A hospital in southwestern Iowa is joining a national volunteer organization that pays tribute to nurses who have died or who are in hospice care.
Registered nurse Sara Beth Jones spearheaded the effort to launch a local chapter of the Nurses Honor Guard at Cass Health in Atlantic. Jones says part of their uniform is to wear a cape that’s black on one side and red on the other, much like those worn by nurses who tended to soldiers in the 1800s.
“The cape itself is supposed to symbolize what was worn during the war,” Jones says. “The high collar is supposed to protect their neck and keep them warm, and then the red lining on the inside is supposed to protect them as they were out on the field, so that (enemy forces) know that they weren’t supposed to be shot at, they were there to help, they were medical.”
Jones was the driving force behind bringing the initiative to the Atlantic area. “I had seen something online and I found out that there’s this whole world of nurses, retired nurses, or that are still working,” Jones says. “And I was like, ‘Oh, do we have this?’ and then I found out we did not. So I was like, ‘We have got to do this here.’ What an honor it would be to have one in our county.”
The Nurses Honor Guard is a comprised of current and former nurses. In addition to the funerals of nurses, they attend parades, honor walks and living tributes. Besides the cape, Jones says Honor Guard participants don the traditional white uniform and cap. “When I put it on, at first, I was pretty nervous because it’s not something that I wore,” Jones says. “I did wear the white — I graduated in 2012.”
The old-style nurse’s cap can be a bit complicated to attach to one’s head, she says. “I wanted to play the part, so yeah, it took a long time to get that hat on,” she says, “and I guess the trick is using tissue paper.”
The ceremonies Nurses Honor Guard members participate in are similar to a military tribute, that’s meant to officially release the nurse from their duties. They perform the ceremony for free during a deceased nurse’s funeral. The tribute lasts about five minutes and consists of reciting the Nightingale Tribute and laying a white rose on the casket or next to the urn, symbolizing the nurse’s dedication to the profession.
Nurses Honor Guard chapters are now active at hospitals in 15 Iowa counties: Black Hawk, Buena Vista, Cass, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clay, Dubuque, Fayette, Polk, Pottawattamie, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Scott, and Webster.
(By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)