Once a nurse, always a nurse. Just ask Lisa Malinowski, who retired from Carle Health after 38 years and distinctly recalls participating in a Nurse Honor Guard ceremony for nurse friend who passed away.
“There are moments in your life you will never forget and that was one of them for me,” she said.
Carle Volunteer Services manages the program, which invites any community nurse, not only Carle nurses, to participate in honoring one of their own. The recognitions typically happen at a funeral or visitation ceremony with specific rites of passage and observances lasting about 15 minutes.
Nurses wear white lab coats and sashes as they recognize the role the passing’s profession had on their life and the community they served.
Carle Hospice nurse Carol Schank, BSN, leads the effort and welcomes not only Carle nurses, but any nurse to volunteer. “My goal is to honor every nurse who has fallen,” Schank said. Schank is the Nurse Honor Guard lead for the Champaign-Urbana area and Carle has other designated leads in Bloomington-Normal, Danville and Olney.
Jan Bice, whose nursing career at Carle included working in clinics, ambulatory and quality control received the honor at Malinowski’s urging. “It was a great thing,” Jan’s husband, Todd, said of the honor conducted at a celebration of life for his late wife.
Malinowski said there was not a dry eye among those closest to Jan. “She was a wonderful person, great sense of humor. There was not a doctor she could not talk with and many doctors attended her service.”
Long-time Carle nurse Phyllis Rogers also received the honor. Her daughter, Ali Boatright, said
several people reached out to the family after the service and shared how meaningful it was for them. “It really makes a difference for the families. The ritual is so touching and beautiful. We knew it would mean a lot.”
Rogers returned to school to be a nurse after working as a teacher and she earned a master’s degree in healthcare administration. Rogers also volunteered as a parish nurse. “Nursing was one of the most important things to her in her life,” her daughter said.
Carle Foundation Hospital Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer Letha Kramer said her mother, a nurse for more than 55 years, received the honor last December after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. She died Dec. 26, two weeks after Kramer’s father.
“We knew that when it was Mom’s time, that we would want to honor Mom for her compassion and service to others. Many people were away for the holidays, but the Carle nurse honor guard was there for us and for Mom,” Kramer said.
The honor was particularly significant to her sister, Lauren, also a nurse. “It was one of the most meaningful moments at the funeral. As a fellow nurse, joining together to remember my mother for the care and love she selflessly gave was a profoundly touching experience. Thank you for offering this moving and unique tribute for nurses.”
Providing some historical perspective, Faith Roberts, who retired as executive director of Magnet, Professional Practice, at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, said the Nurse Honor Guard came from nurses in 2017 after one of their own died during pregnancy. The head of Pediatric Specialties at the time asked retired nurses to come together for the honor and they did not hesitate. The tradition continued with reminders shared twice a year with local mortuaries, she said.
“We want to make sure your final leave is respected. We do it for anybody, any faith,” Roberts said.
Any nurse, currently working or retired, who is interested in learning more about the Nurse Honor Guard, should contact Volunteer Services at Volunteer.Services@carle.com or call (217) 383-3024.
Categories: Culture of Quality, Community
Tags: Carle BroMenn Medical Center, Carle Foundation Hospital, Carle Richland Memorial Hospital, Danville, Nursing, volunteers