Death won't take a holiday

For months, state Senator Steven A. Baddour's office has fielded calls on just about every gripe imaginable about the upcoming Democratic National Convention, from bus companies worrying about access to South Station to commuters complaining about the shutdown of Interstate 93. The cochairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, considering himself a problem-solver, had an answer for most of them. But then John Linnehan called.

"I didn't have an answer on this one," the senator confessed recently.

It turns out nobody did.

The caller was a Haverhill funeral home owner who raised a point that was apparently overlooked as federal and local law enforcement officials finalized plans for one of the most complex and expansive security lockdowns in the city's history. With some 40 miles of roadway being closed for the convention and with hospitals and nursing homes located in or near a zone of heightened security around the FleetCenter, the caller wondered if arrangements had been made to transport the dead.

"I thought we had talked about it all," Baddour said. "They raised a legitimate point: What are they supposed to do with the bodies? It's an area I'm sure no one thought of."

Baddour hastily arranged a State House meeting with convention security officials, who told funeral directors they would try to find ways to accomodate hearses entering the security zone to recover bodies. But despite the assurances, some funeral directors say that security restrictions, road closures, and convention-related traffic mean that funerals in downtown Boston could all but come to a halt during the week of the convention.

The problem is bigger than the inconvenience to families who may decide to delay memorial services and burials, the funeral directors say. Many nursing homes and some hospitals, most notably Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital next door to the FleetCenter, lack refrigerated facilities for storing bodies.

"And it's not exactly the coolest time of year," said David Casper of Casper Funeral Home in South Boston.

After last week's meeting, security officials promised to let hearses into high-security areas if funeral directors call in advance.

But worried about heavy traffic, detours, and long waits at security checkpoints, several funeral directors said they plan to make trips only in the early-morning hours.

"You might have to go 5 miles north and turn around just to go to a place that's a mile north of you," said Dino Manca, director of Joseph A. Langone Jr. Funeral Home in the North End. "I guess we'll do it after midnight if we have to."

At Spaulding, whose 296 beds are often occupied by elderly patients, officials plan to work with nearby Massachusetts General Hospital to transport bodies to refrigerated facilities if need be.

"We have a relationship with Mass. General," Spaulding spokeswoman Christine McDonald said. "We will work with them, if for some reason we need to transport a body."

Massachusetts General officials say they have pledged to help Spaulding in any way they can.

"We are going to work with all the other hospitals to make sure our patients get in and out -- and, I guess, cadavers," said spokeswoman Julie Bergan.

With most wakes held in the afternoon and early evening, Richard Sullivan of Sullivan Funeral Home in Brighton said that even if hearses get through security checkpoints, funeral guests probably would not.

"It would be short-sighted to schedule a wake during that week," he said.

Manca has made arrangements with affiliated homes in East Boston and Everett to host services if grieving families don't want to wait until after the convention to bury their loved ones.

On the positive side, some directors said, is the sporadic nature of their business.

Casper Funeral Home has occasionally had to pick up several bodies in one day, then hasn't had a pickup for a week. "That's the thing about the funeral business," Casper said.

Some hope that circumstances reduce the need.

"We just have to pray that everybody stays healthy," said Marguerite Arrigo, office manager at the Langone Funeral Home.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.