The Lamp that Heals

Throughout the ages, healers have been called to care for the sick. These selfless caregivers worked with varied skills passed onto them by others who had studied nature, illness, and the human body. Florence Nightingale took it upon herself to train nurses during the Crimean War. Her knowledge raised nursing standards, improved hygiene, and reduced death rates significantly. She was revered and referred to as “The Lady with the Lamp” by Victorians. The lamp she carried became a symbol of her healing, tending to those in need of care. Nightingale worked to create the first professional nursing program in 1860 at St. Thomas Hospital in London. As the founder of modern nursing, the Nightingale pledge is an oath spoken by all nurses.

In 2003, The Nurses Honor Guard was formed in Kansas to offer tributes to nurses who have passed away. Julia Godby Murray learned of the Honor Guard at a conference. “New chapters have been founded, and social media has helped us increase our members.” Murray is now coordinator of the National Nurses Honor Guard Coalition. “Nurses are natural healers. We offer another opportunity to do what they love to do and that is to heal.”

In spring 2021, Shaina Hamel, Athena Mains, and Maria Cusano-Sanzo met and formed a Nurses Honor Guard chapter here in Connecticut. By September, they had performed their first tribute. Tributes have been performed all over the state with volunteers of both retired and currently practicing nurses.

“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 service is similar to a military tribute and officially releases the nurse from their nursing duties,” explains founding member Maria Cusano-

Sanzo. The Nurses Honor Guard dresses in the traditional white uniform complete with cap and cape. The ceremony is brief and consists of the Honor Guard reciting the Nightingale Tribute and laying a white rose on the casket or next to the urn, symbolizing the nurse’s dedication to the profession. After the Nightingale Tribute is recited, the nurse’s name is called three times and a triangle is rung after each call of the name. After the role, the nurse is officially released from their nursing duties. A lit Nightingale lamp is carried up at the beginning of the ceremony and is then extinguished and presented to the family with personal condolences made.

Milford resident Lynn Veccharelli, a registered nurse at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, joined the Honor Guard last year. “I learned about the Nurse Honor Guard by word of mouth from other nurses,” says Veccharelli, who tries to attend as many ceremonies as she can. “It is my honor to recognize our colleagues who have passed,” she continues. “Often times, family, friends, or colleagues seek us out after our tribute to thank us and express how moved they were. Frequently tears are shared along with a comforting hug.”

Cody-White Funeral Home has had the Honor Guard at ceremonies, and informs families of nurses who have passed about the tributes. “The families love it; tributes provide recognition for nurses who served with dedication and selfless service,” says

Amanda Veccharelli, a managing director at Cody-White. “Nurses are away from their families at all hours. These ceremonies are appreciated by the families like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

Cusano-Sanzo particularly recalls one special encounter. “We were sitting in the last pew of a church where we regularly meet. A woman walked in with a walker, saw us, stopped, and asked who we were. It turns out she was a retired nurse. When we explained what we do, she said, ‘Well, you take caring to the next level.’ Chris Herrity, a fellow Honor Guard, was sitting beside me. She leaned in and whispered in my ear, ‘That can be our tag line.’”

All of the members are volunteers and 100 percent of donations go to purchase lamps, roses, cards, etc., for tributes. For more information visit them at ctnurseshonorguard.org.

—Susan Carroll Dwyer