IU Health nurses honor nurses in their final moments

Two registered nurses at IU Health North and West have joined the Central Indiana Nurses Honor Guard, honoring fellow nurses at the time of their deaths. They're now hoping to grow the group's numbers.

By Charlotte Stefanski, cstefanski@iuhealth.org, writer for IU Health's Indianapolis Suburban Region

Three years ago, Tonya Mitchell, a registered nurse at IU Health West, attended the funeral of her longtime nurse educator and mentor.

During the service, 13 nurses dressed in the traditional white cap and uniform came in carrying a white carnation, bowed to her photo and said a few words during the ceremony.

The group was the Central Indiana Nurses Honor Guard (CINHG). Part of a national network, the Nurses Honor Guard pays tribute to nurses at the time of their death by performing the Nightingale Tribute at the funeral or memorial service. This is similar to a military tribute and officially releases the nurse from their nursing duties.

By the end of the ceremony, Mitchell knew she had to join the group.

“She was my first educator and the last thing she did was educate me on the nurse in our guard,” Mitchell says. “It was so cool to see nurses honoring nurses in that way.”

Mitchell has been with the IU Health West team for 12 years and currently works in this hospital’s Pre-operation Post Anesthesia Care unit (PACU). After her mentor’s funeral, she joined the CINHG in March 2022.

Within those three years, Mitchell says word of mouth about the group and its memorial services have been growing. Last year alone, the Central Indiana group attended 56 services in Marion, Hendricks and Boone counties.

The volunteer-based group has about 100 members from several local hospitals. Mitchell is now hoping to get more nurses across the IU Health system involved, with trainings in the works.

A call to honor nurses

Danielle Dwenger, a nurse navigator at the IU Health Joe & Shelly Schwarz Cancer Center in Carmel, learned about the Nurses Honor Guard in a similar way while attending a colleague’s funeral.

“It was just touching and really powerful. All of us nurses that were there were like, ‘That is so cool,’” Dwenger explains. “I've always had it in the back of my head that I wanted to get involved with that.”

This December, Dwenger and a handful of other interested nurses from IU Health North and West attended a CINHG training led by Mitchell.

The hour-long training covered what is expected from volunteers and how to perform the tribute. When volunteers graduate from the training they receive a pin of the Florence Nightengale lamp.

Volunteers are expected to attend at least two funeral services each year. When a funeral service is happening, leaders of the group will send information out and ask which group members can attend.

Both Mitchell and Dwenger say being part of the group is fulfilling, especially when volunteers are able to see how the tribute impacts the nurses’ families.

“One funeral I went to, she was 98 years old. Most people have forgotten that she was a nurse,” Mitchell says. “But to see the nurses up here in white, like she used to wear when she was younger, that was really cool for the family, and they were blown away that we would come to do something like that.”

“I think it gives you a sense of giving back and serving,” Dwenger says. “It's truly from your heart.”

Nurses or retired nurses interested in joining can contact iuhealthcinhg@iuhealth.org or Tonya Mitchell, tmitche5@iuhealth.org.