02.219 --> 57:05.100
I\'m telling you it\'s fine.
I wanna get it back on the truck.
57:05.110 --> 57:07.010
That\'s ok.
We\'ll do it in the funeral home.
57:08.010 --> 57:09.840
Take, take, take tomorrow off.
57:10.330 --> 57:14.969
Yeah, there\'s no funerals, you know, it\'s just
paperwork and,
57:14.979 --> 57:17.050
uh, removal stuff which you can\'t do.
57:18.189 --> 57:23.139
So I did some, I know but I wish I want you to
take it easy.
57:35.600 --> 57:41.100
Tempting.
This greatest feeling. Yeah.
57:42.689 --> 57:43.979
Get me on kid off
57:54.550 --> 57:59.850
are also honoring the veterans who lost their
lives and the other Americans who died during
57:59.860 --> 58:00.860
this pandemic.
58:10.229 --> 58:11.770
They didn\'t blow the horn today.
Right?
58:14.030 --> 58:15.030
The last night
58:42.919 --> 58:46.639
in some cases, a young husband and wife that
are really close,
58:46.649 --> 58:52.520
really in love.
Not just, you know, that\'s just a little bit
58:52.530 --> 58:55.320
and you see couples that are really in love
sometimes and,
58:55.780 --> 58:59.810
and when that happens it\'s really tears your
heart out.
59:03.840 --> 59:04.840
Yes, sir.
59:21.449 --> 59:26.399
Don\'t feel any fear, but I ain\'t in no hurry to
die either.
59:27.310 --> 59:30.729
I mean heaven, you know, what was that movie?
Uh Warren baby,
59:30.739 --> 59:36.149
I think having awake. Yeah.
Having a wait.
59:36.820 --> 59:39.000
I, you know, I, I believe I\'m going there.
59:40.090 --> 59:43.860
I ain\'t in no rush to, to, you know, I got, I
got stuff to do on the earth there.
59:43.870 --> 59:48.770
I got um, you know, I got a bucket list.
I\'m, I\'m still trying to,
59:48.780 --> 59:52.090
trying to, you know, God says it\'s time to go.
59:53.030 --> 59:54.570
I don\'t care about your bucket list.
59:55.939 --> 59:58.570
You\'re going somewhere. Yeah.
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:01.000
Uh
01:00:12.010 --> 01:00:15.229
Just getting to uh an overwhelming point.
01:00:16.300 --> 01:00:20.209
I wanna sit down and laugh about it because I
don\'t want to sit down and cry.
01:00:20.219 --> 01:00:22.639
So I might as well sit down and laugh a little
bit.
01:00:28.679 --> 01:00:30.340
Hit the fucking straight asshole.
01:00:32.169 --> 01:00:35.129
We go through that ball up, knock him out.
01:00:36.020 --> 01:00:39.889
He will not stand.
You got all, you got two great for me.
01:00:39.959 --> 01:00:42.419
I got two great quote and two white. Ok.
01:00:44.189 --> 01:00:46.989
Oh, like a picture just at this face.
They\'re not gonna,
01:00:47.889 --> 01:00:51.540
they\'re gonna do the ID, the tag that we have.
That\'s what you\'ll get,
01:00:52.110 --> 01:00:53.479
but they can\'t do the face.
01:00:53.790 --> 01:00:57.959
No, I just wonder, I know what you want,
they\'re not gonna be able to do that when they
01:00:58.050 --> 01:00:59.459
put them on ambulance and everything.
01:00:59.889 --> 01:01:01.469
But I just wanted that.
01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:05.840
That\'s all.
Well, I know, but this, this memory that you
01:01:05.850 --> 01:01:06.959
see will be worse.
01:01:07.239 --> 01:01:09.370
That\'s why we just do what they did different.
01:01:09.879 --> 01:01:13.139
Of course, it\'s the more time it\'s
decomposition.
01:01:13.149 --> 01:01:16.909
At that point.
01:01:17.419 --> 01:01:19.219
I didn\'t think, I didn\'t, I didn\'t do that.
01:01:25.919 --> 01:01:27.330
Ok.
So you go first.
01:01:29.989 --> 01:01:34.959
I said last summer I was in, in my yard, I was
out in my garage.
01:01:34.969 --> 01:01:37.360
I think I was maybe molding bullets or
something.
01:01:38.169 --> 01:01:43.879
And I looked over at my house and I said, jeez,
I\'ve been in this house 10 years and it feels
01:01:43.889 --> 01:01:47.100
like it feels like maybe a year it\'s flown by.
01:01:48.000 --> 01:01:50.939
And now I\'m thinking if I\'m lucky I have 10
more years to live.
01:01:51.780 --> 01:01:58.780
And I said, wow, if that time has gone by so
fast that 10 years that will be dead
01:01:58.790 --> 01:02:02.709
pretty soon.
And I said, well, that sucks.
01:02:03.139 --> 01:02:07.060
I don\'t wanna be dead. Ok.
One,
01:02:13.610 --> 01:02:20.540
you got to concentrate.
You can\'t have emotion on this place.
01:02:20.550 --> 01:02:24.379
Smell.
The body\'s deport, uh, sorry, homicides are up.
01:02:25.360 --> 01:02:28.560
Yeah. Everything.
He was quiet and then there\'s a homicide shop.
01:02:28.729 --> 01:02:32.860
So probably the funeral director, uh, speaker.
There he is.
01:02:33.290 --> 01:02:36.239
Hello, Joe.
What\'s going on?
01:02:36.290 --> 01:02:38.000
It\'s all fun. Yeah.
01:02:41.659 --> 01:02:45.620
Just leaking.
You said that after the fact?
01:02:45.629 --> 01:02:49.540
No, that\'s, that\'s the one he warned us about.
Yes, you put it in my stretcher.
01:02:49.570 --> 01:02:52.489
Didn\'t you?
Thanks for nice and juicy.
01:02:53.439 --> 01:02:56.719
You know, but at least, at least we\'re honoring
the Sabbath.
01:02:56.879 --> 01:02:59.929
Meanwhile, the grieving families are not doing
are not,
01:03:00.260 --> 01:03:02.810
are not being honored.
Hey, tell them the Sabbath.
01:03:02.860 --> 01:03:09.659
We spent the Sabbath, our Sabbath Easter Sunday
at Randall\'s Island taking 11
01:03:09.669 --> 01:03:12.800
bodies off the trailers that they moved up
there for us.
01:03:12.820 --> 01:03:14.500
Right around here.
All right.
01:03:14.629 --> 01:03:17.350
And they are, I just, I would like to get this
done.
01:03:18.320 --> 01:03:19.610
You would like to get it done.
01:03:19.830 --> 01:03:20.989
Yeah, we\'ll do that.
01:03:21.760 --> 01:03:28.750
So how we\'re gonna do, we\'re gonna lift it.
Yeah,
01:03:28.760 --> 01:03:31.889
that\'s not all right.
I\'m always there.
01:03:31.899 --> 01:03:34.330
The lack of common sense is just disturbing.
01:03:35.449 --> 01:03:37.989
You talking about, you\'re side by side with the
chair in between,
01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:41.399
you lift it over.
It just have one person lift.
01:03:46.530 --> 01:03:49.050
You got to move with their, you\'re gonna call a
sitcom.
01:03:53.780 --> 01:03:56.409
It would just be easier to back it in, in the
first place.
01:03:56.419 --> 01:04:00.729
You fucking listen to me seven o\'clock.
01:04:01.709 --> 01:04:08.590
It\'s seven o\'clock just, you know, I felt
01:04:08.600 --> 01:04:13.659
bad when a couple of people came to pick up
ashes while we were moving bodies out.
01:04:14.669 --> 01:04:17.830
You know, it\'s like, but I know what you\'re
gonna do,
01:04:17.840 --> 01:04:24.419
but it was kind of crappy to see it.
It is what it
01:04:24.429 --> 01:04:26.139
is.
I know, I know that
01:04:35.969 --> 01:04:36.969
top
01:04:49.800 --> 01:04:50.800
it was
01:04:56.850 --> 01:05:02.949
there is shock over the discovery of 60 bodies
found piled in four unrefrigerated U haul
01:05:02.959 --> 01:05:07.500
trucks outside a funeral home in Brooklyn.
Local residents raised the alarm.
01:05:07.510 --> 01:05:13.649
After seeing fluids leaking out of the trucks,
the two U haul trucks parked in front of the
01:05:13.659 --> 01:05:20.600
home held as many as 50 bodies each most, not
in caskets but body bags
01:05:20.610 --> 01:05:26.360
and in various states of decomposing neighbors
for days have been taking video of the bodies.
01:05:26.679 --> 01:05:31.840
I see bodies are being carried out of here all
month to body bags and,
01:05:31.850 --> 01:05:34.600
uh, right on the street, right under the street
all month long.
01:05:34.610 --> 01:05:37.020
I\'ve seen them carried out.
I can\'t believe how many bodies came out of
01:05:37.030 --> 01:05:38.600
there.
It\'s amazing.
01:05:38.629 --> 01:05:44.360
I\'ve seen a lot of disrespect to dead bodies.
This funeral home is over capacitated with
01:05:44.370 --> 01:05:48.929
human remains and that is true.
He got overwhelmed with the number of remains
01:05:48.939 --> 01:05:54.750
that he had and he didn\'t know what to do and
I\'m here to assist him in this operation
01:06:03.040 --> 01:06:08.209
up until now there\'s been a guy that came from
upstate that\'s been taking them to different
01:06:08.219 --> 01:06:09.219
places for us.
01:06:10.070 --> 01:06:14.169
But uh he got involved with some kind of mess
and had to back out.
01:06:14.179 --> 01:06:15.330
He\'s not doing it anymore.
01:06:16.580 --> 01:06:22.310
Chill, not, not a mess that he created.
He got involved trying to help out that,
01:06:22.709 --> 01:06:25.669
that nasty place in Brooklyn that had the
rotten bodies.
01:06:25.679 --> 01:06:32.649
But next Tuesday, I\'m going to be driving u
haul up to Syracuse
01:06:32.800 --> 01:06:34.510
to deliver 20 bodies.
01:06:36.699 --> 01:06:42.010
Well, yeah, just as we go through the town of
Syracuse, we just dump them out on the side of
01:06:42.020 --> 01:06:45.889
the road.
One at a time and scat scatter them around.
01:06:48.580 --> 01:06:50.899
You don\'t want to be in a truck with 20 bodies
in the back.
01:06:52.580 --> 01:06:56.439
I understand.
It\'s just, I figured give you the opportunity
01:06:56.449 --> 01:06:59.340
to make a few bucks, get out of the house, but
that\'s all right.
01:06:59.350 --> 01:06:59.899
I understand.
01:07:27.850 --> 01:07:32.389
Good.
Now, tell me that I better look than mine.
01:07:33.689 --> 01:07:36.370
Ok.
That\'s what I got from you.
01:07:39.149 --> 01:07:43.290
I\'m waiting for you to be home and you come
around 730 to say goodbye.
01:07:43.300 --> 01:07:48.419
I should be here. Yes.
Then I wrote to you just getting to unload and
01:07:48.479 --> 01:07:51.840
I\'ll be back in.
You know, I, I didn\'t hear back.
01:07:53.389 --> 01:07:54.739
You didn\'t ask a question.
01:07:58.219 --> 01:08:02.520
I\'m gonna, I\'m gonna leave.
I got, I, I get this thing weighing on me.
01:08:12.610 --> 01:08:14.879
If I knew it would work, I\'d go back with her
on a map.
01:08:17.700 --> 01:08:20.759
No problem.
I wanna go back with her and then I know it
01:08:20.770 --> 01:08:23.289
won\'t work.
It\'s ok.
01:08:25.299 --> 01:08:29.620
I shouldn\'t say absolutely.
I know that that wouldn\'t work.
01:08:30.870 --> 01:08:35.219
I suspect that it wouldn\'t work and I don\'t
want my heart broken again.
01:09:21.620 --> 01:09:24.000
God helps our universe.
01:09:24.649 --> 01:09:31.600
God if he\'s there, I\'m saying if only what else
is going
01:09:31.959 --> 01:09:38.950
to save yourself, it\'s, it\'s, I
01:09:38.959 --> 01:09:40.770
feel like there\'s nothing left for me here.
01:09:42.540 --> 01:09:45.229
Ok?
This is, this is the house where my ex wife
01:09:45.240 --> 01:09:47.589
lives right here, right here.
01:10:00.450 --> 01:10:03.709
Yeah. Ok.
01:10:14.109 --> 01:10:17.459
Nothing but not
01:10:41.569 --> 01:10:42.859
ok.
Here to walk
01:10:48.779 --> 01:10:50.919
is a show.
What was
01:11:01.009 --> 01:11:07.459
Thank you.
Right this
01:11:08.120 --> 01:11:13.509
air the right
01:11:15.939 --> 01:11:16.240
who is.
01:11:23.770 --> 01:11:27.459
Mhm.
You too.
01:11:35.660 --> 01:11:42.640
Ok.
Uh, Omar\'s dad died the
01:11:42.649 --> 01:11:48.129
other night.
And, uh, out of respect, we, I, I think we are
01:11:48.140 --> 01:11:53.560
discussing whether we want to close the place
so we can at least go to the cemetery with him
01:11:53.569 --> 01:11:56.600
for the burial.
We, we owe him that much.
01:11:57.529 --> 01:11:58.620
So that\'s what we\'d like to do.
01:11:59.189 --> 01:12:03.419
This is going to last about another 10 seconds
before I lose my marbles like this.
01:13:04.549 --> 01:13:09.839
I walk down the hall and my, my father first
sees his peaks and he sees me coming down the
01:13:09.850 --> 01:13:12.509
hallway with, with my phone.
So he goes mm mm mm mm mm mm.
01:13:17.399 --> 01:13:21.750
Sit out when we buzzing and then he sees that
I\'m still there.
01:13:21.759 --> 01:13:23.600
He says come on, man, stop.
But you know,
01:14:34.529 --> 01:14:37.629
I don\'t have the cards yet.
No, I haven\'t had a chance to do them.
01:14:39.319 --> 01:14:41.640
I\'ll call you when I get them.
It\'s gonna be a while yet.
01:14:41.649 --> 01:14:45.669
So I apologize.
Ok, I\'m sorry. Ok. Ok. Ok.
01:14:45.720 --> 01:14:48.549
I, I\'m not right now.
I\'m not in the office right now.
01:14:48.560 --> 01:14:50.810
So, no, no.
01:14:51.629 --> 01:14:53.720
Now the sun\'s coming out.
I knew it would.
01:14:54.359 --> 01:14:58.729
But does that mean something?
01:14:59.500 --> 01:15:03.529
Yeah, I just knew it was gonna wasn\'t going to
be a miserable day.
01:15:03.930 --> 01:15:10.220
So all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus
are baptized into his death.
01:15:11.209 --> 01:15:15.740
Eternal rest unto him.
Oh Lord, and light shone upon me.
01:15:16.319 --> 01:15:22.529
May he rest in peace, amen and may his soul and
the souls of all the faithful,
01:15:22.540 --> 01:15:26.080
the pardon, be the mercy of God.
Rest in peace.
01:15:32.879 --> 01:15:37.490
Well, the sun came out.
So I thought this was put that scenario.
01:15:38.720 --> 01:15:43.649
Uh He\'s in, he\'s in all set.
01:15:45.959 --> 01:15:52.549
Ok.
Newfields
01:15:52.560 --> 01:15:59.140
funeral home has been here since 1942.
01:15:59.779 --> 01:16:02.549
New funeral home has been here since 19.
01:16:02.870 --> 01:16:09.740
Everyone\'s here today to uh pay a special
recognition to uh Joseph Neel Ray Neufeld and
01:16:09.750 --> 01:16:14.819
family.
Uh They\'ve been in business since 1940 1949 at
01:16:14.830 --> 01:16:15.959
this location.
01:16:16.330 --> 01:16:20.040
And they\'ve serviced uh this community for
seven decades,
01:16:20.319 --> 01:16:27.229
including my, my parents, my grandmother and uh
always have shown families uh class
01:16:27.240 --> 01:16:29.490
and respect and dignity.
01:16:29.729 --> 01:16:31.120
So, thank you very much.
01:16:40.859 --> 01:16:45.100
Thank you.
The New Fell. Yeah. Ok.
01:16:45.109 --> 01:16:48.419
I mean Michael passed away, you know, and I
buried him.
01:16:48.430 --> 01:16:50.790
Um, Monday just started on Monday.
01:16:51.430 --> 01:16:53.270
You know, when they stopped going into the
hospital.
01:16:53.279 --> 01:16:55.859
That\'s great.
We\'re still gonna get the ones coming out the
01:16:55.870 --> 01:16:58.770
back door at the man, the man, where do you
live? Right.
01:17:00.049 --> 01:17:01.490
Oh, you\'re getting very personal now.
01:17:03.169 --> 01:17:05.970
What am I gonna have to lift over my shoulder?
No.
01:17:06.930 --> 01:17:07.890
Park.
Oh, ok.
01:17:07.899 --> 01:17:10.229
I\'m in Libro. Ok.
01:17:10.839 --> 01:17:12.229
You living with somebody?
01:17:12.560 --> 01:17:15.819
My husband passed away?
Oh, I\'m sorry, on 911.
01:17:15.830 --> 01:17:17.669
Yeah, I\'m sorry.
You worked for Canto.
01:17:19.089 --> 01:17:22.000
So you want to live with someone?
01:17:22.629 --> 01:17:26.240
You\'re asking me on a date? Ok.
01:17:31.640 --> 01:17:34.060
That\'s her night. Yes.
01:17:34.729 --> 01:17:36.750
Did you just, how did you do it?
01:17:40.689 --> 01:17:44.100
That\'s her.
So I said you see anybody I said,
01:17:44.109 --> 01:17:49.740
no, I said you want to, she says, ok, so, um, I
said, all right.
01:18:10.450 --> 01:18:12.589
Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:15.990 --> 01:18:17.819
It\'s gotta be a better life than this.
Huh?