At EveryStep our motto is: ‘When every moment matters, we’re with you every step.’ This spring, EveryStep’s Mike Breese is hoping you’ll be there with him for every step as he spreads the EveryStep mission across the state.
On May 6th, Mike – a Hospice Registered Nurse with EveryStep’s Mount Pleasant office – will leave from Keokuk for a trip to the Minnesota state line. And he’ll be doing it all on foot.
The distance: 255 miles. The timeline: ten days. The mission: to raise $10,000 (or more) for the EveryStep Foundation and its mission to serve our clients and families in Iowa. Along the way, he’ll lean on family, friends, coworkers, and strangers to push him to the finish line. His brother-in-law, Jeff, will be riding his bike next to Mike as crew and support through his journey.
Mike announced the plan to coworkers a year in advance. For him, it isn’t just a chance to raise money but also to spread awareness about hospice care. For Mike, being a hospice nurse isn’t just a career – it is a calling and a daily reaffirmation of his faith.
“I get to usher people into eternity every day,” Mike says, “I love it.”
His faith, open heart, and dedication to service have led Mike to provide care in ways and in places that would make others apprehensive. Along with his years of work at EveryStep, Mike has also worked as a nursing director and hospice provider in the Iowa prison system. Shortly after re-joining the EveryStep staff in Mount Pleasant in 2024, Mike found himself heading back behind bars.
“I say that I went to prison for a few years and then escaped. Now I’m back again,” Mike jokes about his interesting career path.
The story begins at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, where Mike worked as nurse. It was there that he first met John Epps, an inmate serving a life sentence for murder. He then transferred to Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison and worked as the Nursing Director and continued serving patients through their hospice program.
Mike says it was essential for him to serve without judgement while working in the prison system. While Epps was a convicted murdered, to Mike he was just John. “I don’t see him for his crimes the same way he doesn’t see me for mine. I’ve been forgiven for a lot of things I shouldn’t have,” Mike says, “That’s called grace.”
But Mike says he wasn’t the only one who gave that grace to John, who by all accounts had been a model prisoner since his sentence began in 1981. “Mr. Epps was respected by his peers, by his staff. Everyone across the state knew Mr. Epps,” Mike says. That grace allowed John to be transferred to a minimum-security facility in Mount Pleasant despite his sentence. “There is a reason he was serving his time in a minimum camp. He taught Bible studies, he played the guitar, he loved card games.”
Mike says the stories you’ve heard about prison life are true. But that all changes inside a prison nursing ward.
“In the prison you are not to be seen as weak. There is a façade that you have to carry about yourself … As soon as you step into the nursing home side that is stripped away. They don’t have to pretend to be tough guys,” Mike says,
Mike eventually left the prison industry and returned to work for EveryStep. But, as he jokes, he would find himself back behind bars when the nursing director at Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility reached out to him about providing hospice care for John. Mike didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Inside the Mount Pleasant facility, he worked with prison staff and fellow prisoners to create a hospice ward for John. Mike led 20 prisoners through a rigorous training course to certify them as hospice volunteers. Mike would visit a few times per week for a few hours, but outside of those visits it was fellow inmates caring for John.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with these guys taking care of my own family. Their care was second to none,” he says, “His family was inmates and staff. When we had meetings there wasn’t a dry eye in the room – including staff.”
John passed away in February of 2025 at the age of 67 surrounded by his hospice aides and fellow inmates.
You can show your support for EveryStep, Mike, and his mission by making a donation today. In the comments section, add ‘EveryStep Across Iowa Fundraiser’ or ‘Mike Breese’ so we know your gift was made with him in mind.
