Action Taken by the Georgia State Board of Funeral Service at Its September 13 Meeting

Macon, Ga. – The Georgia State Board of Funeral Service met on Tuesday, September 13, 2011.

The board voted to approve one applicant for a new crematory license, one funeral establishment change of name request and nine requests for a change of funeral director in full and continuous charge of an establishment.

The Board voted to approve the following requests for grace periods to replace the facility’s funeral director in full and continuous charge:

• Bridges Funeral Home, Athens
• Pope Dickson & Son Jonesboro Chapel, Jonesboro
• Baxley Funeral Home, Baxley

The board approved the following orders to accept fine money for inspection violations:

• Smalley’s Mortuary, Vidalia: $100 for a second inspection request, after the initial inspection resulted in a failed inspection.
• Speer and Speer Funeral Home, McDonough: $100 for failure to maintain a minimum of eight adult caskets within the display room on the premises of the establishment.
• Jones-Habersham Funeral Home, Swainsboro: $250 for failure to maintain the sanitary and clean condition of each embalming room, including all instruments and tables and use of the embalming room for purposes other than the embalming of dead human bodies and failure to conspicuously display a current biennial renewal license for the establishment, embalmer, funeral director and any apprentices.
• Frye Funeral Home, Nahunta: $50 for failure to conspicuously display a current biennial renewal license for the establishment, embalmer, funeral director and any apprentices.

The Board voted to ratify the following cease and desist orders for unlicensed practice:

• Castellaw Funeral Home, Smyrna
• Earnest Habersham, Jones-Habersham Funeral Home, Swainsboro
• Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors, Savannah
• Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors, Inc., Savannah
• Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors Island Chapel, Savannah
• Kregg L. Close, Bainbridge

the board voted to post proposed changes to Board Rule 250-5-.11. The proposed rule amendment would allow for the term “immediately preceding” found in O.C.G.A.§43-18-42(a)(2), with respect to an applicant for reciprocity or endorsement of an embalmer and funeral director license, to mean that the appropriate application has been filed with and received by the State Board of Funeral Service within six months or less, of the applicant having ceased from practice as a licensed embalmer and funeral director in a state where he or she was actively engaged in the practice of Funeral Service for three or more years.

The board voted to post proposed changes to Board Rule 250-4-.06(1)(b). The proposed rule amendment would allow for funeral establishments to have no more than one inspection violation in its last two inspections before withdrawing the establishment’s eligibility as a board approved apprenticeship site.

The board approved the following continuing education courses:

• NFDA, Kathleen Walczak: Organ Donation: Hear the Other Side of the Story; NFDA International Convention and Expo Workshops; Introduction to Alkaline Hydrolysis: Understanding the Process and Procedure; Reconstructive Techniques for Facial Repair of Trauma; Are you in the Disposal Business or the Disposition Business?; Canadians Do Cremation Right; Ideas Exchange Power-Hour: Ignite Innovation in 60 Minutes; Marketing Your Cemetery: Connecting With Your Community; Mastering Communication Between the Embalmer and Management; 30+ Innovative Price Offerings; Cremation Statistics and Projections; Gender and Ethical Concerns in Funeral Service; Serving Veterans: Information You Need to Know; Alkaline Hydrolysis: Knowledge and Experience; Handling Claims, Litigation and Regulatory Investigation; Is Preneed the IPad or the Edsel of Funeral Service; Smart Phones….Smarter Business; Taking Off the Blinders: Building the Service Experience that REALLY Builds the Business; Economics and Advantages of Owning and Operating a Crematory; Ethics: Negative Consequences – Positive Results; Google’s Changes, Facebook Obits and Smartphone Shoppers: Consumer Shift; Professional Burnout Prevention: Recognize It and Reverse It; Understanding the Standards of Arlington National Cemetery; Advertising Strategy in a Challenging Economy; Demystifying Succession Planning: How to Preserve the Family Business; OSHA Regulatory Compliance Matters; Professional Presence: An Image or Excellence; The Difference is in the Details; Opening Session: The Pursuit of Happiness; Developing customer Loyalty in the Digital Age; Managing Mass Fatality Situations; Real Directors, Real Technology, Real Results; Small Town America in the Aftermath of Tragedy; The New Consumer: You Can’t Connect with Your Customers if you Don’t Know Who They are; Cremation in Europe; Difficult Case Embalming and Creating a Smile; Employee Motivation and Morale: Getting Results Through People; Formaldehyde-Health Effects, Precautions and its Future: An Update; Anatomy of a Cremation Machine; Mystery Shopping Funeral Homes: Inside the Mind of the Consumer; Online Marketing for Funeral Service; Upping Your Game: What to Do When the Competition Levels the Playing Field; Closing Session: Insights from JFK to RFK to OJ; Exhibits; and VA National Cemeteries: Fulfilling the Final Promise of Care.
• GFDA, Alysia McDonald English: 2011 District Meetings
• MKJ Marketing, Krystal Casey: The Value of a Funeral

The Georgia Board of Funeral Services will hold its next meeting Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 10 a.m. at the Professional Licensing Boards Division office in Macon.

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