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Northeast Ohio Nurse Honor Guard
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A nurse can spend decades showing up for strangers at their most vulnerable moments, then quietly leave the world without anyone outside the profession truly understanding what that service cost and what it meant. We sit down with Northeast Ohio Nurse Honor Guard volunteers Vanessa Rykes and Eileen Thompson to talk about the ceremony that changes that: a brief, moving tribute that honors a nurse’s lifetime of compassion, sacrifice, and care.
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Meet Vanessa And Eileen
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to CC Airwaves. My name is Paige Matilla, and today we have a very special episode that highlights the compassion, dedication, and lifelong service of nurses. When someone chooses a nursing profession, they commit their lives to caring for others, often during the most vulnerable and difficult moments people experience. But what many people may not know is that there is a group dedicated to honoring nurses even after their final chapter. Today I'm joined by two members of the Nurse Honor Guard, Vanessa Rex and Eileen Thompson. The Nurse Honor Guard provides a moving tribute for nurses who have passed away, honoring their lifetime of service to the profession while offering comfort and recognition to their family and friends. Vanessa and Eileen are here to share more about this meaningful tradition, what these ceremonies look like, and why it's so important to recognize the legacy of those who dedicated their lives to caring for others. So, Vanessa and Eileen, thank you both for being here today. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about yourselves?
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having us. I am Vanessa Reiches. I am a registered nurse. I live in Giaga County. I have been a nurse for almost 18 years, believe it or not, and I work in oncology for a majority of those years. I joined the Nurse Honor Guard in 2022, um, with right before our first tribute. And um I'm still here today honoring nurses. It's an honorable thing to do.
SPEAKER_00So that's so wonderful. And Eileen, what about you?
SPEAKER_01Well, unlike Vanessa, I have been a nurse for almost 48 years. I am retired. Um, my first passionate love was the emergency department, and I second love was hospice care, which kind of ties into all of it. Um I joined Honor Guard in 2023, um, about 10 months after they started. And I find it very comforting to offer families our service, our tribute so they can actually know that we care that they dedicate their lives to this profession.
What The Nurse Honor Guard Is
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful. And I know I told you both this in passing, but this is especially meaningful to me because my mom's a nurse. So I know everything about you guys, what you guys do, the sacrifices you make, you know, everything. So we do appreciate your guys' service. It is our privilege.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_00Uh, so why don't you tell our listeners what the nurse honor guard is and how it began?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so the nurse honor guard is a group of volunteered nurses who come together and honor the life of a nurse who had passed away or at the end of their life, when a nurse um we perform a brief ceremonial tribute at the funeral or memorial service that recognizes the profession they dedicated their life to. So the tradition began in Kansas City in 2003 when a group of nurses felt that nurses deserve the same type of final recognition that firefighters and police officers and military personnel often do. So since then, the nurse honor guard groups have formed across the country, and there's about over 300 around the town. So the nurse honor guard, the Northeast Ohio Nurse Honor Guard was founded in 2022, like I said, and today we have about a hundred volunteer members in the area, and we serve eight counties in Northeast Ohio: Lorraine, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake, Ashtabula, Giaga, Summit, and Stark. So we carry it cover a very big area. Yeah, that's huge. Uh, our members are active, inactive, or retired. They volunteer their time as much as they can to honoring our colleagues of nurses and recognizing the impact they had on patients, families, and other nursing profession professionals.
SPEAKER_00That's so awesome. And what inspired you both personally to become involved in the nurse honor guard?
SPEAKER_01I was inspired just to honor my uh colleagues working in the emergency room. I actually, you know, interacted with a lot of firefighters, paramedics, and so seeing what they did, I thought it was phenomenal that nurses were finally honoring each other.
SPEAKER_02I agree. When I um saw this, I thought it was well deserved and about time. So I I was inspired, just like I said, I mean, we we spend our careers caring for people. And when I first heard about it, it resonated with me because it gives the nursing profession an opportunity to come together and honor some of our own in the same spirit and service that they gave throughout their career. Nursing is more than just a job, it's a calling. I know that's said a lot, but it truly is. And being part of the honor guard allows us to recognize and dedicate and say thank you to like the lifetime that they have cared for others. A way of giving back, and it also is meaningful because every nurse's career looks different, and some worked in hospitals, in schools, clinics, long-term care facilities, but every one of them made a difference, and being part of the honor guard also connects generations of nurses, so all different ages. So whether someone practiced for two years or 40 some years, or they're retired and still with their active license, um, their work mattered, they're still caring for people, whether they're in a career or not anymore. And being able to recognize that service is really incredible and meaningful.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful. How many uh services have you both participated in, if I might ask?
SPEAKER_01I didn't I didn't count them up. I didn't add them up.
SPEAKER_00I think I wasn't sure maybe if you had a number off the top of your head or an estimate.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm close to 50. Oh wow. Well, being retired, I can trail.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she's retired and stuff. I you've got to hit probably more than um, I'll probably say maybe close to that, maybe a little less, because I do work, so Eileen can go to more. Um, but I also do the coordinating of it. So I talk to the families and cord and the funeral directors or clergy and organize the tributes. So yeah, it's a different way of honoring them and hearing about their life through their family or friends. So I get a little bit of meaning of that since I can't attend.
The Meaning Of The Tribute
SPEAKER_00What does it mean to you personally to honor a nurse at the end of their life?
SPEAKER_01Personally, I think that it shows that we respect and understand what they've done with their nursing career and to show their family that they didn't walk the path alone. There was always other nurses around, and now we're honoring them. And we we generally do not know the nurses that we honor. I think in all my tributes, I've known three. So it's just to let the families know that we stand together, knowing what they've done with their lives.
SPEAKER_00That is wonderful. And can you walk us through what a typical nurse honor guard ceremony looks like? We've been talking about it, what it means to you guys. Like, I want to get down to the details and know what you guys do for them.
Step By Step Ceremony Walkthrough
SPEAKER_02So it is different than a military or police um service that they do. We do a little bit more, I would say. Um it is brief, it's about five to seven minutes, but it's still respectful and meaningful. It typically takes place at the end of a funeral service, um, but we have done it in mausoleums, at cemeteries, at the graveside, um, and a VFW. So we are um we we adjust, but um, our members come in and arrive in uniform in traditional whites and uh navy blue cape with red lining inside, and our white nursing cap. And we walk in together as a group carrying a nightingale candle lamp with a candle lit, and we gather at the casket or the urn together. We begin the ceremony um reading why we are carrying the lamp and the rose and how is it meaningful to nursing, and then we give a brief biography about the nurse. Then we do a white rose ceremony where it's laid by the casket or the urn as a symbol of gratitude for the nurse's life of service, and then we perform the final call to duty, which is more well known, uh, where the nurse's name is called three times after a chime. And when they don't answer the call for duty, they are released from their earthly nursing responsibilities. Um, it's simple, but it carries a lot of meaning for the family and nurses who are present, who really um it resonates when they are released from that duty because it is such a big part of their life. And we end it by saying, we will take over from here. And I think the nurses that are there in attendance and the members that honor them really take that uh to heart.
SPEAKER_00What kind of reactions have you seen from the families when they witness uh this tribute?
SPEAKER_01I personally have seen uh families uh overwhelmed with um joy that there's people recognizing what their loved one has gone through. I've seen families sobbing. They um are very much we get hugs a lot, we get handshakes. Um, they always tell us it was so meaningful and we truly understood what their loved one went through. Um, we've had families who suddenly now have a nurse in the family, and that nurse wants to be a part of us because they watched a tribute. Overall, I think the the biggest thing is gratitude that somebody is actually acknowledging their service as a nurse.
SPEAKER_00It sounds like a beautiful ceremony. I mean, you guys put a lot of time and effort into it, and it's a wonderful service that you're providing to these uh fallen nurses. Now, who is eligible for a nurse honor guard tribute?
SPEAKER_02Any licensed nurse is eligible. Um, that includes a registered nurse, licensed practitional nurse, um, advanced practice nurses, like nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, um, doctor of nursing, as long as they have a nursing degree. They're eligible. They're eligible. Um, if someone dedicated their life to the profession, they deserve recognition. Um even if they didn't dedicate a year or 50 years, it you know, we've done them for different schools and out of the country, even where they've gone to school out of the country and they've practiced out of the country and not even in the United States, and we've honored them. Um so you can have um you can be retired or active or you know on disability too.
SPEAKER_00And then how can families request the presence of the nurse honor guard at uh funeral service?
SPEAKER_02Families, funeral homes, or fellow nurses can request attribute. The easiest way is through our website. There's a form, there um little option to request a tribute, and then there's a form to fill out with their name, number, or contact information, the name of the nurse, any details that they may know already, like the date, time, or location if they know. And once we receive the request, one of our coordinators will connect either with the family or the funeral home, whoever requested it. And then if it is a family, we always contact the funeral home to coordinate when we're gonna do it and how it's set up. And our goal is to keep the process simple so families can focus on their loved ones while we coordinate the tribute.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what is your website? That way I can link it down below so that way any interested listeners can go click and learn more about you guys.
Family Reactions And Lasting Impact
SPEAKER_02Yes, it has a lot of information, pictures. Um, we have a nurse honor wall on there, so all of the nurses that we have honored since 2022 are on there. Um, so yeah, go ahead and visit us. There's our email also is on there, and we do have a phone number that is um like an answering service. We don't answer it, it allows people to leave a message um for a quick, you know, just call and request it. All that's on there. So the address is www.northeestohio NurseHonor Guard.com. So it is a little long, but it spells it all out.
SPEAKER_00And for our listeners, as I said, it'll be linked below in case you would like to visit the website to learn more.
SPEAKER_02We are also on social media on Facebook. It is Friends of Northeast Ohio Nurse Honor Guard. We put all of our tributes on there with the picture of the nurse, a little shorter, condensed biography, so people may have worked with that nurse can see their career.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you so much for sharing all those details with us. So, if you guys could describe the nurse honor guard in one word, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02So I would describe it um in one word as connection. And I thought about I think about this because yes, we honor nurses and everything we just talked about, but it's a large profession and we all come from different schools, specialty and workplaces, but there's a deep bond that comes with sharing that calling. And when we gather to honor a nurse, even if we've never met them, which most of the time we don't, um we feel connected through the profession we share, even though we've never met them. So when I speak to families or read their life and career in nursing in their biography, you can feel their joy and their sacrifices that they've made, the dedication that they put into their career that shaped them. And it just reminds us that nurses are connected through the care we give to others, even our members that join. I have recruited some, but I all you know, new friends, and you just kind of pick up where you left off. I feel like I've you know, you they join and you're friends. Nursing is such a connection and a deep level, it's hard to describe, but I would say connection.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful. Eileen, do you have a word that comes to mind?
SPEAKER_01I had about 20 different words that came to mind.
SPEAKER_00You can share them all if you want.
SPEAKER_01No, um, I would say rewarding, rewarding for us as the nurses performing the tribute and rewarding to the family that we acknowledge the sacrifices and the caring heart that their loved one had.
SPEAKER_00That is wonderful. And as we finish up this podcast, what do you hope that listeners take away from learning about the nurse honor guard?
Eligibility And How To Request
SPEAKER_02Nursing is a profession built on compassion and service. Everyone knows that. Caring for loved ones or patience and hard times and great times. And the nurse on honor guard is simply a way of saying thank you one final time and for a lifetime spent caring for others.
unknownPerfectly.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you both so much for joining us today. Uh, I hope that our listeners enjoyed learning more about the nurse honor guard is. As I said, my mom is a nurse, and I didn't know that there was this wonderful organization out there that's dedicated to honoring her and her fellow nurses. So I'm definitely going to be sharing that with my family and friends. I hope the listeners share it with their family and friends. And for more information, you can go look at the description for a link to their website and social media. Thank you guys so much.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.