Nursing Honor Guard Pays Last Respects

CEDAR RAPIDS - As if ghosts of nurses past, they show up at a funeral to pay their last respects to a deceased comrade.

As they stand guard over a casket, they wear traditional white uniforms and shoes, the Navy blue and gold capes of old, and starched white caps that once identified nurses everywhere.

They sit together during the service - two, four, up to six in one pew.

They read "A Nurse's Prayer" that begins "Give me strength and wisdom; when others need my touch ..."

And, before they leave, they present a family member with a porcelain replica of a Florence Nightingale lamp, a symbol of the first nurse of modern times who lit the way for all who serve.

They are the Mercy Nursing Honor Guard. They are 11 retired or nearly retired nurses. They are women dedicated to their profession who appreciate the dedication shown by fellow nurses.

The idea hatched nearly two years ago after Mercy alum and retired nurse Judy Jaeger, 70, (right) heard about another community's nursing honor guard.

"I just thought about it and thought about it," she says. "We really needed to do that here."

Administrators at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids liked the idea so much they agreed to sponsor it. And Vicki Keegan, 64, (left) then director of patient relations, pitched in.

Before Judy and Vicki knew it, they were digging relics of old wool capes out of the closet and searching catalogs for old-style white uniforms. After all, nurses have been wearing scrubs for 20 years or more; the traditional uniforms relegated to the distant past.

"I don't ever remember wearing the capes," says Judy, a nurse for 43 years after graduating from Mercy's nursing school in 1963.

But the capes looked so nice, so traditional. So, with the old capes as a pattern, Mercy had six polyester (wool would be too warm) capes made with "CR" and "MMM" embroidered on opposite collars and the Mercy Medical Center patch on the left shoulder. The women were able to find white uniforms, white hose and white shoes at different places. The caps, however, were a different matter.

To the rescue came Sister Lenore who sews half a day a week at the hospital. She made custom caps out of cotton. But then came the challenge of stiffening the cloth so it could be bent into the traditional half-moon shaped caps.

"We used to plaster them up against a mirror and starch them," laughs Vicki, also a Mercy grad and nurse for 43 years. Then they'd be folded and buttoned into shape. Since the new caps have no button holes, they use plenty of bobby pins.

The honor guard became active last April. It has appeared at six funerals including four from mid-November to mid-December.

"I think people are appreciative we take the time to do this," Judy says.

"It's really an honor for us," Vicki adds.

Of course, some people are surprised to see them, Judy says. "After we did a visitation in Mount Vernon, someone walked in and thought we were cardboard cutouts," she laughs.

That's because they remain off to the side, not the center of attention. After all, they are paying their respects to the nursing profession.

"It's such a rewarding career," says Vicki. "You can help in so many ways and see the result of what you're doing."

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