Community
Seminars Available
Looking for a speaker at a luncheon group, service club, or
church group? Look no further! Heafey-Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak-Cutler
Mortuaries is available for speaking to your small or large group. We have handout materials, and multi media
presentations. Our topics can vary to
meet your requirements.
End of Life Issues Hospice Needs
Final Expense Planning Advance Funeral Planning
Estate Planning Medicaid
and Human Services
To inquire or schedule your group, click here
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LOCAL BELLEVUE FUNERAL
DIRECTOR LENDS A HAND
WITH KATRINA
Bellevue
Leader story run October 4, 2005
One thousand miles away,
more than 1,000 bodies need to be identified and buried in the Gulf Coast
region. With that overwhelming task at
hand, five Nebraska funeral directors climbed into a truck, tugged a
fifth-wheel trailer south and set up shop to lend a helping hand. Bellevue Memorial Funeral Chapel director
Rob Seykora was one of the five. He and
his four professional colleagues made it to Baton Rouge, La., a city that has
more than doubled in size since Hurricane Katrina, and found room in a Holiday
Inn Express parking lot. Aside from the
business in Baton Rouge, the group was able to get some shuteye during the
night. But by day, tough phone calls
had to be made.
"A lot
of these people moved out of New Orleans.
(They) went to the Superdome (then) went to Houston and now have gone to
other areas," Seykora said.
"I was talking to people in Ohio, people in Nashville, Tenn.,
people in California, all over that they're missing someone and the stories
they would tell would just about break your heart." Also with Seykora were Gary Straatmann of
Kearney, Tiff Varney from Arnold, Ben Hall from Auburn, and O'Neil's Bob Berg.
All were contacted by FEMA, through the Disaster Mortuary Operations Response
Team, that their help was needed.
Varney supplied the truck and trailer, but a flat tire in Oklahoma and a
hurricane named Rita were a little unexpected, Seykora said.
Despite those inconveniences, Seykora said he went
prepared for the challenges later on in the week.
"You use your training, be a professional at
what you do," Seykora said of the
phone calls he made to loved ones missing family members. "I talked to a lot of angry people that
were very angry at me. I said 'Yes,
we're here to help you out any way we can.
Please be patient with me. And then I would just tell them I'm from
Nebraska and I'm down here volunteering, trying to get together some
information so you can find their loved one.
"Every morning Seykora's desk would be full of contact information
for family members to call. Each night
he would think they were making progress only to find a new stack just as high
the next morning. The paperwork and
physical rebuilding will take many months, he said.
"We got into the city and were able to go up
to the Superdome and saw the devastation and things like that, and they have a
very, very long road ahead of them," Seykora said. "I keep hearing how they are moving
back into the city and I'm just kind of wondering how they're going to be doing
that. People may be going back and
finding their loved ones in their homes yet that haven't been
searched." The five funeral
directors made it back to Nebraska last week.
He said there's a possibility he could return to the hurricane-ravaged
area again to help. "Now they did
tell us, there's a couple cemeteries washed out in Mississippi and they said
probably around March time they may need a group of guys," Seykora
said.
"It's a mess. We ought to be thankful for what
we have."
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Kucera Appointed to Examiners Board
Terry
Kucera of Heafey-Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak-Cutler Mortuaries has been appointed
to the Nebraska Board of Health. for a 5-year term. as a professional member of
the Board of Funeral Directing and Embalming.
Kucera, a native of Prague NE and licensed since 1970, has served as
President of the Nebraska Funeral Directors Assoc and has served on National
committees for the National Funeral Directors Assoc.
