Metro's Phase 2 modifications limit funeral home capacity

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Changes to Nashville's Phase 2 of its Roadmap to Reopening plan are set to take effect Tuesday, part of which forces funerals to be limited to one-third capacity.

Funeral homes West Harpeth Funeral Home & Crematory typically offer families a reception space where they can make room for hundreds of guests. For much of Phase 2 however, these funeral homes have held services at half capacity.

What Cindy Foree and her team have noticed is most families would rather err on the side of caution anyway, making the move to one-third capacity challenging only because of how often the restrictions change.

“There’s already been a lot of restrictions in place, so I think scaling back from 50 percent to one-third is not going to make much of a difference at all,” Foree said.

She says families understand the changing guidelines, so her responsibility is to help make them as comfortable as possible on an already emotional day.

“This is the one day that they have to celebrate their loved ones' life and to say goodbye to a loved one and we have to treat that as if it is the only thing happening at the time. So we try to overcome all of the restrictions," Foree said.

She says they can make accommodations for elderly or immune-compromised family members to still take part in services, but most families have chosen to keep those family members home.

The phone calls haven’t stopped with people wanting to know what if anything will change from week to week. It’s a delicate time and Cindy understands it’s also a matter of urgency. Her message however is the same now, as it was in the beginning.

“We’ll work around all of that. The most important thing is to take care of their family,” Foree said.

Phase 2 will also limit weddings to one-third capacity. You can see the full breakdown of the changes here.