T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Longtime Iowa River Hospice (IRH) nurse Karla Newton, right, is pictured with her former coworker Cathy Stafford, left, during a retirement reception for Newton at the hospice house on Monday afternoon.

Karla Newton has worked in a hospital setting and spent years as a nurse at the Polk County Jail, but after noticing shortcomings in the care her own father received during his final days, she discovered a passion for hospice. Almost two decades after she first started at Iowa River Hospice (IRH), Newton is finally retiring, but the memories and connections she made during her tenure will stay with her for as long as she lives.

Both current and former colleagues gathered for an open house reception at the hospice house to celebrate her new chapter as Newton prepares to relocate to Alabama and be closer to her grandchildren. A Class of 1981 Grundy Center High School graduate, she started her career at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames and eventually moved into a new role at the dialysis center in Marshalltown before becoming the head nurse at the Polk County Jail.

“In the jail, I kind of like to think of it as a fast supermarket. Get them in, get them out,” Newton said.

When she decided she couldn’t stand the thought of commuting from Marshalltown to Des Moines and back in the winter any longer, she explored other opportunities and found IRH, which was located on Church Street at the time.

She was hired in 2006, and the new facility on Plaza Heights Road opened three years later. The rest is history, and the bonds she’s built in the 19 years since are still etched in her memory. She described hospice as “a tender time for families” who have never known life without their loved one and are navigating what life will look like once they’re gone.

“It’s the families that I see on a very routine basis who remember me, and I’ll see them at Walmart, Hy-Vee, it doesn’t matter where. Every time I go out, I basically see a family (where) I’ve taken care of their loved one. It’s the families that I remember,” Newton said. “It’s very special for the patients and the families, and for them to allow us into their homes or wherever they’re at to take care of them and help them say the goodbyes… the patients are important, but the families are the ones that have to be okay.”

IRH Executive Director Shauna Callaway called Newton “irreplaceable.”

“She truly is. Her level of expertise and knowledge is walking out the door with her after 20 years. I just can’t say enough good things about her and what she’s brought to our hospice, to this community, to all of her coworkers. I mean, she just lives and breathes hospice, and it’s certainly reflected in the lives she touched. So she will be truly missed,” Callaway said.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.