Night funeral service in Tbilisi - a funeral home that answers at three in the morning

Night tasks and morning tasks: how the work is divided

Many people assume a night-time call is pointless because "everything is closed". In fact the most important steps - the ones that protect your loved one's condition and the family's peace of mind - need to happen in the very first hours.

The coordinator starts on everything in the right-hand column in the morning, as soon as offices open. There is no need to wake the family or send anyone anywhere: all we need overnight is for the team to see the identity documents.

A night call, hour by hour

This is what a typical night looks like when someone has died at home at one in the morning and the family wants the farewell to be held at home:

1. 01:00 - the 112 call: the ambulance doctor pronounces death and writes out the certificate.
2. 01:30 - the call to us: the coordinator takes the address, floor and the family's wishes, quotes the price and sends a team with a refrigerated coffin.
3. 02:10 - the team arrives: the roads are empty at night, so the journey often takes just 30-40 minutes. The staff come upstairs quietly so as not to wake the neighbours.
4. 02:30 - preparation: our specialist prepares the deceased, dresses them in an outfit the relatives picked out and places them in the refrigerated coffin.
5. 03:30 - the team leaves: the family stays with their loved one, the cooling unit is running and all the paperwork is with us.
6. 09:00 - morning: the coordinator is already at the Public Service Hall for the certificate, checks on the cemetery at the same time, and sends the family a draft funeral plan.

Working through the night

Quiet on the stairs

At three in the morning every sound carries through a block of flats. That is why the night team is especially careful: the hearse does not sit with its engine running, doors are closed silently, the stretcher and cooling unit are carried up under soft covers, and the lift and stairs are protected. Neighbours often learn what has happened only in the morning, and when and how they are told is up to the family.

The duty doctor

Our embalming doctor is on duty at night as well. If the weather is hot, if relatives are flying in from abroad and the farewell will last several days, or if the family wants an open coffin, it is better to embalm during the night, because early embalming gives a noticeably better outcome.

A death in hospital at night

When someone dies in a clinic at night, they are usually moved to the hospital's cold room. Some clinics release the deceased at night, others only in the morning, once the administration opens. The coordinator will ask which clinic it is and tell you whether to send a team now or for eight in the morning. Either way, nobody has to sit up all night at the hospital.

Questions the coordinator will ask at night

At night people are disoriented and often do not know what to say. So the coordinator leads the conversation and asks only what the team needs to know to set out properly:

• the address and floor, and whether there is a lift or a barrier at the entrance;
• whether a doctor has been and issued a certificate, or you are still waiting for the ambulance;
• where you would like your loved one to stay: at home, in our chamber, in a hall, or you do not know yet;
• whether embalming is needed, for example because children are flying in from abroad;
• whom to contact in the morning, if the main family member needs to rest.

All five questions take three or four minutes. Then the coordinator gives the price, the team sets off, and the family only has to wait for the team leader's call.

Telling relatives now or in the morning

At night many people agonise over whether to wake a brother, a sister or an elderly parent. There is no universal answer, but experience shows it is worth waking the one or two closest people: hearing it hours later tends to wound them more deeply. Other relatives, friends and colleagues are better told in the morning, when the place of the farewell and probably the date of the funeral are already known. An elderly or unwell relative is best given such hard news in person, in the morning, with someone close beside them, rather than over the phone in the middle of the night.

If your loved one cannot stay at home overnight

Sometimes a family cannot keep their loved one at home overnight: the flat is small, there are young children or a sick relative in the house, or the family simply cannot bear it. In that case the team takes the deceased to our refrigerated chamber that same night, where they are kept under supervision, and in the morning, after some rest, the family decides where to hold the farewell: the family home, a hall, or both. This is a perfectly normal choice and in no way a sign of disrespect.

At night in a hotel or someone else's home

Sometimes the night call comes not from the family home but from a hotel, a relative's flat or a country house. Families are especially lost in this situation, because they are in an unfamiliar place. The team works there by the same rules, and our staff member deals with the hotel management directly, so the removal goes unnoticed by other guests, through a service entrance. After the night, the deceased goes wherever the family decides, and belongings left in the room are packed in the morning against an inventory.

Reasons families rely on our night service

• A real duty shift: at night your call is answered by a person, not a recorded message, and the team and doctor are ready to set off.
• One rate: a night-time hour, a Sunday or a public holiday does not change the price.
• Quiet and care: the night team works in the stairwell so that neighbours find out only when the family wants them to.
• Continuity in the morning: the coordinator picks up the night team's work in the morning, and nobody in the family needs to repeat their story.

Night-time prices

We have no night surcharge. What costs 150 GEL during the day also costs 150 GEL at three in the morning, and the amount quoted on the phone does not change once the team arrives.

What the family should have ready tonight

• Identity documents of the deceased and of whoever will be handling arrangements. The team photographs them and the originals stay with you.
• Clothes in which the family wants to say goodbye. If this is too much for you right now, the specialist will come back in the morning.
• The phone number of one relative who can deal with us on your behalf if you need to rest.
• A little sleep. It may sound strange, but the next two or three days will be the hardest, and a night when the team has done everything is a night for rest.

Frequently asked questions