May 14, 2022

Celebrating EveryStep Nurses: Meet Kathy Simon

A nurse since 1983, Kathy Simon has used her skills for EveryStep Hospice’s Council Bluffs team for nearly seven years. The path that led Kathy to EveryStep has resulted in work she finds meaningful and rewarding.

Kathy started her nursing career in her late teens as an LPN at a long-term care facility. “I found it rather depressing that people came to long-term care to die. I took a break and went to New York for a year and was a nanny for two children ages 1 and 3,” says Kathy. “During that time, I had a lot of time to reflect and decided to go back and get my RN.”

Kathy earned her RN at Jennie Edmundson School of Nursing in Council Bluffs, then worked in mental health at Jennie Edmundson Hospital for 17 years.  When she decided to transition to providing home care, she found it to be a rewarding change. “A home care agency I worked for was moving to Omaha and I did not really want to do that. I had a home care patient who was needing hospice care, and he and I decided to go on the buddy system to Hospice of Southwest Iowa.”

In September 2015, Kathy started with Hospice With Heart (now EveryStep Hospice). “Hospice nursing is the most rewarding career I’ve ever had,” says Kathy. “Sitting with someone and holding their hand or watching their last breath is so meaningful.”

One of Kathy’s current patients is an 89-year-old man whose wife was under Kathy’s hospice care six years ago. “He reminded me at his admission he doesn’t make fudge for just anyone and after I took care of his wife, he made me fudge. When he needed hospice, he told his family there was only one hospice nurse he was going to trust and that was me.”

EveryStep is fortunate to have dedicated and talented nurses who work with expectant and new mothers and their children, individuals in the care of EveryStep Hospice, and seniors and others that receive home care services through EveryStep.

EveryStep currently has several nursing opportunities. If you are interested in becoming a hospice or home care RN with EveryStep, please reach out to hr@everystep.org and ask about our generous sign-on bonus! You can also view current openings on our website at https://www.everystep.org/careers.

If you or someone you know is struggling to find the support they need, please contact EveryStep at 515-558-9946 or complete the commitment-free, confidential “Find Care” form on EveryStep’s website at www.everystep.org/find-care. EveryStep staff will follow up with a phone call to answer your questions and provide assistance.