The South Central Illinois Nurse Honor Guard (NHGSC) offers honoring funeral Ceremony services for Deceased nurses free of charge.
NHGSC of Illinois is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization formed by active and retired nurses volunteering their time to recognize and pay tribute to nurse’s whose lives have ended. The Chair for the Board of Director’s for NHGSC, Susie Robbins, notes how important this ceremony is for a nurse.
“We all wear white uniforms, white gloves, our casts, and a very traditional ceremony. There is also the part of the ceremony where we release that nurse from her duties. We ring a bell, third time we ring the bell it’s her final call and we are releasing her from her nursing duties here on earth. We place a rose either near the coffin or urn. It’s a symbol of that nurse’s dedication and compassion and all the hard work and everything that nurse did in her career and her lifetime.”
Nurse Honor Guard has been around for nearly a decade. South Central Illinois Nurse Honor Guard’s chapter is a new local addition to the national organization.
The NHGSC currently have 29 nurses involved, and covers Bond, Clinton, Marion, and Washington counties. However, if all parties are in agreeance, they are willing to travel outside its designated area.
Nurse Honor Guard has been around for nearly a decade. South Central Illinois Nurse Honor Guard’s chapter is a new local addition to the national organization.
NHGSC also offers ceremony services to nurses nearing death, the organization labels this service as a “Legacy Ceremony”.
Georgia Lambert says LPN’s, RN’s, and advanced practice nurses, retired or active, are encouraged to join.
“So we have a Facebook page: south central Illinois nurse honor guard, and its open to anybody that would like you join or they can view our page and see what we are all about. There is some contact info on there and they can choose if they want to join. Or send us a private message and we can go on and tell them when our next meeting is because we have that on our membership page. So we are open to having anybody that’s a nurse that’s still working or retired. That they want to join our organization, we would be very happy that they would do that.”
Tracy Macz of Macz funeral home encourages all area funeral homes to use this program in their future proceedings.
“We’re so proud of them for where they have come. We just want to get the word out that this is a beautiful ceremony of nurses that have served their careers and are truly passionate about honoring any nurse that has passed away. It is a truly touching ceremony that I would encourage other funeral homes to be reminded that if a nurse passes away that this is something that can be offered.”
Macz funeral played a crucial part in the upbringing of NHGSC, having offered a space for the group to meet and continuing to sponsor.
