AMOREM Celebrates Team Members in North Carolina Nurses Honor Gaurd
“Nursing is a calling, a lifestyle, a way of living. Nurses here today honor [name] and their life as a nurse. They are not remembered by their years as a nurse, but by the difference they made during those years by stepping into people’s lives…”
Members of the North Carolina Nurses Honor Guard (NCNHG) arrive at a fellow nurse’s services, dressed in their traditional white uniform, nurses cap and cape to stand guard an hour before the service and provide comfort and peace to family members and loved ones of the late nurse.
The Nightingale Tribute is recited by attendees, a white rose symbolizing dedication is laid upon a casket or beside an urn, the Nurses Prayer is delivered and a Last Call to Duty is given by the NCNHG signify that a nurse has finished their work here on Earth.
[Name]
A triangle rings.
[Name]
A triangle rings again.
[Name]
A triangle rings for a third and final time.
“We officially release you of your nursing duties.”
Upon releasing the nurse from their duties, the NCNHG extinguishes the Florence Nightingale lamp and returns it to the family, providing their condolences.
The NCNHG was created in 2021 by Cindy Glover-Hoxit, who wished to expand the Nurses Honor Guard's reach and accumulate volunteers who would take time to attend and stand guard at a fellow nurse’s funeral or memorial service in North Carolina. The North Carolina chapter has since grown and welcomed several retired and active nurses to the guard.
“Since the inception of the NCNHG in May of 2021,” says Hoxit-Glover, “we have stood humbled and amazed to see God’s work in our ministry. We are thankful for the unwavering support of the NCNHG and for those who have helped our group continue to grow.”
For many AMOREM nurses, it is considered a calling to work in the hospice and palliative care industry. It is yet another call and a tremendous act of love to stand guard at a fellow nurse's end-of-life services.
“I joined the NCNHG more than a year ago,” says AMOREM Registered Nurse, Jean-Marie Dean, “I knew that I was supposed to join. It was a calling.”
Dean is an active registered nurse at the nonprofit hospice and palliative medicine provider, AMOREM in North Carolina. She considers the NCNHG to be the last step after hospice for her fellow nurses.
AMOREM Registered Nurse Tracey Campbell also serves on the NCNHG. “It is an honor to serve beside a wonderful group of people and pay tribute to the nurses who have gone before us,” Campbell says.
Dean and Campbell have both been involved with the NCNHG for more than a year. They have recruited several additional nurses from AMOREM to join the honor guard and utilize their free time to give back to the nurses who gave so much of themselves to their communities. Along with nurses, AMOREM chaplains and other team members have also joined the NCNHG to pay tribute to those who have served communities before them.
“We consider it an honor to remember fellow nurses at the time of death,” says Dean. “We provide an extremely dignified service to show how each nurse has contributed to the world. To me, it is spiritual work.”
AMOREM has a mission to provide quality, thoughtful, loving care to patients and support to their families. For AMOREM nurses and team members, this mission stretches well beyond the time that their shift ends. Those who are active members of the NCNHG personify AMOREM’s mission each time that they attend a fellow nurse’s service.
“I cannot express enough gratitude and admiration for the caliber of nurses at AMOREM,” says Chief Clinical Officer, Anna Blanton. “Their unwavering compassion, dedication and expertise make a profound difference in the lives of patients, families and our communities on and off the clock. I am forever thankful for their steadfast commitment to the nursing profession and for their remarkable care.”
The NCNHG has provided AMOREM staff with the opportunity to touch more lives and to continue transforming the way that people view and experience end-of-life and death.
Tributes by the NCNHG are provided free of cost for families. The NCNHG also provides visits to nurses who are in their final days to present them with a certificate of service, a pin and a blanket with the NCNHG emblem on it. The nurses are transported to their chosen funeral home with the blanket respectfully laid over their bodies at the time of their death.
“We must always remember why we do what we do,” says Glover-Hoxit, “even the seemingly smallest act of love and compassion has the capability of changing one’s life forever, thus creating a ripple effect that not only influences the lives of those that we serve but has the power to impact everyone influenced by them throughout their entire lifetime.”
It is AMOREM’s privilege to be the only hospice and palliative provider in its service area with a locally governed board of directors and three patient care units available to families and their loved ones. For more than 40 years, AMOREM has served as the area’s local, nonprofit, hospice and palliative medicine provider, bringing more quality, more compassion and more support, right here at home.
To learn more about AMOREM services, visit www.amoremsupport.org or call 828.754.0101 to speak with a team member from the local, nonprofit, hospice and palliative medicine provider.
To learn more about the North Carolina Nurses Honor Guard, please visit them on Facebook by searching North Carolina Nurse Honor Guard.