August 26, 2021

Meet EveryStep Volunteer Sally Chapman

Above: Sally Chapman (first row, far right) meets with CNA students at Southwestern Community College (SWCC).

From dressing up like an elf, to handing out coloring books, to visiting with doctors about hospice, Sally Chapman finds a variety of opportunities to tell others about EveryStep.

Sally became familiar with hospice work when her mother was in hospice in Illinois. Sally was working in a nursing home at the time, and after her mother passed, she applied for a job at the hospice where her mother received care. She worked at that hospice for five years.

She continued work as a hospice aide when she moved to Iowa, and came to EveryStep in in August of 2005. Since joining EveryStep, Sally has handed out information and coloring books to children at the EveryStep booth at the Des Moines Arts Festival; she dressed as an elf to serve hot chocolate during a public open house at the EveryStep Home Care office in Creston; and this year, she's serving on the EveryStep staff retreat committee, as well as the hospice aide dispensary committee. Sally is also a council member with the Iowa Care Giver's Association.

Sally remembers her early days as a hospice aide - especially her first visit with a particular patient. "I was nervous. I gave him a shower and the soap bar kept sliding out of my hand. The patient said, 'we need to glue that on the washcloth, so it won't get away from you!'  We both laughed about it!"

When she is not volunteering with EveryStep, Sally attends craft fairs and county fairs as part of her home-based PartyLite business. She loves to travel, read, have lunch or go shopping with friends, and enjoy the 18 acres of land in rural Clarke County on which she and her husband of 43 years, Don, live. She and Don have two adult children, Don and Teresa, and a "grand-cat" named Skid Mark. "I didn't name this cat!" laughs Sally. "My daughter did!"

"I enjoy my work," says Sally. "It is an honor and a privilege to be with our patients to help them and their loved ones through their journey."