45th Anniversary

At Cedar Valley Hospice, there are many momentous occasions that have led to our organization’s success over 45 years – our employees; the patients, families and clients we care for; our volunteers and the support from the community.

Today, we have approximately 120 employees that carry out our mission. In 1979, when Cedar Valley Hospice was incorporated, we had only one part-time paid employee, Evelyn Szary, who acted as the nurse and patient care coordinator. The rest were all community volunteers who were passionate about bringing the hospice concept of care to this area. At the time, it was a fairly new idea with only a handful of organizations in the state.

“We had to begin autonomously,” said Karol Rae Hoth, who served as the first Board President (1979-82). “Our Board of Directors volunteered so much of their time making this happen… especially Dr. Robert Guthrie [who went on to open the Cancer Treatment Center in Waterloo]. We spent a lot of time educating the community – hospitals, doctors, religious members, funeral directors and the general public – to get the word out. It was key.”

Still, our organization had no funding sources (there was not yet a Medicare hospice benefit), so the Friends of Cedar Valley Hospice Committee was established in 1981 to raise funds. It didn’t take long for the community to latch onto our mission and show their support – leading to growth and, thus, making an impact in so many lives.