October 15, 2024

Mount Pleasant's Mike Breese Returns to EveryStep Hospice Team

An integral member of the EveryStep Hospice team in Mount Pleasant, Mike Breese spent seven years serving patients and families of southeast Iowa — first as a hospice nurse and then as the team’s director. After pursuing other career options for a short time, Mike has returned to the Mount Pleasant team to once again serve as a hospice nurse case manager.

“I missed the bedside patient care. I really missed the teamwork and camaraderie of our office. I love working with the Mount Pleasant team and love the care we provide,” says Mike. “EveryStep truly does empower individuals, support families and strengthen communities. When I go into a home to provide care, I know that I am not alone. I have a huge network of individuals that support me. We are all committed to providing excellent care and serving the communities we love.”

Mike has lived in the Mount Pleasant area for over 20 years and is thankful for the relationships he has built over the years. “I have had the opportunity to provide care to patients and families in most every long-term care facility, assisted living facility and hospital in the eight counties (Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Van Buren and Washington) the Mount Pleasant team covers. Southeast Iowa is filled with many small communities that are all connected. So, while it may be a large territory, most people have only 1 or 2 degrees of separation or at least know (or are related to) someone you are acquainted with.”

With a hospice career stretching over 12 years, Mike says he has enough stories and anecdotes to fill a book. Mike shared some of his favorites:

• “I brought fried chicken and hotdogs to a patient that told me he had holes in his heart that needed clogged up.
• I was able to ride with a patient in her 90s, along with her sons, in a Hummer stretch limo while it drove past her old farmhouse. This was one of her wishes — to see her old home and to ride in a limo.
• I was part of a motorcycle ride with a patient who had ALS.  He rode in a side car and wore a pair of those old fashioned biker goggles. More than 12 bikers went through the Burger King drive through to get him a hamburger because that was his favorite place to go.

“I have many great stories to share, but my favorites are holding my patients’ hands while they take their final breaths, with family present — or sometimes family is not present. I had a patient once who had no family. When he passed, our hospice chaplain and I were the only ones at his graveside service. I was honored to be part of the final moments of his life, so he did not have to be alone.”

Mike says being with patients at their most vulnerable moments is an honor he feels called to. “I love what I do because God has placed me in this role for such a time as this. Providing care for people in their final stages of life and being with someone while they take their final breaths is one of the most humbling experiences I have ever experienced. I personally know that death is not the end, and those who hold to a similar faith have that hope as well. I am very grateful to be back with EveryStep. This is a great company to work for and has great people to work beside.”

EveryStep Hospice is Iowa's oldest and largest nonprofit, community-based hospice provider. Since launching our hospice program in 1978, thousands of Iowans have turned to us to find comfort and care when they needed it most. You can find EveryStep Hospice programs based in Centerville, Des Moines, Mount Ayr, Mount Pleasant, Osceola and Winterset. When a patient needs around-the-clock hospice care, EveryStep Hospice’s Kavanagh House in Des Moines is available. Kavanagh House provides a home-like atmosphere with private bedrooms, living rooms, a family kitchen, spa room, children's play areas and other family amenities. To learn more about EveryStep Hospice, visit https://www.everystep.org/services/hospice.

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 https://www.everystep.org/find-care. EveryStep staff will follow up with a phone call to answer your questions and provide assistance.

EveryStep offers its services to all hospice-eligible people without regard to race, creed, color, religion, gender, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, national/ethnic origin, age, diagnosis, ability to pay or any other characteristic.